SCOTTISH DEVOLUTION

Presentation by: Ted.

Lead Researcher: Jonathan.
Researchers: Harry, Rahat, Adeeba, Ted.
The guy who did most of the work: Fedor
History.

Before Act of Union 1707 (AU) scotland was

fiercely nationalist, but some people suggested
unification with England for economical gain.

AU 1707- joined Scotland and England into a

single state, but Scotland kept it’s separate
Church and Legal system.

In 1885 some administrative powers were

handed back to scotland- such as fisheries, law,
farming, education and health.

In 1934 SNP was formed, it seeked to unite all

of the nationalist movement in Scotland.
History 2
In 1978 a referendum was held, 1,230,937
voted yes, but it was below required 40%
turnout, so was deemed illegitimate.

In 1997, after New Labour, 1,776,045

voted in favour, 70% turnout- which
deemed it legitimate, so a scottish
parliament was formed in 1999 ,with
labour taking 56 out of 129 seats, biggest
party.

In 2007 SNP won 47 seats, becoming the

biggest party in SP for the first time, with
69 seats in 2011- which made it the
majority party.

Independence Referendum in 2014, “no”

won with 55%.
Context.

Electoral system used- Additional Members System - one is

westminster style FPTP (73 MSPs) and 56 MSPs are chosen
through party list.

Main parties - SNP - 64 seats, Tories- 31 seats, Labour- 22

seats.

There has been many different acts, since 1707 that shaped
scottish devolution. They will be discussed later.

Population - 5,466,000, 87.13% of those people were born in

Scotland, and 80% identify as Scottish or Scottish-british,
further 2% identify themselves as Scottish and other non-
british identity. 96.02% are white, while as 3.98% are
minorities.
 Key Legislation- Historical and New Labour.

Act of Union 1707- United Scotland and Britain, effectively ending hundreds of years of scotland as
an independent country.
Government of Scotland Bill 1913- the act was proposing to introduce a separate scottish government,
it have passed first two readings, by 204 to 159 votes, but was stopped due to the outbreak of WW1.
Scotland Act 1978 - The act generally proposed similar things to the SA 1998, however the
referendum after the act failed to gather enough turnout - the number fell short of required 40%,
despite it winning a small majority, therefore act had to be repealed.
Scotland act 1998 - GAve the scottish parliament primary legislative powers in a number of areas-
similar to 1885, as wella s allowed it to change taxes for up to 3p. (SVR)

Key Legislation - Further new
labour reform and post new
labour.
Scotland Act 2012 - transferred significant
tax-raising powers to the Scottish parliament,
notably, change the income tax by up to 10%-
SRIT, plus allowed scotland £5M for setting
up their own tax authority, Revenue Scotland.
Scottish Referendum (Franchise) Act 2013 -
passed by scottish parliament, allowed for the
Independence referendum to be hold.
Scotland Act 2016 - Saw a major further
devolution of powers to the SP- including
authority over such areas as equal
opportunities, abortion law, speed limits or
gaming machines. Also allowed to set its own
rate on Air Passenger Duty, as well as create
Income tax rate across any number of bands.
Impact of Brexit and the independence referendum.
Impact of the results of independent referendum- eroded reputation of SNP, but also brought about SA
2016, due to promises from the “no” campaigners.

Impact of the brexit-62% of Scots voting Remain in the Brexit referendum, created a grievance and a sense
that Scotland’s voice was being ignored.United Kingdom Internal market Act 2020 - it limited the reach of
devolved law, and increased pressure to conform to regulatory norms set by the UK government for
England. There were also talks of the independence referendum being illegitimate due to Brexit, as Scotland
voted to remain in UK that was a member of EU .
Current public opinion

In GB, 47% of people oppose the scottish independence, and 27% support it.

As of 2020, 57% of people support leaving UK in Scotland.

53% also think that Scotland would be worse-off financially if they left, and only 12% think they would be better-
off.
 Current Politics Opinion.

Scottish independence was again at the centre of debate in the 2021 SP election
campaign. The election delivered a third successive pro-independence majority. The
SNP and Scottish Greens, which both campaigned on a manifesto commitment to a
second referendum, won a combined 72 out of 129 seats.

The Scottish government argues that this pro-independence majority provides a “cast-
iron mandate” for a second referendum to now take place.

The UK government has held to the position that “now is not the time” for a second
referendum.[3] Secretary of state for Scotland Alister Jack has previously suggested
that a referendum should only be held if polls consistently found that 60% of Scots
wanted this to happen.
Have devolution go far enough?
Over the time of history, as we have seen, Scotland gained more and more powers after act of union 1707, with strong support for full
independence, especially after brexit.

Despite this, it would be wrong to say that Scotland doesn’t already have very much power over itself - own law, health, elections, own
parliament- it is much more than what Wales and Northern Ireland have. So, we of course can continue to devolve powers to Scotland, but
at the same time we need to understand that at some point devolving powers would be impossible, as it would mean full independence.
Therefore, due to the extent of the power devolved, we can say that beyond this- giving scots what they want - such as deciding
international treaties, would practically mean independence in everything but name.
Bibliography
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/05/04/who-supports-abolishing-devolved-parliaments-and-w

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2020/08/12/scottish-independence-yes-leads-53-47

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/issue/Scottish_independence?content=trackers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_Scotland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_devolution#:~:text=The%20Scottish%20devolution%20referendum%20of,to%20have%20tax%20varying%20powers.

https://ukandeu.ac.uk/scotland-independence-brexit-and-the-border/

https://www.scottish-devolution.org.uk

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4018581

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/explainer/scottish-independence

Wikipedia.

Pictures: Google Chrome.