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A Parliament Enters Its Second Decade

Somewhat frighteningly for me, a decade has elapsed since the restoration of Scotland's parliament. Back then, I was living in Scotland and so witnessed this dramatic political development near enough to my doorstep. So, here is my personal potted history of the institution with a summary timeline of events at the bottom of the page.

Westminster's parliament may continue to hold sway over many matters but Holyrood makes the real decisions over bread and butter issues that affect everyday life, such as education, health and transport. The passage of Scotland's enlightened countryside access legislation into law has proved to be a devolution dividend as has been the reopening of a number of railway lines in the Central Belt. We only can hope that the enlightenment has staying power. Scotland now has the capability to do things in a different way.

For most of the time, that different way is restricted to matters of a purely domestic nature with only the recent compassionate release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the only person ever convicted for the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, bringing it to considerable international notice. The decision that was made is not something that I could see a U.K. government doing and has raised hackles in places with the U.S.A. being understandably vocal. It all puts Jack McConnell's certain fondness for Malawi into context, a development that might have raised a few eyebrows (mostly belonging to those worried about there being any fraying of the constitutional fabric of the U.K.) but nowhere approaching the extent that Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's recent announcement will have done.

New College, University of Edinburgh, The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland

I passed the banner that you see in the above picture only a few days before the first election of the then new Scottish parliament and it was a photo opportunity that couldn't be missed. There was a bit of buzz about with the previous parliament having last sat in 1707, when it voted itself out of existence in dubious circumstances. In that case, bribery was suspected and two Jacobite rebellions followed in 1715 and 1745. Another factor that made taking a photo apt and it is that the banner was erected in front of what became home to the new Scottish Parliament until its permanent residence in Holyrood was built: the New College of the University of Edinburgh.

My impression is that the main idea of the banner was to count down the time to the election, facilitated by a referendum of the people on devolution of power from Westminster that was held in September 1997. A previous referendum towards the same end faltered in 1979 because less than the required majority voted in favour of devolution, a constraint added by a beleaguered Labour government trying to appease its backbench MP's. 40% of the electorate were needed to pass the referendum but turn out was 63.8% and 51.6% of this supported devolution (32.9% of the total electorate). This was to remain an open sore in Scotland for many years. In 1997, there was no such mistake: turnout was 60.4%, 74.3% of which supported the setting up of a parliament and 63.5% supporting its having tax-raising powers.

The new Scottish Parliament opened at its temporary home in May 1999 with the swearing in of the new parliament members, known as MSP's, and the election of the Presiding Officer and the two Deputy Presiding Officers. Sir David Steel, a.k.a. Lord Steel, was elected as presiding officer. On the following day, the late Donald Dewar was elected as First Minister. Despite these activities, the parliament was not fully operational until after the first day in July 1999 when it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth.

The parliament and its Executive have control over issues such as health and education and has tax-raising powers. However, areas such as foreign policy are still controlled by the U.K. parliament at Westminster in London with Scotland being represented at U.K. government level by the Secretary of State for Scotland. It had a shaky start in the beginning but is now well into its stride despite the loss of two First Ministers in as many years. The first one, Donald Dewar, died as a result of a brain haemorrhage on October 11th 2000; while the second, Henry McLeish, resigned due to financial irregularities connected to his constituency office. He was replaced by Jack McConnell who was the incumbent up to last parliamentary elections in May of 2007.

Scottish Parliament, Holyrood, Edinburgh, Scotland

Elections in 2003 resulted in the re-election of the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition, a decrease in the number of MSP's from the Scottish Nationalist Party and an increase in the representation of smaller parties such as the Scottish Socialist Party and the Green Party. The retirement of Sir David Steel allowed for a new presiding officer but it still had to await its ever more expensive permanent home near Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh until the latter part of last year. And it is that which you can see above.

2007's election saw a resurgence of SNP fortunes at the expense of smaller parties and Labour. The result was a minority SNP administration with Alex Salmond at its head. A consequence of this is that the issue Scottish independence has reared its head to a greater degree than before and the SNP is asserting its influence with the new title of Scottish Government in place of the previous label of "Scottish Executive", a perhaps more apt title in view of the its lack of a governing majority.

With all of the furore surrounding expenses revelations engulfing the U.K. Parliament, any marking of the tenth birthday of the Scottish Parliament was bound to be swamped, at least outside of Scotland. This is also the year of Homecoming Scotland, timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary the birth of Robert Burns and with many events organised to attract the Scottish diaspora back to the home country but I am sure that the rest of us are no less welcome either.

With the current economic downturn and an outbreak of the H1N1 flu, a lower key celebration would be understandable. Even so, the Scottish Parliament has some events organised. On his blog, BBC Scotland's Political Editor Brian Taylor does cast his mind back over some of the events of that time and I am sure that there many more who can add their own memories, good and not so good.

With all that's happening, the parliament lives on and the ups and downs of consensus politics could provide a lot of intrigue over the years ahead, not only in Scotland but maybe across the U.K. as well. With the happenings in London, Holyrood might end up coming out looking much the better in comparison for a little while to come. That fading enthusiasm for the institution might even find itself rekindled.

Timeline

1^st September 1999	Parliament legislative session begins.
1^st July 1999	Parliament officially opened by Queen Elizabeth.
12^th May 1999	Parliament re-opened for swearing-in ceremony following elections.
19^th November 1998	Scotland Act 1998 receives royal assent.
17^th November 1998	Scotland Act 1998 passed in Westminster.
11^th September 1997	Successful pre-legislative referendum on Scottish devolution.
1^st March 1979	Failed post-legislative referendum on Scottish devolution.
25^th March 1707	Parliament adjourned after the Act of Union.

Find Out More

Scottish Parliament

Scottish Government

Scotland Office

Here are some websites that tell you even more about the institutions mentioned here. The third of these even lets you in on some of its history as well.