History of the movement Devolution History of the movement

How is Scotland governed? As you know we have different levels of decision making in Scotland – different representatives who can affect different parts of our lives. At the bottom we have the local council (Moray Council). This is the “localist” level to us. They deal with things like the upkeep of schools, bin collection, keeping the roads open, libraries and leisure centres and stuff. There are 32 local councils in Scotland Above that we have the Scottish Parliament – this has been around since 1999, and deals with bigger decisions on health and education. Like Curriculum for Excellence. These are called “devolved powers”. The powers of the Scottish Parliament are currently being reviewed, and will increase following the independence referendum. Above that we have the Westminster Parliament. They make decisions on the issues that affect the whole of the UK – like defence and unemployment benefits and stuff. These are called “reserved powers”. The powers of the Westminster Parliament are under review too, as English MPs find it unfair that there is a Scottish Parliament to deal with Scottish issues, but no separate English Parliament. Above that is the European Union. As we signed to become members of the EU in 1973, all laws that are passed in the UK have to be within the rules of the EU. The EU has the power to overrule the UK. Membership of the EU is pretty controversial at the moment. If the Conservatives win the election there may be a referendum on leaving the EU.

Devolution Devolving in a political sense basically means passing power from a central government to a more local government. The idea behind this is that people feel more included if the decisions that affect them are being made more locally. The debate however, is over which powers should be devolved: which powers would Scotland want? Which powers does Westminster want to keep? What is fair, considering the rest of the UK don’t have the same deal? So devolution is complicated – and is to be further decided as we move towards the “Devo Max” offered by the other parties at referendum time.

Independence As you know there was a referendum on whether Scotland should become an independent country on September the 18th 2014. One of the difficulties in the campaign was that it was difficult for the yes campaign to truly explain what independence would mean for Scotland. In the past there was this idea of what was called a “Westphalian” state – this meant that a country would be free to conduct all of its affairs as it saw fit. But the fact is that today we live in an interconnected world. All countries have signed treaties and agreements with other countries, and so all countries rely on each other and must negotiate with each other when they wish to make changes. Even the USA is not completely independent – it is a member of organisations such as NATO, the UN and NAFTA, all of which limit its ability to act on its own.

Independence continued Scotland would have been independent within Europe. Which would mean that any laws made would have to be okayed by the EU Parliament. There was also the issue of whether Scotland would have chosen to keep the pound as its currency, this would have meant that policies to do with tax would still have to be negotiated with what remained of the UK. Scotland would be a small country in a globalized world, subject to EU commitments and accepting a legal commitment to decision making with what remained of the UK. So independence was a complicated issue – as there were so many questions that could no be answered before it happened.

Activity Why is devolution and independence a complicated issue?

A bit of history (yuck) before 1997 Scotland has voted broadly Labour since World War 2, however, in England there was a strong surge in support for Conservatives when Thatcher came in in 1979. Before Thatch people had voted quite heavily along class lines, so most middle class people voted Conservative and most working class people voted Labour. However during the 1980’s under Thatch Britain went through a process of what was called “de-industrialisation”. This meant that many heavy industries like manufacturing, and mining were closed down as they weren’t profitable enough. Many working class men lost their jobs. At the same time the jobs that replaced these heavy jobs tended to be in the service sector, and these were jobs that women tended to take.

Right to buy The new working class jobs were of lower pay and worse working conditions, with a reliance on part-time workers. Many of the men who had lost their jobs became long term unemployed. At the same time Thatcher introduced the right to buy council property. This meant that those who had not lost their jobs could apply to buy their council homes at a much reduced rate. The idea behind this was to make people more aspirational. Believing that if people owned their own homes they would feel more pride in their community and more incentive to work harder. It also meant that local councils would have less money coming in from rent and less money to spend on the upkeep of homes and communities.

