Referendum in Scotland 1979
In a referendum on decentralization ( English devolution referendum ) on March 1, 1979, the people of Scotland had the opportunity to comment on whether Scotland should get its own regional parliament within the United Kingdom . A narrow majority voted for the introduction of such a regional parliament.
background
Since the Act of Union of 1707, the two kingdoms of England and Scotland were united to form the " Kingdom of Great Britain " and there was no longer an independent Scottish parliament, but the parliamentarians elected in Scotland sat as members of the Parliament of Westminster in London. However, Scotland retained extensive special rights even after unification, such as B. their own bank , their own church organization , the law of Scotland , which is closer to continental law , and the Scots retained a pronounced regional self-confidence.
Scottish national movement after World War II
After the Second World War and with the dissolution of the former British Empire , voices were heard calling for regional autonomy or even independence for Scotland. A widely recognized signal was the victory of the Scottish National Party candidate , Winnie Ewing, in the by-election in the Scottish constituency of Hamilton on November 2, 1967. When extensive oil and gas reserves were discovered off the Scottish coast in the late 1960s and 1970s , The Scottish Autonomy Movement, under the motto It's Scotland's oil, got an extra boost and the Scottish National Party, which had been a minor splinter party in the previous decades , won 22% of the general election in February 1974 and 30% in October 1974 in Scotland.
Kilbrandon Commission
To meet the Scottish and Welsh demands, the Labor Government under Prime Minister Harold Wilson established the Royal Commission on the Constitution in 1969 , or after its chairmen Lord Crowther or Lord Kilbrandon (from 1972) simply Crowther Commission or Kilbrandon Commission brought to life. The Commission dealt with the question of devolution , that is, the possible decentralization of the UK . It did not come to a uniform conclusion and in the final report in 1973 various options were presented. With regard to the regions of Scotland and Wales, a majority of the Commission recommended the creation of their own regional parliaments to deal with limited local matters.
In response to the Commission's report and to the successes of the Scottish National Party in 1974, Prime Minister Wilson arranged for a meeting of Scottish Labor MPs on June 22, 1974 to agree with them on a plan to develop a concept for self-government. On that day, however, the game between Yugoslavia and Scotland took place as part of the first final round of the football World Cup (which ended in a draw). Ultimately, only 11 of the 22 Scottish Labor MPs appeared at the agreed meeting, the skeptics regarding Scotland's autonomy remained in the majority and, much to Wilson's annoyance, there was no decision on the self-government of Scotland.
In 1978 the British Parliament passed the Scotland Act with a narrow majority of the Labor Party and its supporting parties , which provided for the creation of a Scottish Parliament with seat in Edinburgh . The entry into force of the Scotland Act , however, was tied to a referendum to be held in Scotland the following year. The regulations stipulated that not only an absolute majority of the electorate, but also at least 40% of the electorate (including non-voters) had to agree to the Scotland Act .
referendum
The question asked of the Scottish voters on March 1, 1979 was:
"Do you want the provisions of the Scotland Act 1978 to be put into effect?"
"Should the measures of the Scotland Act 1978 be implemented?"
The voters had to tick “Yes” or “No” on the voting slip.
