The Crown was the most important element of government in the Kingdom of Scotland despite the many royal minorities. In the late Middle Ages, it saw much of the aggrandisement associated with the New Monarchs elsewhere in Europe.[4] Theories of constitutional monarchy and resistance were articulated by Scots, particularly George Buchanan, in the 16th century, but James VI of Scotland advanced the theory of the divine right of kings, and these debates were restated in subsequent reigns and crises. The court remained at the centre of political life, and in the 16th century emerged as a major centre of display and artistic patronage, until it was effectively dissolved with the Union of the Crowns in 1603.[5]
The Parliament of Scotland also emerged as a major legal institution, gaining an oversight of taxation and policy.[6] By the end of the Middle Ages it was sitting almost every year, partly because of the frequent royal minorities and regencies of the period, which may have prevented it from being sidelined by the monarchy.[7] In the early modern era, Parliament was also vital to the running of the country, providing laws and taxation, but it had fluctuating fortunes and was never as central to the national life as its counterpart in England.[8]
Following the ratification of the Treaty of Union, Parliament House became the seat of the Supreme Courts of Scotland in which it remains today. Under the terms of the Treaty of Union, various elements of independence from England was retained for Scotland, such as a separate education and legal system (including the Scottish court system – Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary) as was the countries church and religion. Additionally, the Crown of Scotland and the Honours of Scotland were to remain in Scotland, as were all parliamentary and other official records.[9]
Until 1832, Scottish politics remained very much in the control of landowners in the country, and of small cliques of merchants in the burghs. Agitation against this position through the Friends of the People Society in the 1790s met with Lord Braxfield's explicit repression on behalf of the landed interests.[10] The Scottish Reform Act 1832 rearranged the constituencies and increased the electorate from under 5,000 to 65,000.[11] The Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1868 extended the electorate to 232,000 but with "residential qualifications peculiar to Scotland".[12] However, by 1885 around 50% of the male population had the vote, the secret ballot had become established, and the modern political era had started.
In 1945, the SNP saw its first MP (Robert McIntyre) elected at the Motherwell by-election, but had little success during the following decade. The ILP members rejoined the Labour Party, and Scotland now had in effect a two-party system.
The First Minister is the head of the Scottish Government and is supported by the Deputy First Minister
Devolution refers the process by which powers to legislate and govern are transferred from the UK Parliament in Westminster to a range of sub-UK level bodies, such as metro areas and the countries of the United Kingdom. Since the re–establishment of the Scottish Parliament, all matters have been devolved to that body by default, except those matters explicitly reserved to Westminster, and Westminster does not by convention legislate on devolved matters which are the responsibility of both the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government, except by consent.
In Scotland, matters devolved to the Scottish Parliament exclusively include justice and law, police and prisons, local government, health, education, housing and student support, social welfare, the economy, food safety and standards, planning policy, economic development, agriculture and rural affairs, culture, tourism, the arts and sport. A number of other matters are shared such as some elements of transport (the Scottish Government is responsible for the majority of Scotland's transportation network), public pension and taxation.[13] The Scottish Government receives a funding allocation from the UK Government, calculated under the Barnett Formula, but it does also have its own tax resources.
The programmes of legislation enacted by the Scottish Parliament have seen the divergence in the provision of public services compared to the rest of the United Kingdom.[16] While the costs of a university education, and care services for the elderly are free at point of use in Scotland, fees are paid in the rest of the UK. Scotland was the first country in the UK to ban smoking in public places, with the ban effective from 26 March 2006.[17] Also, on 19 October 2017, the Scottish government announced that smacking children as punishment was to be banned in Scotland, the first nation of the UK to do so.
A large debate in modern Scottish politics is over the constitutional status of Scotland. One common proposal is for the independence of Scotland from the UK; this would mean Scotland would once again become a sovereign state. There was an independence referendum in 2014 in which Scottish residents voted to remain within the United Kingdom, however this debate has been reignited due to the Brexit process, with the Scottish Government calling for a second independence referendum. This position is supported by the SNP and Scottish Greens, among other groupings. Independence advocates propose that independence would resolve a democratic deficit for Scottish voters and allow Scotland to rejoin the EU. Opponents argue that Scotland would be worse off economically after independence.
