EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) – With barely the raising of a glass, Scotland is preparing to mark 300 years since accepting the Treaty of Union with England – which bound two countries together and gave the world Great Britain.

The anniversary Tuesday of the Scottish parliament’s voting to accept the treaty is focusing attention on growing discord, with advocates of Scottish independence gaining strength in their campaign for a referendum on breaking the union.

“This treaty can and will be undone and at the moment there is a wellspring of Scottish nationalism,” said Murray Ritchie, former political editor of The Herald newspaper and convener of the Scottish Independence Convention. “What we need is a referendum to settle the issue of independence.”

The Union has been contested since 1707, when mobs took to the streets of Edinburgh and Glasgow as news of the vote spread.

Though Scotland’s parliament dissolved, the country maintained much of its national identity, its own legal and education systems and its own religion – Presbyterianism, although Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Church of Scotland.

Scotland’s most famous poet, Robert Burns, labelled those who voted for union as a “parcel of rogues” – but recent books by historians and academics argue Scotland prospered as a junior partner in the British Empire.

The tricentenary, and the strong opinion poll standings of the pro-independence Scottish National Party have given the topic a fresh impetus for Scotland’s population of 5 million.

Even Christopher Smout, the queen’s official historian for Scotland and emeritus professor of history at St Andrews University, said that independence is “perfectly feasible.”

Smout said the English were “completely indifferent to whether or not the union remains in its current form,” he said. “Although I do think the queen would be sorry.”

He said most Scots cared little for concerns over liberty, democracy or nationalism, claiming the debate would come “down to simple straightforward taxation.”

“They don’t want to pay a few more pennies in the pound on tax as they probably would under independence,” Smout said.

Some of England’s 50 million people grumble that Scotland effectively rules the United Kingdom – bemoaning the abundance of Scottish lawmakers in high-ranking positions and the key factor Scottish polling districts play in determining national elections.

Prime Minister Tony Blair was born in Edinburgh, while Scotsman and Treasury chief Gordon Brown is almost certain to take office by September. The only potential challenger would be another Scot – Home Secretary John Reid.