Abstract
On 11 September 1997, voters in Scotland voted emphatically for the
establishment of a Parliament and convincingly in favour of it having
tax-varying powers. This was the culmination of years of debate. The
result came shortly after the Labour Party under Tony Blair was
returned to power with a huge House of Commons majority following
eighteen years in opposition. A previous referendum in Scotland on
devolution had been held in March 1979, in the dying days of the last
Labour government. A narrow majority had then voted for devolution.
The recent referendum saw the three main parties favouring a Scottish
Parliament -Labour, Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party
(SNP) - combine to win an overall majority on both questions, leaving
only the Conservatives, who had lost all their seats in Scotland as well
as losing office in the general election, campaigning against devolution.
Elections to the new Parliament will take place in May 1999.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 166-181 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Parliamentary Affairs |
Volume | 51 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published - Apr 1998 |
Keywords
- Scotland
- devolution
- referendum