| Scottish Liberal Democrats Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba |
|
|---|---|
| Leader | Willie Rennie MSP |
| Deputy Leader | Jo Swinson MP[1] |
| Founded | 3 March 1988 |
| Headquarters | 4 Clifton Terrace Edinburgh EH12 5DR |
| Youth wing | Liberal Youth Scotland |
| Membership | 3,763 (December 2009)[2] |
| Ideology | Liberalism, Social liberalism, Social democracy[3] Federalism |
| Political position | Radical centre to Centre-left[3][4] |
| International affiliation | Liberal International |
| European affiliation | European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party |
| European Parliament Group | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| Official colours | Gold |
| Scottish seats in the House of Commons |
11 / 59
|
| Scottish Parliament |
5 / 129
|
| Local government in Scotland |
166 / 1,222
|
| European Parliament (Scottish seats) |
1 / 6
|
| Website | |
| http://www.scotlibdems.org.uk/ | |
| Politics of Scotland Political parties Elections |
|
The Scottish Liberal Democrats (Scottish Gaelic: Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba) are one of the three state parties[5] within the federal[6] Liberal Democrats; the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Democrats in England. The Scottish Liberal Democrats hold 5 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, 11 of 59 Scottish seats in the UK Parliament, and one of six Scottish seats in the European Parliament.
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In keeping with its basis as a federation of organisations, the Scottish party also consists of a number of local parties (which mostly follow the boundaries of the 73 Scottish Parliament constituencies), which are each distinct accounting units under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Local parties are predominantly responsible for the party's political campaigning and for selecting candidates for parliamentary and local authority elections. There are also eight regional parties (based on the boundaries of the eight Scottish Parliament electoral regions).
The conference is the highest decision-making body of the party on both policy and strategic issues. The day-to-day organisation of the party is the responsibility of the party's 34-member Executive Committee, chaired by Party Convener Audrey Findlay, and the eight Office Bearers, including the leader Tavish Scott MSP, the deputy leader Jo Swinson[7] MP and the party President Malcolm Bruce MP. The development of party policy rests upon a distinct 14-member Policy Committee, chaired by Siobhan Mathers. The Chief Executive is Martin Hayman, and the party's headquarters are at 4 Clifton Terrace, Edinburgh.
The party holds two conferences per year: a three-day Spring Conference, last held in Perth in March 2010; and a one-day Autumn Conference, last held in Dunfermline in October 2010.
Associated organisations generally seek to influence the direction of the party on a specific issue or represent a section of the party membership. The party has five associated organisations:
The Scottish Liberal Democrat party is the successor to the Scottish Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party in Scotland, following the merger of these parties in 1988.[8]
The party campaigned for the creation of a devolved Scottish Parliament as part of its wider policy of a federal United Kingdom. In the late 1980s and 1990s it and its representatives participated in the Scottish Constitutional Convention with the Scottish Labour Party, Scottish Green Party, trades unions and churches, and also campaigned for a "Yes-Yes" vote in the 1997 devolution referendum.
In the first elections to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the party won 17 seats. Following this, the party formed a coalition government with the Scottish Labour Party in the Scottish Executive. The then party leader, Jim Wallace, became Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Minister for Justice. He also served as acting First Minister on three occasions, during the illness and then later death of the first First Minister Donald Dewar and following the resignation of his successor Henry McLeish. This partnership was renewed in 2003 and Wallace became Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning. On 23 June 2005, Nicol Stephen MSP succeeded Wallace as party leader and took over his positions in the Executive until the 2007 elections.
Prior to the partnership government being formed in 1999, the UK had only limited experience of coalition government. The party's participation attracted criticism for involving compromises to its preferred policies, although several of its manifesto pledges were adopted as government policy or legislation. These included changes to the arrangements for student contributions to higher education costs (although whether that amounted to the claimed achievement of having abolished tuition fees was hotly contested), free personal care for the elderly and (during the second coalition government) changing the system of elections for Scottish local authorities to the single transferable vote, a long-standing Liberal Democrat policy.
In the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections, the party won one fewer seat than in the two previous Scottish elections: this was the first parliamentary election for 28 years in which the party's parliamentary strength in Scotland was reduced. This experience led to some criticism of the party's election strategy and its leader. Although it was arithmetically possible to form a majority coalition with the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Green Party, the party refused to participate in coalition negotiations because of a disagreement over the SNP's policy of a referendum on Scottish independence, and now sits as an opposition party in the Parliament.
On 2 July 2008, Nicol Stephen resigned as the party leader. The former deputy leader Michael Moore MP served as acting leader of the party until Tavish Scott MSP was elected party leader on 26 August 2008, winning 59% of the votes cast in a contest with parliamentary colleagues Ross Finnie and Mike Rumbles. (See also Scottish Liberal Democrats leadership election, 2008.)
At the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, the party lost all its mainland constituencies, retaining only the two constituencies of Orkney and Shetland. It also secured three List MSPs. This was by far the party's worst electoral performance since the re-establishment of a Scottish parliament in 1999.
The Scottish Party decides its policy on state matters independently from the federal party. State matters include not only currently devolved issues but also those reserved matters which the party considers should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament, including broadcasting, energy, drugs and abortion.[9] The party also believes that the Scottish Parliament should exercise greater responsibility on fiscal matters. A party commission chaired by former Liberal Party leader and Scottish Parliament Presiding Officer Sir David Steel set out the party's proposals on the constitutional issue.[10]
According to its constitution, the party believes in a "fair, free and open society ... in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity". It has traditionally argued for both positive and negative liberties, tolerance of social diversity, decentralisation of political authority, including proportional representation for public elections, internationalism and greater involvement in the European Union. In the 2007 elections it campaigned for reforms to public services and local taxation, and for more powers for the Scottish Parliament within a federal Britain.
In December 2007, the party (along with Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives) supported the creation of a new Commission on Scottish Devolution, along similar lines to the earlier Scottish Constitutional Convention, to discuss further powers for the Scottish Parliament. The SNP Government had earlier in the same year launched a "National Conversation" which includes the option of independence for Scotland.
| Member of the Scottish Parliament | Constituency or Region | First elected | Spokespersons[11] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willie Rennie | Mid Scotland and Fife | 2011 | Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats |
| Liam McArthur | Orkney | 2007 | education and energy |
| Alison McInnes | North East Scotland | 2007 | health and justice |
| Jim Hume | South of Scotland | 2007 | rural, environment, housing and transport |
| Tavish Scott | Shetland | 1999 | business and the economy |
| Member of the European Parliament | Constituency | First elected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| George Lyon | Scotland | 2009 |