In 2022, the Scottish Government under First Minister of ScotlandNicola Sturgeon launched the first paper in a series of independence prospectuses entitled Building a New Scotland. The publication is a series of papers published by the Scottish Government that seeks to lay out a prospectus for Scottish independence.[19] The Scottish Government had previously proposed holding an independence referendum on 19 October 2023.[20] On 7 September 2021, Nicola Sturgeon stated that she would resume the case for independence and restart work on a prospects for independence.[21] On 13 June 2022, Nicola Sturgeon published the first independence paper.[22] On 14 July 2022, Nicola Sturgeon published the second independence paper.[23] As of March 2024, a total of ten papers had been published.[24]
Other proposals include more devolution for Scotland, supported by the SNP in lieu of full independence. Under the pressure of growing support for Scottish independence, a policy of devolution had been advocated by all three GB-wide parties to some degree during their history (although Labour and the Conservatives have also at times opposed it). This question dominated the Scottish political scene in the latter half of the twentieth century with Labour leader John Smith describing the revival of a Scottish parliament as the "settled will of the Scottish people".[25]
Timeline of significant events
1950s
1950: The Liberals won two seats – Jo Grimond winning Orkney and Shetland. The Liberals continue to hold Orkney and Shetland to the present day.
1951: Labour and the Unionists won 35 seats each, the Liberals losing one seat.
1955: The Unionists won a majority of both seats and votes. They have not won a majority of seats at a general election in Scotland since. The SNP came second in Perth and Kinross.
1959: In contrast to England, Scotland swung to Labour, which scored four gains at the expense of the Unionists and winning 38 out of 71 seats in Scotland. This marked the start of 56 years of political domination of Scottish seats in the UK Parliament by Labour. This also marked the start of a trend which in less than 40 years saw the Unionists' Scottish representation at Westminster reduced to zero. The election was the last occasion when the Unionists won the popular vote in Scotland: their merger with the Conservative Party of England and Wales in 1965, to become the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party began a long, steady decline in their support.
1960s
1964: There was a substantial swing to Labour, giving them 44 of Scotland's 71 seats. The Liberals won four seats, all in the Highlands.
1970: The SNP performed poorly in local elections and in the Ayrshire South by-election. The general election saw a small swing to the Conservatives & Unionists, but Labour won a majority of seats in Scotland. The SNP made little progress in central Scotland, but took votes from the Liberals in the Highlands and in north east Scotland, and won the Western Isles.
1974: In the two general elections of 1974 (in February and October) the SNP won 7 and then 11 seats, their share of the vote rising from 11% in 1970 to 22% and then 30%. With the Labour Party winning the October 1974 election by a narrow margin of 3 seats, the SNP appeared in a strong position.
1974–79: Devolution dominated this period: the Labour government attempted to steer through devolution legislation, based on the recommendations of the Kilbrandon Commission, against strong opposition, not least from its own backbenchers. Finally a referendum, whilst producing a small majority in favour of an elected Scottish Assembly, failed to achieve a turnout of 40% of the total electorate, a condition set in the legislation. At the 1979 general election, the SNP fared poorly, falling to 17% of the vote and 2 seats. Labour did well in Scotland, but in the United Kingdom as a whole Margaret Thatcher led the Conservatives to a decisive victory, where Labour would spend the next 18 years in opposition.
1979–83: The SNP suffered severe splits as the result of the drop in support in 1979. Labour also was riven by internal strife as the Social Democratic Party split away. Despite this, the 1983 general election still saw Labour remain the majority party in Scotland, with a smaller swing to the Conservatives than in England. The SNP's vote declined further, to 12%, although they won two seats.
1987: The Labour Party did well in the 1987 general election, mainly at the expense of the Conservatives & Unionists, who were reduced to their smallest number of Scottish seats since before World War I. The SNP made a small but significant advance.
1992: This election proved a disappointment for Labour and the SNP in Scotland. The SNP went from 14% to 21% of the vote but won only 3 seats. The Conservative and Unionist vote did not collapse, as had been widely predicted, leading to claims that their resolutely anti-devolution stance had paid dividends.
1997: In common with England, there was a Labour landslide in Scotland. The SNP doubled their number of MPs to 6, but the Conservatives & Unionists failed to win a single seat. Unlike 1979, Scottish voters delivered a decisive "Yes" vote in the referendum on establishing a Scottish Parliament.
1999: The Scottish Parliament was established. Labour take 56 seats, SNP 35, Conservative 18, Liberal Democrats 17, and Greens and Socialists one each. A coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrats led by Donald Dewar of Scottish Labour, took power.
2000s
2000: In October, Dewar died of a heart attack in office and was succeeded by Henry McLeish as Scottish First Minister.
2001: In November, McLeish stands down as First Minister following the Officegate financial scandal, and is succeeded by Jack McConnell.
