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The history of demands for a Scottish Parliament can be traced back to the last quarter of the 19th century. Following the renewed demands for Irish Home rule, in 1886 the Scottish Home Rule Association (SHRA) was established to further Scottish demands for self-government. In the years following the initial campaign for Scottish Home Rule the SHRA and pressure groups such as the Young Scots Society (YSS) and the International Scots Home Rule League (ISHRL) demonstrated the existence of popular support for Scottish self-government. Indeed, the issue of Scottish devolution has been a constant, if peripheral, issue in British politics since the early days of Scottish Home Rule campaigning in the late 19th century.
The success of the pro-devolution cause in the last three decades of the 20th century was due to a series of interconnected factors associated with the territorial management of the UK. The roots of the demand for Scottish self-government are complex and broadly relate to the following factors:
The declining parliamentary representation of the Conservative Party in Scotland throughout the 1980s and 1990s emphasised the perception of a 'democratic deficit'. Increasingly Scottish political representation was regarded as marginalised, as the governing party in Westminster had to fill Scottish political institutions with MPs from English constituencies. Furthermore, Conservative government policies were perceived as threatening the welfare state that remained popular among the Scottish electorate. It is important that the 'democratic deficit' perceived after 18 years of Conservative governments is recognised for its profound influence.
One point to illustrate this perception was made during the 1997 referendum campaign when former Conservative Party Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, visited Glasgow to make a speech to the North American Travel Agents Association. The headline in the Daily Record the next day presented photographs of Margaret Thatcher and William Hague with the statement "Two Reasons for Voting Yes! Yes!". SNP leader Alex Salmond suggested that Margaret Thatcher's visit was the best advertisement for Scottish self-government possible, and Scottish Conservative Party insiders had privately attempted to downplay her planned visit.
The success of pro-devolution forces in the 1997 referendum was based upon the broad range of support for the creation of a Scottish parliament and was characterised by a level of cross-party support previously not seen within the campaigns for Scottish self-government. Over the years the main parties in Scotland have debated internally over their position on Scottish devolution and the four main parties have all undergone periods of shifting levels of support and opposition to the prospect of a Scottish Parliament.
The Labour party has traditionally found it difficult to reconcile the conflict between demands for Scottish home rule and promoting a UK wide socialist programme. The Labour party has had a strong level of support for Scottish Home Rule since the earliest period of its history. Keir Hardie was a supporter of Scottish Home Rule as were the Red Clydesiders. The Labour party took a prominent role within the SHRA and the relationship was reciprocal as the Scottish Home Rule Association backed Keir Hardie's unsuccessful candidacy for the Mid Lanark constituency by-election. However, the post-1945 period has been characterised by devolution being regarded as an irritating distraction by the Labour Party leadership.
The Attlee government between 1945 and 1951 had to deal with the popular support for Scottish devolution as illustrated in the Daily Express poll in 1947 where 75% support was registered (80% among socialists). The then Secretary of State for Scotland, Arthur Woodburn, regarded such support for devolution in Scotland to be as much to do with a reaction to government policies as with any sense of national identity. Woodburn's response reflected this interpretation by falling well short of any discussion of devolution. The immediate outcome of the pro-devolution sentiment was to focus on the financial arrangements between Scotland and England.
The Labour party developed a strong unionist position for the post-1945 period up until the electoral successes of the SNP in the late 1960s. Despite earlier demands for action on Scottish self-government, it was not until the success of the SNP in local and by-elections in the late 1960s that Harold Wilson's government established a royal commission on the constitution in 1969. The Kilbrandon Commission reported back in 1973 and the majority report recommended a system of home rule. By this time the Labour Party were in opposition.
The two general elections of 1974 saw the spectacular rise of the SNP, and between the February and October elections the Labour Party came out clearly in support of devolution. However, divisions were clear within the party. In 1976, Jim Sillars and other home rule supporters broke away from the Labour Party to create the Scottish Labour Party (SLP). The SLP may have been short-lived and much vilified as a political party, but its programme has been influential in shaping the policies of the SNP. Indeed, Jim Sillars was to go on to represent the SNP in the UK parliament after a high-profile victory in the November 1988 Govan by-election.
The Conservative Party has a traditional position as a unionist party and had a clear anti-devolution policy for Scotland in the period before 1945. By 1945 the Attlee government's nationalisation programme was strongly criticised for taking control of Scottish industries from Scotland. When the Conservatives returned to power in 1951 they established a royal commission on Scottish affairs. However, the Conservative government did not support Scottish devolution and the thirteen years of Conservative government between 1951 and 1964 witnessed a barren time for pro-devolutionists and a consistent Conservative opposition to Scottish home rule.
As with the Labour Party, it was the electoral rise of the SNP that paralleled the changing Conservative position on Scottish devolution. In 1968 Conservative Party leader Edward Heath gave his 'Declaration of Perth' statement supporting the establishment of a Scottish assembly. The policy was centrally developed and imposed on the party membership. The issue of devolution waned with the Conservative victory in the 1970 general election and the failure of the SNP to build on local and by-election successes. Rather than rejecting the 1968 declaration, the Conservative government was able to ignore devolution as more pressing issues dominated the 1970-1974 Conservative government.
