This historic day in 1997 saw the Referendum on Devolution in Scotland which approved the creation of a new Scottish Parliament.
This was such a historic day for Scotland, what I can’t understand though is that some people still voted no, thinking that Scotland should have no real say in governing their own, OUR OWN country.
Think Twice was the title given to the 'no no' campaign run by Brian Monteith who ran the Ran the Student Campaign Against the Devolution Act in 1979. It was launched on 20 June 1997 and campaigned for a vote against both the establishment of a Scottish parliament, and the granting of tax-varying powers to such a body.
The mind boggles about the mentality of such people, and they still exist, there are many who would love to see the Devolved powers returned to Westminster control.
Scotland Forward was a cross party group, which was launched on 15 May 1997. Its aim was to secure a tax-varying parliament in Edinburgh. Its chairman was businessman Nigel Smith who was involved in the Business says Yes campaign in 1979. It was funded by a combination of businesses and unions.
The SNP and Scottish Labour, although both involved in the Scotland Forward Campaign, both printed and ran their own leafleting throughout the run up to September 11th.
As is happening now, a younger voice was starting to be heard shouting for, not just Devolution, but a fully Independent Scotland.
The referendum received an overwhelming “Yes” vote in favour of establishing a Scottish assembly with tax-raising powers, with 74.3 per cent voting for a Scottish parliament and 63.5 per cent in favour of it having tax-raising powers. The election was the first in the UK to contain an element of proportional representation, and Labour were returned as the largest single party, winning 56 of the 129 seats, 9 short of an overall majority.
In 2007 the SNP won 47 seats and approached the Libdems to form a coalition but they rejected the Nats, the greens agreed to provide them with two seats letting them form a minority government, Alex Salmond became First Minister.
The voting system for the Scottish Parliament was designed to stop any party (but principally the SNP) from getting an overall majority.’ Halting any plans for Independence in it’s tracks but that didn’t work out for the Yoons, who will do anything to stop Scotland becoming a Nation entirely in it’s own right again. In the 2011 Holyrood elections the SNP won 69 of the 129 seats blowing their theory apart and laying the ground for the 2014 Independence vote.
Many opinion polls were conducted stated in January 2012 that polling had shown support for independence at between 32% and 38% of the Scottish population, the Yes campaign fought a brilliant campaign but could not overcome the lead the Yoons had with their scaremongering “Better Together” campaign, knocking on doors and telling pensioners they would lose their pensions if we became Independent, a downright lie, the treasury in Westminster had already ringfenced the pensions. They also fought their campaign on a promise that the only way to remain in the EU was to vote no, that Scotland would not gain a place at the European Parliament, we have since, in Scotland voted by 62% to 38% to remain in Europe, but are being taken out by English votes, against the will of the majority of Scots.
What you also have to understand during the “Indyref” campaign is the the SNP, the Greens and the Yes movement were not only fighting against other parties, but the whole weight of the Westminster Parties and the British government, the vote, in the end was 44.7% No, to 55.3% against.
The fallout from the Indyref campaign for the Better Together parties, was felt in the 2015 Westminster elections when the SNP won a record 56 out of 59 seats, Labour, Conservatives and Lib Dems were left with one seat each.
In 2016, David Cameron, then leader of the Tories called a referendum on the UK pulling out of Europe, he himself backed the campaign to stay with the EU, but after a close run vote the results were to leave the EU by 52% to 48%.
Leave won the majority of votes in England and Wales, while every council in Scotland saw Remain majorities. This again ignited the Indyref question, one of the main reasons the Better Together campaign told voters was that the only way for Scotland to remain as part of the European Union was to vote no for Scottish Independence in 2014. Scotland Scotland voted 62.0% to 38.0% in favour of keeping our place in Europe.
The 2016 Holyrood elections was the first in the country to allow 16 and 17 year olds allowed a vote, which is only right, you are taxed as an adult from that age, why should you not get a vote, the same should apply for the whole of the UK in my opinion. In the elections the Labour party continued to suffer for their alliance with their Tory paymasters and slumped to third place in the poll, the worst result in a Scottish election for them in 98 years, the Tories picked up may of their votes, in what many seen as tactical voting to try and keep out the SNP, who, yes saw a downturn in their fortunes, but were still the biggest party by far with 63 seats, Nicola Sturgeon announced she would form a minority SNP government. She was voted in for a second term as First Minister.
The then Prime minister Theresa May called a snap election in 2017 and the SNP lost 11 seats, again some tactical voting here is obvious, but let’s not forget this was still, by far the second most MP’s the Scottish Nationalists had ever sent to Westminster.
Brexit, was still a fucking mess and in the end Theresa May was forced to step down, in came the Bold Boris Johnson with his promise to “Get Brexit Done” He again called a general Election, the English overwhelmingly voted him into power, while Scotland again voted for the SNP, returning 48 out of a possible 59 MP’s to Westminster.
In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, the sixth since the Parliament was restored we saw a historic fourth consecutive win for the SNP, taking 64 of a possible 129 seats, they won the largest share of the popular vote and the largest number of constituency seats in any Scottish Parliament election (62). The Greens won 8 seats, their best result to date at a Scottish Parliament election, while the Conservatives retained second place with 31 seats. Again the Scottish people showed their distaste for the Labour Party, who had its worst-ever result with 22 seats, and the lowest share of the vote in both Constituency & List votes for either Westminster or Holyrood since 1910. Voter turnout in the election reached 63.5%, the highest ever at a Scottish Parliament election
In June this year Nicola Sturgeon announced she plans to hold a second independence referendum on 19th October 2023.
In an attempt to force the issue, Scotland’s first minister said the lord advocate, Dorothy Bain QC, had written to the supreme court in London at her request, asking it to establish whether the Scottish government had the necessary legal powers to stage a consultative referendum on its own.
The case is ongoing............
