The
Scottish referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative
referendumA referendum , ballot question, or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal...
held in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, over whether there was support for the creation of a
parliamentThe Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood" , is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
for Scotland and whether there was support for a parliament with tax varying powers. The referendum was a manifesto commitment of the
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
and was held in their first term after the
United Kingdom general election, 1997The UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992. The Labour Party won the general election in a landslide victory with 418 seats, the most seats the party has ever held...
. This was the second referendum held in Scotland over the question of
devolutionDevolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a Sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level...
, the first being the
Scotland referendum, 1979The Scottish referendum of 1979 was a post-legislative referendum to decide whether there was sufficient support for the Scotland Act 1978 among the Scottish electorate. This was an act to create a deliberative assembly for Scotland...
.
The
Labour PartyScottish Labour, often described as the Scottish Labour Party, is that part of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland. It is historically the largest political party in modern Scottish politics, having won the largest share of the vote in Scotland at every UK general election since the...
,
Scottish National PartyThe Scottish National Party is a centre-left political party which campaigns for Scottish independence. In the last few decades, the SNP has normally polled the second highest number of votes for a political party in Scotland. However, the 2009 European Election saw the party top the poll with...
,
Liberal DemocratsThe Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems or just Liberals, are a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party; the two parties had been in alliance for seven years, from shortly after the formation of...
, and
Scottish Green PartyThe Scottish Green Party is the Green party of Scotland. It currently has two MSPs in the devolved Scottish Parliament, Robin Harper, representing the Lothians, and Patrick Harvie, for Glasgow....
campaigned for the acceptance of both proposals .
The
Scottish referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative
referendumA referendum , ballot question, or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal...
held in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, over whether there was support for the creation of a
parliamentThe Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood" , is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
for Scotland and whether there was support for a parliament with tax varying powers. The referendum was a manifesto commitment of the
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
and was held in their first term after the
United Kingdom general election, 1997The UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992. The Labour Party won the general election in a landslide victory with 418 seats, the most seats the party has ever held...
. This was the second referendum held in Scotland over the question of
devolutionDevolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a Sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level...
, the first being the
Scotland referendum, 1979The Scottish referendum of 1979 was a post-legislative referendum to decide whether there was sufficient support for the Scotland Act 1978 among the Scottish electorate. This was an act to create a deliberative assembly for Scotland...
.
Party support
The
Labour PartyScottish Labour, often described as the Scottish Labour Party, is that part of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland. It is historically the largest political party in modern Scottish politics, having won the largest share of the vote in Scotland at every UK general election since the...
,
Scottish National PartyThe Scottish National Party is a centre-left political party which campaigns for Scottish independence. In the last few decades, the SNP has normally polled the second highest number of votes for a political party in Scotland. However, the 2009 European Election saw the party top the poll with...
,
Liberal DemocratsThe Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems or just Liberals, are a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party; the two parties had been in alliance for seven years, from shortly after the formation of...
, and
Scottish Green PartyThe Scottish Green Party is the Green party of Scotland. It currently has two MSPs in the devolved Scottish Parliament, Robin Harper, representing the Lothians, and Patrick Harvie, for Glasgow....
campaigned for the acceptance of both proposals . The
Conservative & Unionist PartyThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
was the only major party to officially oppose both the proposals. Curiously, though, Labour
MPA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
Tam DalyellSir Thomas Dalyell of the Binns, 11th Baronet , known as Tam Dalyell , is a Scottish politician, was a Labour member of the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005....
opposed the creation of a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
ParliamentA parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French parlement, the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at...
but in favour of giving such a Parliament the power to raise and lower taxes on the basis that, although he opposed the Parliament as proposed by his party, if it did exist it should have tax varying powers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/devolution/scotland/briefing/dissent.shtml
Results
The referendum was held on 11 September 1997. The result was 'Yes-Yes', i.e. the majority voted in favour of both proposals.
Question 1
For the first question, the electorate were asked to indicate whether:
1. I agree that there should be a Scottish Parliament; or
2. I do not agree that there should be a Scottish Parliament
| 1.Agree: 1,775,045 (74.3%) |
|
|
2.Disagree: 614,400 (25.7%) |
| ▲ |
| Turnout |
Total votes cast |
| 60.4% |
2,645,308 |
A majority voted in favour in every Scottish local authority area.
Question 2
For the second question, the electorate were asked to indicate whether:
1. I agree that a Scottish Parliament should have tax-varying powers; or
2. I do not agree that a Scottish Parliament should have tax-varying powers
| 1.Agree: 1,512,889 (63.5%) |
|
|
2.Disagree: 870,263 (36.5%) |
| ▲ |
| Turnout |
Total votes cast |
| 60.4% |
2,645,308 |
A majority voted in favour in every Scottish local authority area, with the exceptions of Dumfries & Galloway and Orkney.
Government response
In response to the majority voting for both proposals, the United Kingdom Parliament passed the
Scotland Act 1998The Scotland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is the Act which established the devolved Scottish Parliament....
, creating the
Scottish ParliamentThe Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood" , is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
and Scottish Executive.
See also
- Referendums in the United Kingdom
Referendums are only occasionally held by the government of the United Kingdom. Nine referendums have been held so far , the first in 1973; only one of these covered the whole UK. There are at least two planned for the future...
- Wales referendum, 1997
The Welsh referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales only over whether there was support for the creation of an assembly for Wales. Unlike the referendum in Scotland, there was no proposal for the assembly to have tax varying powers...
- Scottish independence
Scottish independence is a political ambition of a number of political parties, pressure groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and regain its status as an independent country....