[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.

[9] Following the ratification of the Treaty of Union, Parliament House became the seat of the Supreme Courts of Scotland in which it remains today.

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.

The Liberal Party, banished to the Highlands and Islands, no longer functioned as a significant force in central Scotland.

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.

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.

[14][15] 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.

[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.

In a further divergence from the rest of the United Kingdom from 1 January 2021 all Scottish legislation will be legally required to keep in regulatory alignment in devolved competences with future European Union law following the end of the Brexit transition period which ended on 31 December 2020 after the Scottish Parliament passed the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2020 despite the United Kingdom no longer being an EU member state.

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).

Until the early 17th century, Scotland and England were entirely separate kingdoms ruled by different royal families.

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.

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 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.

The Government of the United Kingdom retains some limited powers of Scotland, as is responsible for reserved matters, such as deference, foreign policy and security.

[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.

[41] As a consequence, Yousaf faced a vote of no confidence in the Scottish Parliament,[42] and resigned on 7 May 2024 amidst the resulting government crisis.

[43] 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.

Anything not mentioned as a specific reserved matter is automatically devolved to Scotland, including health, education, local government, Scots law and all other issues.

The Lord Advocate's deputy, the Solicitor General for Scotland, advises the Scottish Government on legal matters.

[52] Statutory instruments made by the UK Government – within which the Secretary of State for Scotland is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom – may also apply to the whole of Great Britain.

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.

For UK general elections, Scotland is divided into 59 constituencies of broadly equal population by the Scottish Boundary Commission.

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.

As a result, the Boundary Commission for Scotland's recommendations were adopted, reducing Scottish representation in the House of Commons to 59 MPs with effect from the 2005 general election.

The Conservatives then entered a long-term decline in Scotland, culminating in their failure to win any Scottish seats in the 1997 UK election.