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The Scottish devolution referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Scotland on 11 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of a Scottish Parliament with devolved powers, and whether the Parliament should have tax-varying powers. The referendum was a Labour manifesto commitment and was held in their first term after the 1997 election. This was the second referendum held in Scotland over the question of devolution, the first being in 1979. Turnout for the referendum was 60.4%.
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A previous referendum had been held in 1979 under a Labour government which stipulated that a Scottish Assembly would come into being if the referendum had been supported by 50% of votes cast plus at least 40% of the electorate. Although 51.6% voted in favour, this was only 32.9% of the electorate so the Assembly was not brought into being. Shortly afterwards, the anti-devolution Conservative Party won the United Kingdom general election, 1979. [1]
The Campaign for a Scottish Assembly was formed afterwards to continue the campaign. They brought together a committee of "prominent Scots" who drafted the document A Claim of Right for Scotland. The Claim was published in 1988 and signed by most Scottish politicians, local councils, trade unions and churches. [2]
It was agreed to form a Scottish Constitutional Convention made up of all existing MPs and councillors. This was done despite the opposition of the national government of the time of John Major. Because the Labour Party had a clear majority within the covention the Scottish National Party withdrew. [3]
The Labour Party included the establishment of a Scottish Parliament in its manifesto for the United Kingdom general election, 1997, which they won with a landslide majority of 177.
Scottish Labour, the SNP, Liberal Democrats, and Scottish Greens campaigned for a 'Yes' vote for both proposals whilst the Conservatives opposed both proposals. Labour MP Tam Dalyell opposed the creation of the Parliament, but in favour of giving such a Parliament the power to raise and lower taxes on the basis that, although he opposed the Parliament as proposed by his party, if it did exist it should have tax-varying powers. [1]
The official Yes campaign, Scotland Forward (styled "Scotland FORward"), was headed by the businessman Nigel Smith and came out of the groups that had previously formed the Scottish Constitutional Convention. It was supported by the Labour, SNP, Liberal Democrat and Green parties. [4]
The official No campaign, Think Twice, was headed by Brian Monteith, a former employee of the Scottish Conservative MP, Michael Forsyth. Board members included Donald Findlay, a QC, Rector of the University of St Andrews and vice-chairman of Glasgow Rangers, and senior Conservative peer Lord Fraser. However, it struggled to get much business support as they were wary of opposing a project that had such support from the new government which had a large majority. [4]
The result was 'Yes-Yes': the majority voted in favour of both proposals.
Firstly the referendum asked voters:
| Agree : 1,775,045 (74.3%) |
Disagree : 614,400 (25.7%) |
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Unlike in the Welsh referendum, a large majority voted 'Yes' in every local authority. [5]
Secondly the referendum asked:
| Agree : 1,512,889 (63.5%) |
Disagree : 870,263 (36.5%) |
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Votes in favour of tax-varying powers still commanded significant majority, when compared to establishing the Parliament per se. A majority voted 'Yes' in every local authority, apart from in Dumfries & Galloway[6] and Orkney. [7]
In response to the majority voting for 'Yes' to both proposals, the UK Parliament passed the Scotland Act 1998, creating the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive.
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