homosexuality can be justified. Other views 2014, Scruton stated that he supported English independence because he believed that it would uphold friendship between England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and because the English would have a say in all matters. In 2019, when asked if he believed in English independence, he told the New Statesman: No, I don't think I've ever really favoured English independence. My view is that if the Scots want to be independent then we should aim for the same thing ... I don't think the Welsh want independence, the Northern Irish certainly don't. The Scottish desire for independence is, to some extent, a fabrication. They want to identify themselves as Scots but still ... enjoy the subsidy they get from being part of the kingdom. I can see there are Scottish nationalists who envision something more than that, but if that becomes a real political force then yeah, we should try for independence too. As it is, as you know, the Scots have two votes: they can vote for their own parliament and vote to put their people into our parliament, who come to our parliament with no interest in Scotland but an interest in bullying us. Scruton strongly supported Brexit, because he believed that the European Union is a threat to the sovereignty of the United Kingdom and that Brexit will help retain national identity, which he saw as being under threat as a result of mass immigration, and because he opposed the Common Agricultural Policy. Awards For his work with the Jan Hus Educational Foundation in communist Czechoslovakia, Scruton was awarded the First of June Prize in 1993 by the Czech city of Plzeň. In 1998 Václav Havel, president of the Czech Republic, presented him with the Medal of Merit (First Class). In the UK, he was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for "services to philosophy, teaching and public education". His family accompanied him to the ceremony, which was performed by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. Polish President Andrzej Duda presented Scruton with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland in June 2019 "for supporting the democratic transformation in Poland". In November that year, the Senate of the Czech Parliament awarded him a Silver Medal for his work in support of Czech dissidents. The following month, during a ceremony in London, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán presented