| Voting total | Yes -votes | No -votes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| region | electoral participation |
be right | be right | % (Voters) | % (Eligible voters) |
be right | % (Voters) | % (Eligible voters) |
| Borders | 66.4 | 51,526 | 20,746 | 40.3 | 26.7 | 30,780 | 59.7 | 39.7 |
| Central | 65.9 | 130.401 | 71,296 | 54.7 | 36.0 | 59.105 | 45.3 | 29.9 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 64.1 | 67,401 | 27,162 | 40.3 | 25.8 | 40,239 | 59.7 | 38.2 |
| Fife | 65.3 | 160,688 | 86,252 | 53.7 | 35.0 | 74,436 | 46.3 | 30.2 |
| Grampian | 57.2 | 196.429 | 94,944 | 48.3 | 27.6 | 101,485 | 51.7 | 29.5 |
| Highland | 64.7 | 88,247 | 44,973 | 51.0 | 33.0 | 43,274 | 49.0 | 31.7 |
| Lothian | 65.9 | 373,642 | 187.221 | 50.1 | 33.0 | 186.421 | 49.9 | 32.9 |
| Orkney | 54.1 | 7,543 | 2,104 | 27.9 | 15.1 | 5,439 | 72.1 | 39.0 |
| Shetland | 50.3 | 7,486 | 2,020 | 27.0 | 13.6 | 5,466 | 73.0 | 36.7 |
| Strathclyde | 62.5 | 1,105,118 | 596,519 | 54.0 | 33.7 | 508,599 | 46.0 | 28.7 |
| Tayside | 63.0 | 184,807 | 91,482 | 49.5 | 31.2 | 93,325 | 50.5 | 31.8 |
| Western Isles | 49.9 | 11,151 | 6.218 | 55.8 | 27.8 | 4,933 | 44.2 | 22.1 |
| Scotland as a whole | 63.0 | 2,384,439 | 1,230,937 | 51.6 | 32.5 | 1,153,502 | 48.4 | 30.5 |
In the end, a narrow majority of the voters (51.6%) voted for the Scotland Act , but with a turnout of 63% this was only 32.5% of the eligible voters, so that the question of the referendum was not answered positively. Disappointed supporters protested under the slogan "Scotland said 'yes'" . Criticism also sparked the way in which the number of eligible voters was determined. Since there was no population census in the voting year, the eligible voters in the individual electoral districts had to be estimated, which of course was associated with uncertainties. The Labor government under Prime Minister James Callaghan then stopped all activities to implement the Scotland Act . The Scottish National Party (SNP) in Westminster Parliament then withdrew its parliamentary support from the government and supported a vote of no confidence in the government. The coalition of the SNP and the Liberal Party, both of which supported the Scotland Act , with the opposition Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher , who had spoken out against self-government for Scotland, was sharply criticized by the Prime Minister:
“So, tonight, the Conservative Party, which wants the Act repealed and opposes even devolution, will march through the Lobby with the SNP, which wants independence for Scotland, and with the Liberals, who want to keep the Act. What a massive display of unsullied principle! The minority parties have walked into a trap. If they win, there will be a general election. I am told that the current joke going around the House is that it is the first time in recorded history that turkeys have been known to vote for an early Christmas. "
"Now tonight the Conservative Party, which has spoken out in favor of the rejection of the 'Act' and is even against decentralization as a whole, together with the SNP, which is striving for Scottish independence, and the Liberals, who are implementing the 'Act' want to march through the parliamentary lobby. What a display of unprincipledness! The minority parties have fallen into a trap. If they win [the vote of no confidence] there will be an early general election. I was told that a joke is currently making the rounds in the house, that this is the first time in history that turkeys are campaigning for an early Christmas. "
In a dramatic vote on March 28, 1979, Callaghan lost the vote of confidence with 310: 311 votes, that is, only one vote. The early general election held as a result on May 3, 1979 were won by the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher . A total of 18 years of conservative governments followed, under which the subject of devolution was not pursued any further.
Only after the Labor Party won the general election in 1997 did the newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair hold another referendum in Scotland. Labor thus kept one of the election promises. In this referendum on September 11, 1997 (this time without the 40% hurdle), the majority of the voters favored the creation of a Scottish parliament with tax powers, so that in 1998 the new Scotland Act came into force and a regional parliament for Scotland could be established .
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ The Devolution Debate This Century. BBC News, accessed May 25, 2013 .
- ^ A b Richard Dewdney: Results of Devolution Referendums (1979 & 1997): Research Paper No 97/113. (PDF) House of Commons Library, November 10, 1997, accessed May 17, 2013 .
- ↑ 20th Century Scotland - An Introduction (III). BBC News, accessed May 18, 2013 .
- ^ Scottish Devolution: 1979 remembered. BBC News, accessed May 18, 2013 .
- ↑ HER MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT (OPPOSITION MOTION), HC Deb. hansard.millbanksystems.com, March 28, 1979, pp. 461-590 , accessed May 18, 2013 (English, Volume 965).
