Pre-Entry Devolution Handout Neil McGarvey, Department of Government,
Table 1: Responsibilities of the Scottish Parliament
Reserved Areas (Not Devolved) Areas not reserved (responsibilities of
the Scottish parliament)
Common market for UK goods and services Agriculture, fisheries and forestry
Constitution of the United Kingdom Economic Development
Defence & national security Education
Employment legislation Environment
Fiscal, economic & monetary union Health
Health (in some areas), Medicine Housing
Media and culture Local Government
Professional Regulation (in certain cases) Law and Home Affairs
Protection of Borders Social Work
Social Security Training
Transport Safety & Regulation Transport
Source: Mitchell, J. (2000) ‘New Parliament, New Politics in Scotland’ Parliamentary Affairs 53(3) p.76
Table 2. Devolution Referendum Results
a. Scotland
1979
Yes 51.6 32.8
No 48.4 30.8
Turnout 63.6%
1997
Should there be a Scottish parliament? Should it have tax varying powers?
% %
Agree 74.3% Agree 63.5%
Disagree 25.7% Disagree 36.5%
Turnout 60.4%
b. Wales c. Northern Ireland d. London
Yes 50.3% Yes 71.1% Yes 72%
No. 49.7% No 28.9% No 28%
Turnout 50% Turnout 81% Turnout 33%
Table 3: Expectations of the Scottish Parliament (Pre-Devolution)
The Scottish Parliament would A Lot (%) A Little (%) Total (%)
Increase unemployment 2 9 11
Increase taxes 2 68 70
Improve the economy 26 60 86
Improve the standard of the NHS 36 46 82
Improve the quality of education 39 50 89
Improve the standard of social welfare 19 53 71
Source: Denver, D. J.Mitchell, C.Pattie & H.Bochel (2000) Scotland Decides: The Devolution Issue and the Scottish
Referendum (London; Frank Cass) p.200
Table 3: General Election results: number of seats (%votes) won in Scotland 1945 –
2005
Elections Labour Cons Liberal Dems SNP Others
Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats %
1945 37 47.6 27 41.1 0 5.0 0 1.2 4
1950 37 46.2 32 44.8 2 6.6 0 0.4 0
1951 35 47.9 35 48.6 1 2.7 0 0.3 0
1955 34 46.7 36 50.1 1 1.9 0 0.5 0
1959 38 46.7 31 47.2 1 4.1 0 0.8 0
1964 43 48.7 24 40.6 4 7.6 0 2.4 0
1966 46 49.9 20 37.7 5 6.8 0 5.0 0
1970 44 44.5 23 38.0 3 5.5 0 11.4 0
1974 (Feb) 41 36.6 21 32.9 3 7.9 7 21.9 0
1974 (Oct) 41 36.3 16 24.7 3 8.3 11 30.4 0
1979 44 41.5 22 31.4 3 9.0 2 17.3 0
1983 41 35.1 21 28.4 8 24.5 2 11.8 0
1987 50 42.4 10 24.0 9 19.4 3 11.0 0
1992 49 39.0 11 25.6 9 13.1 3 21.5 0
1997 56 45.6 0 17.5 10 13.0 6 22.1 0
2001 55 43.2 1 15.6 10 16.4 5 20.1 0
2005 41 39.5 1 15.8 11 22.6 6 17.7 0
Table 4: Scottish Election results: number of seats and % vote.
