IT was 50 years ago this week that Scotland’s territory was formally enlarged by thousands of square miles when the UK Parliament passed an Act bringing Rockall into Scotland.

The Island of Rockall Act received its royal assent on February 10, 1972, and thus the remote islet formally became part of Scotland.

The important section of the Act was this: “As from the date of the passing of this Act, the Island of Rockall (of which possession was formally taken in the name of Her Majesty on 18 September 1955 in pursuance of a Royal Warrant dated 14 September 1955 addressed to the Captain of Her Majesty’s Ship Vidal) shall be incorporated into that part of the United Kingdom known as Scotland and shall form part of the District of Harris in the County of Inverness and the Law of Scotland shall apply accordingly.”

READ MORE: Scots and Irish stuck between Rockall and hard place

Never has such a small piece of land caused so much of a stushie, one that has been going on for centuries. Ireland and Denmark, via the Faroe Islands, have also claimed Rockall as theirs in the past, due probably to the fishing and oil exploration rights that will come with possession of the islet.

Just 56ft high, 80ft wide and 102ft long (17.5m x 25m x 31m) Rockall is a volcanic plug which rises sheer from the skerries known as Helen’s Reef lying in about 80 metres of the Atlantic Ocean. It is uninhabitable with no vegetation, not least because it is regularly swamped by Atlantic storms.

In terms of proximity there is little doubt that Rockall is Scottish. The nearest point of Scotland to Rockall is Soay in the St Kilda archipelago which is some 187 miles, 301km, to the east. The nearest point of Ireland, which now does not actually have a formal claim to Rockall but which argues that it cannot be used to determine territorial rights, is Tory Island, some 263 miles, 432km, to the south-east of Rockall.

Rockall was also known in Gaelic as Roccabarraigh, and was seen as a mythical disappearing rock, with the legend that if Roccabarraigh appears three times, it will signal the end of the world.

Numerous attempts were made by both British and Irish ships to land on Rockall in an attempt to claim sovereignty, but it wasn’t until 2014 that Nick Hancock from Ratho near Edinburgh set the record for occupation of Rockall – a 60 day epic in a survival pod.

The UK first made a formal claim on Rockall in 1955, and it is very instructive to look back 50 years to the debates and issues that surrounded the Rockall acquisition.

In December, 1971, the House of Commons and its committees looked into the Island of Rockall Bill. Tory Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland Alick Buchanan-Smith said: “Once the island is incorporated in the United Kingdom, it will become subject to the provisions of the Fishery Limits Act, 1964. It will also be possible for an Order in Council to be made under the Continental Shelf Act, 1964.”

The National: Former Scottish Secretary Willie Ross

That showed what the Act was all about – fish and oil. Willie Ross (above), the Labour former, and indeed future, Secretary of State for Scotland famously told the House that more people had walked on the Moon than had been on Rockall – an exaggeration, but a typically well-made point by the old growler of Scottish politics.

Ross went on to say in Committee: “Many people wonder why, following annexation of Rockall in 1955, the Government are now seeking in 1971 to incorporate it into a part of the United Kingdom – or, to put the matter as in the Bill, as ‘… part of the United Kingdom known as Scotland and shall form part of the District of Harris in the County of Inverness …’ and to give it legal status. I think it is relevant to know why this is being introduced at this time.

“We were told on Second Reading that this was an anomaly which the Government were seeking to put right. I have my own ideas as to how and why this arose. One can understand our concern when we are dealing with how fishery limits will affect the fishing industry in 10 years’ time.”

The unsaid answer was that the Tory Government of Edward Heath knew they were going to enter the Common Market and wanted all the seas around Britain to have protection from European fisheries policy for at least 10 years. There was also the question – which has never been fully answered – as to how much oil and gas lay under and around Rockall.

The historical significance of the formal annexation was not lost on some. Ian MacArthur, MP for Perth and East Perthshire told the House: “This is the first time that that part of the United Kingdom known as Scotland has been extended since the Princess of Norway brought Orkney and Shetland as her dowry and extended the old Kingdom in that way.”

Note the quaint Unionist language – “that part of the UK known as Scotland”, a recognition of the ongoing rise of the SNP.

Ten years later, Ireland was still arguing about Rockall, and the Westminster Parliament was still debating. Sir John Biggs-Davison asked Secretary of State for Scotland George Younger: “In view of renewed interest by certain politicians in the Irish Republic, will my right hon. Friend affirm, on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government, that though it be uninhabited, and notwithstanding any negotiations on the law of the sea, Rockall is sovereign territory of the United Kingdom and will so remain?”

Younger replied: “The position has not changed since the Island of Rockall Act 1972. That position stands so far as the British Government are concerned.”

It still stands, especially after Brexit. When Scotland becomes independent, as a result of the Act, Rockall will be Scottish territory.