National anthem of Scotland

As Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, the British national song "God Save the King" is used in Scotland on royal occasions, for example, or when Scottish athletes participate at the Olympics. However, in other situations, other songs are used as acutual Scottish songs, especially "Flower of Scotland" and "Scotland the Brave". There have been calls for Scotland to have its own official national song.

In 2004, lawyers for the devolved Scottish Parliament advised that it was within the legal smart ability of the Scottish Parliament to choose a national song for Scotland, going against the suggestion that it would be a matter reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This ruling caused some interest in the idea, and a petition to the Scottish Parliament's petitions committee supported by the Scottish Green Party was referred without recommendation to the Scottish Executive, but they decided to take no action, thinking about the issue not to be a political priority. There have been subsequent attempts to re-open the debate on a national anthem for Scotland.

In 2006, the Scottish Parliament Enterprise Committee denied a formal request from Scottish National Party MSP Michael Matheson on the subject."RSNO sounds out a song for Scotland", The Scotsman, 24 May 2006

 Current use 
At most international sporting events Scotland uses "Flower of Scotland" as its national song. These events include matches of the Scottish national football team, Scottish cricket team and the Scottish rugby union team.BBC News - McConnell calls for anthem debate The song has also been used as the victory song of Scotland at the Commonwealth Games since 2010, replacing "Scotland the Brave".
Possible candidates

In June 2006 the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted an online opinion poll on their website, asking visitors to choose a favourite to be Scotland's national song. With over 10,000 votes cast, "Flower of Scotland" came first with 41% of the votes, followed by "Scotland the Brave" with 29%.RSNO poll reveals Flower of Scotland as nation’s favourite ‘anthem’ ,

 Tune Votes (%) "Flower of Scotland" 41% "Scotland the Brave" 29% "Highland Cathedral" 16% "A Man's A Man for A' That" 7% "Scots Wha Hae" 6%

Other songs which have been suggested include Robert Burns' "Auld Lang Syne", and Hamish Henderson's "Freedom Come-All-Ye". Both of these songs, from the 18th and 20th centuries respectively, are written in Lowland Scots.

 References 

Category:British anthems
Category:National symbols of Scotland