Anglo-Scottish Union and the War of the Spanish Succession

The Scottish Act of Security of 1703-4 allowed for the Scottish Parliament to choose a different monarch to succeed to the Scottish crown from that of England, if it so wished. This meant that the Act allowed for the Scottish Parliament to initiate an independent foreign policy during an era of major European warfare, the War of the Spanish Succession. From the English political perspective, this opened up the possibility of the restoration of a Jacobite on the Scottish throne and a Franco-Scottish military rapprochement. Such an alignment could result in attacks from Scotland, France and Ireland. Hence the Scottish 'problem' had to be neutralised and the Hanoverian Succession secured.