Government and Legislature
Scotland is represented by 72 members in the House of Commons and by 16 Scottish peers in the House of Lords. Scottish members have full rights of debate and voting on English matters. Much of the government of Scotland has been devolved to the new Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
The Scottish Executive is the devolved government for Scotland. It is responsible for most of the issues of day-to- day concern to the people of Scotland, including health, education, justice, rural affairs, and transport, and manages an annual budget of around £20 billion.
Scottish Parliament
Devolution is the transfer of powers from a central body to subordinate regional bodies. The UK Parliament at Westminster has devolved different powers to three bodies: the Scottish Parliament, The National Assembly for Wales and The Northern Ireland Assembly.
The 1998 Scotland Act provided “for the establishment of a Scottish Parliament”. Under the terms of the Act, the Scottish Parliament is able to pass laws affecting Scotland covering a range of issues. The Act also gives the Scottish Parliament the power to raise or lower the basic rate of income tax by up to 3 pence in the pound. Some of the issues devolved to the Scottish Parliament include Education, Health (including the NHS in Scotland), Agriculture and Justice. All the issues on which the Scottish Parliament can pass legislation are known as devolved matters.
The Scotland Act also specifies certain issues on which the Scottish Parliament cannot pass legislation. These are known as reserved matters. Reserved matters include Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security.
The relationship between the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliament is similar to the relationship between the UK Government and the UK Parliament at Westminster.
There are a number of key dates in the creation of the Scottish Parliament. The Referendum held on 11 September 1997 produced clear majorities for the two propositions regarding the creation of a Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers, and gave the UK government a mandate to introduce legislation that would allow for the creation of a Scottish Parliament. The result of this was the Scotland Act 1998, which received Royal Assent on 19 November 1998. The Act provided "for the establishment of a Scottish Parliament", and gave the Secretary of State for Scotland the power to decide the date of the first election.
The first elections to the Scottish Parliament took place on 6 May 1999 and meetings of the Parliament began with the first sitting on 12 May 1999. At this sitting, the MSPs were able to take the oath of allegiance or make a solemn affirmation and to elect the Presiding Officer and two Deputy Presiding Officers. The Parliament was officially opened by the Queen on 1 July 1999 and took up its full powers on this date.
The Scottish Parliament is made up of all 129 MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament). Like the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament passes laws. It also scrutinises the work and policies of the Scottish Executive.
Scottish Executive
The Scottish Executive is the government in Scotland for all devolved matters. At Devolution, the powers and duties exercised by UK Ministers in Scotland, relating to devolved matters, were transferred to the Scottish Ministers. Most of the responsibilities previously held by the Scottish Office have become part of the remit of the Scottish Executive.
The Scottish Executive is formed from the party or parties holding a majority of seats in the Parliament. The members of the Executive are collectively referred to as ‘the Scottish Ministers’. All Ministers are MSPs. This means that they are part of two separate organisations: the Scottish Executive (Ministers) and the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).
Electing MSPs
The voting system used by the Scottish Parliament is known as the Additional Member System (AMS). AMS is a type of proportional representation. This means that the share of seats each party receives reflects its level of support among voters.
At a Scottish Parliament election each voter has 2 votes. With the first vote, voters choose between candidates standing in their constituency. The candidate winning the largest number of votes will gain the seat. There are a total of 73 constituency MSPs.
The second vote is for a political party, or for a candidate standing as an individual, within a larger electoral area called a Scottish Parliament Region. There are 8 Scottish Parliament Regions. Each region has 7 additional seats in the Parliament. Within each region, parties are allocated additional seats dependent upon the number of constituency seats it won. The members chosen to fill these 56 additional seats are known as ‘regional members’.
Each voter will have one constituency MSP and 7 regional MSPs. All MSPs have equal status in the Parliament.
This system is likely to change if the number of constituencies (MPs elected to Westminster) changes. It is possible the system will be simplified to each constituency electing one MP to Westminster, and 2 MSPs to the Scottish Parliament.
Legislature
Before the union of Scotland and England in 1707, Scotland had developed its own system of law, which continued after the union. The Scottish law system is based on civil law, which is derived from ancient Roman law, whereas the other parts of Great Britain follow the common law, which originated in England with the evolution of case law and precedents. Because of the different systems of law, separate statutes or statutory provisions often are enacted by Parliament for application in Scotland. Any statute of the UK Parliament must state expressly that it is applicable to Scotland in order to become enforceable. Most Scottish law is now enacted by the Scottish Parliament.
Judiciary
The Scottish judiciary is organised separately from that of the rest of Great Britain.
The two higher courts of Scotland are the High Court of Justiciary (criminal) and the Court of Session (civil). A panel of 21 judges is provided for both courts together. Major criminal trials are held before 1 or 2 judges of the High Court of Justiciary and a 15-member jury; criminal appeals may be heard by a bench of at least 3 judges. The Court of Session is divided into an Outer House, which holds all divorce trials and the more important civil trials, and an Inner House, which functions chiefly as an appellate court in civil cases. Appeals to the British House of Lords may be made from the Court of Session; appellate judgements of the High Court of Justiciary are final.
Each of the six sheriffdoms, into which Scotland is divided, has a sheriff court for less important civil and criminal cases. Petty cases are tried by district courts and justices of the peace.
Local Government
In 1995, local government in Scotland was reorganised into 29 unitary authorities, replacing the two tier system which has existed since the last reorganisation of local goverment in 1974, following the Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1973.
Between 1974 and 1995 there were 9 Regional Councils (divided into 53 District Councils) and 3 unitary Island Councils. The 3 island authorities were retained after 1995.
Prior to 1974, Scotland was divided into counties and the larger cities were governed by City Corporations. The old counties are still used as the basis of Land Registration in Scotland. In each case, these local government institutions are run by a body of councillors, who are elected every four years.
Local Authority Websites
Aberdeen City Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll & Bute Clackmannanshire Dumfries & Galloway Dundee City East Ayrshire East Dunbarton East Lothian East Renfrewshire EdinburghFalkirk FifeGlasgow Highland Inverclyde Midlothian Moray North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire OrkneyPerth & Kinross Renfrewshire Scottish Borders Shetland South Ayrshire South Lanarkshire Stirling West Dunbarton West Lothian Western Isles
Note: The Western Isles Council has changed its name to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and the administrative name of the area ceases to be Western Isles and becomes Na h-Eileanan an Iar.
- Photos of many of the places mentioned in the text can be found in the Photo-tour.
- Links to the regional tourist information boards can be found in Travel and Tourism.
- Scottish Parliament
- UK Government
- UK Parliament
- The National Assembly for Wales
- The Northern Ireland Assembly