2003: In the Scottish Parliament election, Labour take 50 seats, SNP 27, Conservative 18, Liberal Democrats 17, Greens 7, Socialists 6, Independents 3 and one from the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party. The Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition was maintained.
2007: The SNP became Scotland's largest party in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election and formed a minority government. Alex Salmond succeeds Jack McConnell as First Minister. The SNP had 47 seats, Labour 46, Conservatives 17, Liberal Democrats 16, Greens 2 and Socialists, independents and other parties lost all their seats.
2010: 2010 United Kingdom general election: Labour won 41 out of 59 Scottish seats and received over 1 million votes across Scotland, despite losing 91 seats across the UK as a whole.
2011: In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the SNP become the first party to win an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament. The SNP won 69 seats, with 65 needed for a majority. Labour got 37, Conservatives 15, Liberal Democrats 5 and Greens 2. The Scottish leaders of Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats all resigned over the results.
2014: An independence referendum is held on whether Scotland should secede from the UK and become an independent country. Scotland votes to remain a part of the UK 55.3% to 44.7%. Alex Salmond resigns as First Minister, and is succeeded by Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
2015: At the general election, the SNP won 56 out of 59 Scottish seats, winning nearly exactly 50% of the popular vote. Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats won just a single seat each.
2016: In May's 2016 Scottish Parliament election, the SNP lost their majority but remained the largest party and formed a minority government. The SNP got 63 seats, Conservatives 31, Labour 24, Greens 6 and Liberal Democrats 5. This was the first time Labour had finished third at any Scottish election since the 1918 general election.
2016: The UK votes to leave the European Union 51.9% to 48.1%, however 62% of Scottish voters backed remaining in the European Union.
2017: At the snap UK general election on 8 June, the SNP won 35 out of the 59 Scottish seats, the Conservatives won 13, Labour won 7 and the Liberal Democrats won 4 seats. This too was the first general election in 99 years where Labour finished in third place.
2019: At the 2019 UK general election, the SNP won 48 out of the 59 Scottish seats, the Conservatives won 6, the Liberal Democrats won 4 and Labour won a single seat. This was the worst result for Scottish Labour since the December 1910 general election, with Labour finishing in fourth place.
2020s
2021: At the 2021 Scottish Parliament election the SNP won 64 seats, Conservatives 31, Labour 22, Greens 8 (a week later lowered to 7 due to Alison Johnstone becoming Holyrood's Presiding Officer, which requires one to give up their party affiliation), and the Liberal Democrats 4. The SNP signs a co-operation agreement with the Greens and the Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie resigns.
Scotland is governed under the framework of a constitutional monarchy. The head of state in Scotland is the British monarch, currently King Charles III (since 2022). Until the early 17th century, Scotland and England were entirely separate kingdoms ruled by different royal families. However, on the death of Elizabeth I of England in 1603, the then-King of Scotland James VI became James I of England, in what is known as the Union of the Crowns. However, the two monarchies remained legally separate, albeit held by the same individual.[27]
Scotland is no longer an independent, sovereign country, nor is it a kingdom in its own right. Under the Union with England Act 1707, the Kingdoms of Scotland and England have been united into "One Kingdom" (Great Britain, later the United Kingdom). A unification of Scotland and England had been debated since the Union of the Crowns, however was initially met with little enthusiasm by the administrations of both countries.[27]
A session in process in the Scottish Parliament debating chamber with the parliaments 129 MSPs sitting
There are two bodies with the power to legislate for Scotland: the Scottish Parliament and the UK Parliament. Until 1999, the UK Parliament was the source of all legislation across the whole of the UK. Since then, devolution has meant that Scotland, as well as Wales and Northern Ireland, have had independent legislatures which pass laws on devolved responsibilities. The Scottish Parliament has had the power to pass primary legislation since 1999, and passed 282 Acts between then and the end of 2018. The Scottish Parliament can legislate on anything that is not reserved to the UK Parliament.[30] The UK Parliament retains the ability to legislate on any matter for any part of the UK, including in Scotland, however since 1999 the UK Parliament has followed a convention (the Sewel convention) that means it will not normally legislate on devolved matters without the Scottish Parliament's consent.[31]
Opposition parties include the Scottish Conservatives (centre-right, conservative), Scottish Labour (centre-left, social democratic), the Scottish Liberal Democrats (centrist, social liberal), and the Scottish Greens (centre-left to left-wing, green). The Scottish Socialist Party (left-wing, democratic socialist) won a seat in the first Scottish Parliament election in 1999 and increased their number of seats to 6 in the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, but then lost their seats in the 2007 election and haven't regained representation in the Scottish Parliament since. Elections were normally held once every four years from the inception of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 to 2016 (the election scheduled for 2015 was delayed for one year to 2016 after agreement by all of the main political parties). A Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 25 February 2016 and received Royal Assent on 30 March 2016 increasing the term of the Parliament to five years.[32] 73 Members are elected to represent constituencies, and the remaining 56 elected via a system of proportional representation. At Westminster, Scotland is represented by 44 MPs from the Scottish National Party, six from the Conservative Party, two from the Labour Party and four from the Liberal Democrats elected in the 2019 United Kingdom general election; as well as two MPs who were elected for SNP but have since defected to the Alba Party, and a further independent. The Secretary of State for Scotland—currently Alister Jack MP, a Scottish Conservative—is usually a member of the House of Commons representing a constituency in Scotland.
