Scottish devolution
A second referendum opportunity in 1997, this time on a strong proposal, resulted in an overwhelming 'Yes' victory, leading to the Scotland Act 1998 being passed and the Scottish Parliament being established in 1999.
In an effort to persuade Scots to remain in the Union, the major UK parties vowed to devolve further powers to Scotland after the referendum.
The 'No' vote prevailed (independence was rejected) and the campaign promise of devolution resulted in the formation of the Smith Commission and the eventual passage of the Scotland Act 2016.
It was formed by John MacCormick who had left the Scottish National Party in 1942 when they decided to support all-out independence for Scotland rather than devolution as had been their position.
Members of the organisation were also responsible for the removal of the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey in 1950 that attracted huge publicity for the cause of Scottish home rule.
[19] From 1999 until the opening of the new building in 2004, committee rooms and the debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament were housed in the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland located on The Mound in Edinburgh.
[20] The new Scottish Parliament Building brought together these different elements into one purpose built parliamentary complex, housing 129 MSPs and more than 1,000 staff and civil servants.
[21] The building aims to conceive a poetic union between the Scottish landscape, its people, its culture and the city of Edinburgh, an approach that won the parliament building numerous awards including the 2005 Stirling Prize, and it has been described as "a tour de force of arts and crafts and quality without parallel in the last 100 years of British architecture".
[26] Other changes that took place at this time included the development of the National Performance Framework and major restructuring whereby Directors-General were put in charge of the achievement of the Government's strategic objectives.
The negotiation of the Edinburgh Agreement (2012) resulted in the UK government legislating to provide the Scottish Parliament with the powers to hold the referendum.
The "devo-max" option was not included, however, as the Edinburgh Agreement stipulated that the referendum had to be a clear binary choice between independence or the existing devolution arrangements.
Two days before the referendum was held, with polls very close, the leaders of the three main UK political parties made "The Vow", a public pledge to devolve "extensive new powers" to the Scottish Parliament if independence was rejected.
The day after the referendum, David Cameron announced the formation of the Smith Commission to "convene cross-party talks" concerning "recommendations for further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament".
Based on the Smith Commission's recommendations, the Scotland Act 2016 was passed by Parliament and received Royal Assent on 23 March 2016.
[44] In October 2023, SNP MP David Linden brought forward a bill to devolve employment law to the Scottish Parliament.
[49][50] Brown proposed the following in 2017: However, the Labour "New Britain" report outlined the following in December 2022: In an effort to safeguard the UK internal market post-Brexit and to avoid trade discrepancies or issues for goods moving within the UK, in December 2020 the British government passed in parliament the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020.
[55] In January 2023, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack used powers included in the Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 to block the bill from receiving royal assent and becoming law.