Ist Vote 2nd Vote Total
% Seats % Seats
SNP 1999 28.7 7 27.3 28 35
2003 23.8 9 21.6 18 27
2007 32.9 21 31.0 26 47
Lab 1999 38.8 53 33.6 3 56
2003 34.6 46 29.6 4 50
2007 32.2 37 29.2 9 4
Cons 1999 15.6 0 15.4 18 18
2003 16.6 3 15.5 15 18
2007 16.6 4 13.9 13 17
Lib D 1999 14.2 12 12.4 5 17
2003 15.4 13 11.6 4 17
2007 16.2 11 13.9 5 16
Green 1999 0 0 3.6 1 1
2003 0 0 6.5 7 7
2007 0.2 0 4.0 2 2
SSP 1999 1.0 0 2.0 1 1
2003 6.2 0 6.5 6 6
2007 0.0 0 0.6 0 0
Other 1999 1.7 1 5.7 0 1
2003 3.4 2 8.7 2 4
2007 3.1 0 7.4 1 1
Table 5: Best choice for national identity 1974-2005*
1974 1979 1992 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005
Scottish 65 56 72 72 77 77 73 79
British 31 38 25 20 17 16 20 14
* other, ‘don’t know’ and ‘not answered’ have been omitted
Data complied from Scottish Election Studies 1974-1997 and Scottish Social Attitudes
Surveys 1999 – 2006.
Table 6: Recent Trends in Scottish Constitutional Preferences
May Sept
1997 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005
% % % % % %
Scotland should
Be independent, separate 28 37 28 27 26 35
From UK and EU or sep
From UK but part of EU
Remain part of UK with 54 41 58 60 55 44
Its own elected Parliament
Remain part of the UK 18 17 10 9 13 14
Without an elected
Parliament
Sources: Scottish Election Study 1997, Scottish Referendum Study 1997, Scottish Social attitudes
Survey various years
Box 1: Bias at the 2007 Scottish Election
The Sun May 3rd 2007
Front page
Headline ‘VOTE SNP TODAY AND YOU PUT SCOTLAND’S HEAD IN THE NOOSE’
Sub-Headings: HIGHER TAXES, JOBS ON THE LINE, DEATH OF THE UNION, DEFENCE
IN CHAOS
Page 4 & 5 had ‘10 Reasons to be Fearful’ with the editorial on page 6 declaring ‘Only Labour
can save us from a living nightmare!’
Daily Record May 3rd 2007
Front Page
Headline: Today’s election is not about war in Iraq. It is not about Tony Blair. It is about who
will run Scotland. It is about schools, hospitals and law and order. Do not sleepwalk into
independence. Do not let a protest vote break up Britain. THINK ABOUT IT.
Pages 6, 7, 8, 9 referred to ‘COCKY Alex Salmond’, had a map of ‘ESTIMATED JOBS LOST/AT
RISK (OVER 200,000!), an editorial urging readers ‘Do note vote for Alex Salmond today’ and a
page urging readers to vote tactically in 10 seats (including a recommendation to Vote Tory in
two of them).
The unionist tabloid media bias was not so apparent in 1992 when the Scottish Sun re-launched
itself under the banner headline (with a Scottish Saltire in the background) RISE AND BE A
NATION AGAIN – the paper announcing its (short-lived) conversion to the cause of Scottish
independence. Both the Daily Record and the Scottish Sun have regularly sought to proclaim
their Scottishness with advertising slogans such as ‘Real Scots Read The Record’ and ‘Standing
Up for Scotland’. The Scottish Sun had a thistle on its mast-head for a number of years.
Box 2: The SNP’s ‘National Conversation’
After its election in 2007 the SNP sought to ignite a public debate on Scotland’s constitutional
future. The new Government outlined three options (although the SNP is clear on which it
prefers):
Retention of the devolution scheme as set out in the Scotland Act 1998.
Redesigning devolution by redrawing the boundaries of devolved and reserved powers.
Independence.
However, the fate of this debate depends to a large extent on two factors. The first is the new
pragmatic attitude of the SNP Government, keen to reinforce its image of governing
competence by engaging with its new powers and working within both the constraints of a
devolution settlement and the need to work with other parties in Parliament. This is reflected
in its first legislative programme and its ‘first 100 days’ commitments which were revised to
reflect its minority government status (see Cairney, 2007c for a full review). The second factor is
the stance of the other political parties towards an independence agenda, which has shifted
since the 2007 election campaign.