In August 2021, the SNP and the Scottish Greens agreed terms which would see the Scottish Greens enter into a power sharing agreement with the SNP, known as the Bute House Agreement. The agreement would see the Scottish Greens form part of the Scottish Government. The Agreement details the way in which the Scottish Government and the Green Group in Parliament will work together, the appointment of Green ministers, excluded policy areas from the Agreement, confidence and supply and dispute resolution.[36] The agreement is accompanied by a shared policy programme, which sets out in detail where the two have decided to collaborate.[37] On 31 August 2021, the SNP and Scottish Greens entered a power-sharing arrangement which resulted in the appointment of two Green MSPs as junior ministers in the government, delivery of a shared policy platform, and Green support for the government on votes of confidence and supply.[38][39] There was no agreement on oil and gas exploration, but the government now argued that it had a stronger case for a national independence referendum.[40] First Minister Humza Yousaf formally ended the Bute House Agreement on 25 April 2024, effectively removing the Scottish Greens from government. He claimed that the Bute House Agreement "had served its purpose" and would lead a minority Scottish Government.[41] As a consequence, Yousaf faces a vote of no confidence in the Scottish Parliament.[42]
The first minister is conventionally the leader of the political party with the most support in the Scottish Parliament, currently John Swinney who was appointed in May 2024. Nicola Sturgeon, the previous first minister, led the government since November 2014. Before Sturgeon, Alex Salmond led the SNP to an overall majority victory in the May 2011 general election. The inaugural First Minister was Donald Dewar, the leader of Scottish Labour at the time, who was Secretary of State for Scotland at its time of establishment.
It enacts primary legislation through Acts of the Scottish Parliament, but cannot legislate on reserved matters, as set out by the Scotland Act 1998 and amended by the Scotland Act 2012 and the Scotland Act 2016; these include defence, international relations, fiscal and economic policy, drugs law and broadcasting. Anything not mentioned as a specific reserved matter is automatically devolved to Scotland, including health, education, local government, Scots law and all other issues. This is one of the key differences between the successful Scotland Act 1998 and the failed Scotland Act 1978.
Scotland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Scottish reserved affairs (powers not controlled by the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government) are managed by the Secretary of State for Scotland, a role which aims to "promote the best interests of Scotland within a stronger United Kingdom" and represent Scottish interests within the UK government.[48] However, the Secretary of State is normally appointed by the UK Government and is from the government parties, not necessarily from the major party in Scotland. The current Secretary of State for Scotland is Iain Murray who was appointed to the role in July 2024.[49]
The Scotland Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for reserved Scottish affairs. The Scotland Office, created in 1999, liaises with other Whitehall departments about reserved matters. Before devolution and the Scotland Office, much of the role of the devolved Scottish Government was undertaken by the Scottish Office, the previous British ministerial department led by Scottish Secretary.
The co-existence of devolution for Scotland and its continued representation in the UK Parliament, which retains full powers over matters relating to England, raised a debate known as the West Lothian question. This questions whether Scottish (and other devolved nation) representatives should continue to have a vote on affairs that do not relate directly to Scotland. This issue was exemplified in the raise in tuition fees in England in 2004. If non-English MPs, who were mostly government MPs, had not been able to vote, then the tuition fee rise would not have been able to occur, due to a rebellion on the government benches.[50] This led to the creation in 2015 of the English votes for English laws (EVEL) process, in which Scottish MPs were not included in parts of the lawmaking process for laws that did not apply in Scotland. EVEL was abolished 2021.
