Scottish devolution.

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Politics B – Learning Outcome 5

After the Union Treaty between the Kingdoms of Scotland and England in 1707, the Scottish Parliament was dissolved and power was sent down to Westminster.  For the following 300 years, Scotland was ruled by a southern power-base, perceived by many to be biased to southern needs and wishes.  Since the signing of the treaty, many different groups have pushed for some sort of home rule for Scotland, if not complete independence.  The core argument was that Scottish governance should not be dependent on political control created by a House of Commons majority in which Scotland - with a relatively small presence at Westminster - inevitably played only a minor role.  That argument grew in strength during the years of the Conservative rule, from 1979 to 1997.  During this period Scotland elected few Tory MPs and so it was claimed that a party that it did not elect governed the country. And as a result Scotland was often on the receiving end of policies, such as the Poll Tax, which it palpably rejected.  The need for legislation tailored to Scottish needs, and for Scottish ministers and their policies to be held to account by Scotland’s elected representatives became hard to accommodate satisfactorily within the British parliamentary system at Westminster. Often Scottish legislation was included in Bills for the rest of the UK, despite the different legal and administrative arrangements.  In the early 1900s, the UK Government examined proposals for Home Rule in Scotland and Ireland, but due to the war, these were shelved.  Since then, various other bills and green/white papers have been drawn up, but none have managed to make it all the way through Westminster and out the other end.  The closest Scotland came to Home Rule was in 1979 when the last Labour Government before the Thatcher years held a referendum in Scotland.  The majority voted for Home Rule, but due to a clause in the bill about a minimum percentage of turnout at the voting, an assembly was not created.  Then in 1997 a referendum was held and Scotland voted for a devolved Scottish Parliament with limited tax varying powers.  In 1998 the 'Scotland Act' was passed which outlined the constitution and powers of the Parliament and on 1st July 1999 the Parliament was officially opened.  

The elections for the Scottish Parliament use the additional member system.

The Parliament has 129 members, 73 from the Constituencies which are elected on the first past the post system (as they are at Westminster).  There are another 56 additional members selected on a proportional basis from the party lists drawn up for each of the current 8 European Parliament Constituencies.  Many supporters of devolution were concerned that an election using first past the post – the way in which British people vote for their MPs – would lead to a huge Labour majority in the parliament even if their true level of support were less than 50% of voters.  Another fear was that the Conservatives, despite their support of around one in five Scottish voters, might end up with no seats under FPTP, just as they failed to win any seats in Scotland in the 1997 General Election.

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The Scottish Constitutional Convention and the Government therefore decided to use a different system – one that was new to Britain but has been used widely around the world, including in Germany and New Zealand.  That system is the Additional Member System (AMS) and its major benefit is that the number of seats a party wins is more fairly related to its share of the vote.   Using the additional member system, each elector has two votes.  The first is cast for a constituency Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) in the same way that Westminster Members of Parliament are elected. ...

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