The success of the Labour party in the two 1974 elections and the emergence of Margaret Thatcher as leader of the Conservative Party in 1976 signalled another change in the Conservative Party's position towards Scottish devolution. The policy of the Thatcher government towards Scottish devolution was clearly opposed to any level of Scottish self-government. The change of policy did have repercussions, with the resignation from the shadow cabinet of Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Alick Buchanan-Smith and his junior and future Secretary of State, Malcolm Rifkind.
John Major's decision to 'take stock' after the 1992 general election victory was one that attempted to deal with the upsurge of pro-devolution sentiment in the immediate aftermath of the election result. During this period popular campaigns such as Scotland United attracted widespread support.
The Liberal Party can claim to have a consistent policy in support of Scottish home rule. The Liberals have advocated Scottish home rule as part of its UK-wide devolution process since the 1880s. However, in common the other major UK parties, in office these commitments have never come to fruition. However, the Liberals almost achieved their programme of devolution just before the first world war, but out of government since 1922 there has been consistent support for and the promotion of home rule across the UK. Indeed, the Liberal Party joint assembly in 1961 passed a motion calling for Scottish self-government. The Liberal Democratic Party has retained the traditional support for devolution throughout the UK, and played a significant role in the pre-devolution campaign.
The SNP has as its basic objective the attainment of Scottish self-government. Where division has occurred within the party is whether self-government means complete independence or a devolved parliament. This basic objective was the compromise between the moderates advocating devolution and hard-liners unwilling to settle for anything less than independence. The real relevance of SNP to the debate over self-government has been through their electoral rise since the mid-1960s, and particularly after the dramatic increase in votes in 1974's two general elections. During this period the SNP share of the vote in Scotland increased dramatically to 30.4% and made the party the second largest in Scotland behind Labour.
Perhaps the most obvious question asked in relation to the two devolution referendums held in 1979 and 1997 is why the latter succeeded where the former failed. What needs to be appreciated are the similarities and the significant differences between the two referendums and the accompanying campaigns. On the face of it, the major similarity seems to be that a Labour Government promoted both devolution referendums. In truth, it was a backbench revolt that forced the issue of a referendum in 1976, while it was the leadership that insisted on a referendum in 1997. However, the context of the 1997 referendum was quite distinct from that of 1979.
In both the 1979 and 1997 campaigns it was a Labour government that presented the opportunity for the popular demand for Scottish self-government. However, there were striking differences in the context of these two Labour governments. The Labour government between 1974 and 1979 had briefly held a majority, but had governed as a minority government with the support of an informal coalition of nationalist parties and the Liberal Party. The Labour Party itself was deeply divided on the issue of devolution, and the passage of the necessary devolution legislation was far from smooth. Most significantly, an amendment to the passage of the legislation was made by George Cunningham, a Scots MP representing a London constituency. The 'Cunningham Amendment' imposed the 40% rule that meant that the success of the pro-devolution option in the referendum would only be assured if 40% of the total electorate voted for it. In essence, those not voting in the referendum were taken as voting against it.
Also at this time, Tam Dalyell, Labour MP for West Lothian, posed the West Lothian question - is it permissible that the MP for West Lothian be able to vote on legislation for English constituencies while a Scottish Parliament dealt with issues relevant to his own constituency? This question has been at the heart of the problems associated with incorporating a devolved system of regional government into the existing parliamentary arrangements at Westminster. In the end, the failure to achieve the 40% of the total electorate specified in the referendum act meant that the answer to the West Lothian question did not need to be answered at that time.
In contrast, the Labour government in 1997 came to power in a landslide election with a clear policy of constitutional change. Constitutional reform proposals included devolution for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as the possibility of regional assemblies in England, an elected Mayor for London and the reform of the House of Lords. The issue of devolution was now less controversial, although division still existed to the extent that Tam Dalyell continued to highlight the ambiguity of the West Lothian question. However, by 1997, the West Lothian question was being dismissed as 'an anomaly' and no serious discussion of it was allowed to interrupt the pace of developments towards introducing the referendum legislation. The referendum that would confirm the assertion made by the late John Smith, former leader of the Labour party, that Scottish devolution was indeed 'the settled will of the Scottish people'.
One other important factor that distinguishes the referendums of 1979 and 1997 was the relative cohesion of the cross-party YES! YES! campaign in 1997. Given the total collapse of Conservative Party parliamentary representation in the 1997 general election, the Think Twice anti-devolution campaign was also a weak contrast to the cross-party anti-devolution campaign of 1979. The relative cohesion of the pro-devolution campaign was built upon the Scottish Constitutional Convention (SCC), which involved non-partisan campaigners as well as significant representation from the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats. Over the years since the late 1980s the SCC, and other pro-devolution initiatives, helped maintain the issue of Scottish self-government in the public's eye.
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