For UK general elections, Scotland is divided into 59 constituencies of broadly equal population by the Scottish Boundary Commission. Each constituency elects a single Member of Parliament (MP), who represents the constituency in the House of Commons alongside representatives from the other countries of the UK. There are 650 MPs in total. The leader of the party or coalition that makes a majority or plurality in the Commons is typically invited by the reigning monarch to become the Prime Minister and to form a government.
Since 1945, Scottish seats have altered the final result of a general election four times. Without Scottish seats: in 1964, the Conservatives would have been the largest party rather than Labour; in February 1974, the Conservatives would have been the largest party but without a majority rather than Labour; in October 1974, Labour would no longer have won its majority and in 2010, the Conservatives would have won an outright majority and would not have needed to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.[52]
Between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Peerage Act 1963, peers with titles in the Peerage of Scotland were entitled to elect sixteen representative peers to the House of Lords. Between the 1963 Act and the House of Lords Act 1999 the entire hereditary Peerage of Scotland was entitled to sit in the House of Lords, alongside those with titles in the peerages of England, of Ireland, of Great Britain, and of the UK.
There are currently 1,227 councillors in total, each paid a part-time salary for the undertaking of their duties. Each authority elects a Convener or Provost to chair meetings of the authority's council and act as a figurehead for the area. The four main cities of Scotland, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee have a Lord Provost who is also, ex officio, Lord Lieutenant for that city.
Community councils represent the interests of local people. Local authorities have a statutory duty to consult community councils on planning, development and other issues directly affecting that local community. However, the community council has no direct say in the delivery of services. In many areas they do not function at all, but some work very effectively at improving their local area.[54]
Scottish Conservatives and Unionist Party: The Unionist Party was allied with the UK Conservative Party until 1965, when the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party was formed. The Conservatives then entered a long-term decline in Scotland, culminating in their failure to win any Scottish seats in the 1997 UK election.[57] At the four subsequent UK elections (2001, 2005, 2010 and 2015) the Conservatives won only one Scottish seat.[58][59][60][61] The party enjoyed a revival of fortunes in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, winning 31 seats and finishing in second place. In the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections, they got 22.8% of the vote, winning 31 seats again.[62] The Conservatives are a centre-right party.
Scottish Labour Party: In the course of the twentieth century, Scottish Labour rose to prominence as Scotland's main political force.[63] The party was established to represent the interests of workers and trade unionists. From 1999 to 2007, they operated as the senior partners in a coalition Scottish Executive. They lost power in 2007 when the SNP won a plurality of seats and entered a period of dramatic decline,[64] losing all but one of their seats in the 2015 UK election[65] and falling to third place in the 2016 Scottish election.[66] The 2017 UK election produced a mixed result for the party as it gained six seat and increased its vote by 2.8% but the party came in third behind the SNP and Scottish Conservatives. In the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections, they got 19.8% of the vote, winning 22 seats.[62]
Liberal Democrats: The Scottish Liberal Democrats were the junior partners in the 1999 to 2007 coalition Scottish Executive. The party has lost much of its electoral presence in Scotland since the UK Liberal Democrats entered into a coalition government with the UK Conservative Party in 2010. In the 2015 UK election they were reduced from 12 seats to one seat, and since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election they have had the fifth highest number of MSPs (five), unchanged on 2011.In the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections, they got 6% of the vote, winning 4 seats.[62]
Scottish Green Party: The Scottish Greens have won regionaladditional member seats in every Scottish Parliament election, as a result of the proportional representation electoral system. They won one MSP in 1999, increased their total to seven at the 2003 election but saw this drop back to two at the 2007 election. They retained two seats at the 2011 election, then increased this total to six in the 2016 election. In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election they increased their representation by two seats to a total of eight members of the Scottish Parliament, however this was lowered to 7 a week later after Alison Johnson became Holyrood's Presiding Officer, a neutral role meaning she had to give up her position as a Green MSP).[62] The Greens support Scottish independence and Scottish republicanism, and in 2021, entered into a power sharing agreement with the Scottish National Party.[67] Known as the Bute House Agreement, it was agreed in August 2021 to support the Third Sturgeon government, and saw two Scottish Green politicians appointed to junior ministerial posts within the Scottish Government. First was the first time any Green politician had served in government in Scotland and across the United Kingdom.[68] The Scottish Greens left the Scottish Government on 25 April 2024, following First Minister Humza Yousaf's announcement of the ending of the Bute House Agreement "with immediate effect".[69] The Scottish Green Party later confirmed it would "vote to oust" Yousaf as First Minister.[70]
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