The Scottish devolution referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Scotland on 11 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of a Scottish Parliament with devolved powers, and whether the Parliament should have tax-varying powers. The referendum was a Labour manifesto commitment and was held in their first term after the 1997 election. This was the second referendum held in Scotland over the question of devolution, the first being in 1979. Turnout for the referendum was 60.4%.
Background
A referendum was held in 1979 under a Labour government which stipulated that a Scottish Assembly would come into being if the referendum had been supported by 50% of votes cast plus a controversial rule whereby at least 40% of the electorate had to vote in favour. Although 51.6% voted in favour, this was only 32.9% of the electorate so the Assembly was not brought into being. Shortly afterwards, the predominantly anti-devolution-led Conservative Party won the United Kingdom general election, 1979.
The Scottish referendum of 1979 was a post-legislative referendum to decide whether there was sufficient support for a Scottish Assembly proposed in the Scotland Act 1978 among the Scottish electorate. This was an act to create a devolveddeliberative assembly for Scotland. An amendment to the Act stipulated that it would be repealed if fewer than 40% of the total electorate voted Yes in the referendum. The result was that 51.6% supported the proposal, but with a turnout of 64%, this represented only 32.9% of the registered electorate. The Act was subsequently repealed.
Background
In 1976, the UK's Labour government led by James Callaghan, which had won the previous general election in 1974 by just three seats, had lost its parliamentary majority entirely following a series of adverse by-election results. To recreate a voting majority in the House of Commons, the government made an agreement with the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru whereby, in return for their support in Commons votes, the government would instigate legislation to devolve political powers from Westminster to Scotland and Wales. This in turn followed the findings of the Kilbrandon commission which had recommended the establishment of a separate Scottish parliament.
In modern use, "Scottish people" or "Scots" is used to refer to anyone whose linguistic, cultural, family ancestral or genetic origins are from within Scotland. The Latin word Scotti originally referred to the Gaels but came to describe all inhabitants of Scotland. Though sometimes considered archaic or pejorative, the term Scotch has also been used for the Scottish people, though this usage is current primarily outside Scotland.
There are people of Scottish descent in many countries other than Scotland. Emigration, influenced by factors such as the Highland and Lowland Clearances, Scottish participation in the British Empire, and latterly industrial decline and unemployment, resulted in Scottish people being found throughout the world. Large populations of Scottish people settled the new-world lands of North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. There is a Scottish presence at a particularly high level in Canada, which has the highest level per-capita of Scots descendants in the world and second largest population of descended Scots ancestry after the United States. They took with them their Scottish languages and culture.
A source close to Swinney drew a comparison with the 1997 devolution referendum where it had become apparent that setting up a Scottish parliament was the “settled will” of the electorate before the vote took place.
... on Scottish independence ... Scottish Labour MPs were not consulted on this generous new plan to devolve even more powers beyond what was originally promised during the 1997 referendum on devolution.
CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES ... It is a bold proposition, and it is badly needed ... Viewed from a Scottish perspective, devolution — first voted on in 1979, finally introduced following the referendum of 1997 — had the effect of resetting. UK. Scotland ... .
The former Labour leader, who legislated for the Scottish parliament after a referendum in 1997, also claimed the failure of the SNP to take Scotland out of the Union shows that devolution has worked.
Scottish independence ...There is no clear path toward achieving Scottish independence ... This after all was how Scotland secured its own Parliament following the 1997 devolution referendum, in which Scots voted overwhelmingly for its creation.
“One character says, ‘I was your age in 1979’, which is when there was a referendum on devolution, and now that’s a footnote to 1997, when there was another successful vote to create a Scottish parliament.
Indeed, what Frost doesn’t realise is that devolution is the settled will of the Scottish people. It had nearly 75 per cent support when put to a referendum in 1997 after years of cross-party support ...
“In order to achieve independence it would not be unreasonable for the yes side to demonstrate that it was the settled will of the Scottish people like in the 1997 devolution referendum where there ...
Campbell, who was one of Tony Blair’s most senior advisers during the 1997Scottish devolution referendum, called Truss’s comments “mindblowingly stupid as well as deeply offensive”.