Business and tax Businesses like BT, Electricity, and British Gas had been run by the government up to this point. Thatcher sold these off to private ownership. There was also a lot of money coming in from the newly discovered oil fields in the North Sea. The government used this money to provide tax cuts. Thatcher’s plan was that if people paid less tax and received less services they would be encouraged to take more individual responsibility for their own lives. People would own property and shares in businesses and this would make them stakeholders in society

Scotland Scotland was disproportionately affected by this, as many of the industries targeted were heavily based in the Central Belt. Added to this was the fact that Scotland was consistently voting Labour and getting a Conservative government, so the “Scottish Office” which was the department of the Westminster government that dealt with all things Scottish, was being staffed by Conservative Ministers. People began to feel that Labour had no real chance of forming a government, and so the calls for independence and support for the SNP grew during the 80’s and 90’s.

growing calls for independence Scotland hated the Conservative government, especially as the Conservatives tested out a tax called the Poll Tax on Scotland before they tried it on the rest of the UK. It caused a massive campaign of civil disobedience, there were protests and people were jailed for refusing to pay. The Conservatives lost all of their MPs in Scotland in 1992 – yet the UK still had a Conservative government. For this reason the UK Conservative government was seen as lacking legitimacy in Scotland – something would have to change. The movement for independence became stronger and stronger.

Activity Summarise what you know so far about the movement towards devolution in Scotland before 1997- think about: Changes in employment Business and tax UK government Right to buy

1997 – Labour Victory! In 1997, Tony Blair won the general election for the Labour Party – he had a difficult decision to make: He could promise Scotland devolution but there was a fear that this devolution would lead to Scotland wanting more independence Labour’s electoral base was in Scotland, and the threat from the SNP was growing, if Labour didn’t offer Scotland something then they could lose their votes to the SNP – but if Scotland became independent, Labour would not win an election in England again. So a referendum was held on Scottish devolution, and the yes campaign won by a huge margin.

CSG This meant that a new Parliament would be set up in Scotland. The CSG (Consultative Steering group) was a cross part group which was set up to design the new political system in Scotland. They wanted to take the best bits of the Westminster system, but get rid of the worst bits, in order to make the Scottish Parliament more democratic and more open They worked on the design of the building itself, the voting system and the law-making processes in the Parliament. In 1999 the first Scottish Parliament was elected.

Since 1999 There have been 5 elections 1999-2003 Labour/Lib Dem coalition 2003-2007 Labour/Lib Dem coalition 2007-2011 SNP minority government 2011-2016 SNP majority government 2016 – 2021 SNP minority government

Successes Equally Well Smoking Ban New Politics – different types of government that have all been relatively stable – two coalitions, two minorities, one majority – consensus politics

Difficulties Issues that Scottish gov has no/limited power over Benefits Unemployment Lack of accountability over spending – talk about the block grant and the percentage of spending that the government makes, but is not accountable for raising it. This is against democratic principles

Various Commissions Many commissions have pondered the question of devolution or independence – but most have not considered all aspects of the question Calman, Smith and Steele Commissions would not countenance independence and did not look at the option – they all thought devolution was a success and thought more powers for Scottish Parliament – but not indy. When the SNP won a majority in 2011, they were able to push forward with a referendum on independence - “National Conversation” and the referendum, opened the debate up to the people.

2012 Scotland Act In the midst of all the talk about the referendum, the 2012 Scotland Act was passed – which gave more powers tot eh Scottish Parliament – though they were still not significant. For example, there was the power to change drink driving regulations in Scotland – which is why we have lower levels than the rest of the UK

The referendum The SNP opened up a two year long debate on Scottish Independence It was supposed to be a once in a generation, final, decision

Some questions about independence remained unanswered EU Pound Passports Much of the debate was just contradiction – people were looking for answers from experts, as politicians seemed unable to give them What is Devo-Max?

Now the debate in England and Wales Perceived unfairness – EVEL – English Votes for English Laws. Why do Scottish MPs have the right to vote on laws affecting English constituencies? Northern areas of England are asking for devolution – “Devo-Mancs” – (Manchester) UKIP and the Conservatives are making political capital out of the growth of the SNP in Scotland – suggesting that any Labour government would need to give in to SNP demands. Suggestion that SNP MPs would hold the UK government to ransom. End Trident, Stop Benefit Cuts, Higher taxes. Jockophobia. Why should England end up with a government it hasn’t voted for?!? Ironic since Scotland has had a Conservative government that it hasn’t voted for, for years!

The Vow – Devo-Max . The Smith Commission A week before the vote on independence, opinion polls saw a big shift – it seemed like independence could win. The leaders of all the “Better Together” parties came to Scotland and made a vow to increase the powers of the Scottish Parliament to “devo-max” The Smith Commission was set up to recommend which new powers the Scottish Parliament would get. New powers will come to Scotland – but will they be enough? Is this part of the long-game towards independence?

Brexit? Will this lead to another Indy referendum?

DEBATE!!!! Is devolution the best form of government for Scotland?