Politics open book B

“The Scottish parliament adjourned on the 25th of March, 1707, is hereby reconvened”
These were the first words spoken in the Scottish parliament when it was re-established in
1999, Scotland devolved political system is complex and varied with a wide range of aspects,
this essay will attempt to analyse and evaluate this system, this essay will cover, Key
developments in the establishment of a Scottish parliament, the powers and functions of
the parliament, the impact of Scottish policy initiatives, the powers and functions of the
Scottish executive, the effects of minority and coalition administration and the debate
surrounding Scotland’s place in the union.
While Scottish nationalist had always existed since the act of union in 1707, there was a
sharp rise in nationalist sentiment in the 1970 following the discovery of oil in the north sea,
During this time the SNP (Scottish nationalist party launched a campaign surrounding the
discovery of this oil, the intent of this campaign was to convince the public that oil could be
a method of stimulating the rapidly de-industrialising Scottish economy, and by most
accounts this campaign was successful with the SNP seeing a surge of popular support. The
next step in the road to devolution was the premiership of herald Wilson, as a labour PM
with a majority of only 3 seats he often found himself reliant on the left-wing SNP for
support in Westminster, seeing an opportunity to further their goals the SNP pressured
Wilson to establish a Scottish assembly, however this was a contentious issue and both the
labour and SNP parties were divided, labour was divided between those who approved of an
assembly to strengthen their alliance with the SNP and those who didn’t want to weaken
the control of Westminster and the SNP were divided between those who saw a Scottish
parliament as a step to further independence and those who saw it as a distraction from
their final goal, an independent Scotland, eventually a referendum was held to establish a
Scottish assembly, however it failed, while the Yes vote did have a slim majority of 52% the
low turnout meant that only 33% of the total Scottish population voted in favour and the
labour government did not establish a Scottish assembly, in protest of this controversial
decision the SNP withdrew their support from the labour government which paved the way
for Margate thatcher and the conservatives to win the next general election in 1979
(OpenLearn, 2016). During the thatcher era the campaign for devolution would stall out,
with the only major step forward being the claim of right in 1988, which was a document
signed by many campaigners for a devolved parliament including future PM Gordon Brown
that declared the sovereignty of the Scottish people, the next phase in the road to
devolution would not come until 1997 and the election of Tony Blair as prime minister,
Under Tony Blain there was a referendum to establish a Scottish parliament which won with
an overwhelming majority, this lead to the Scotland act in 1998 which legislated for the
establishment of a Scottish parliament and in 1999 the first session of the Scottish
parliament in just under 300 years was held. Overall the road to establishing a Scottish
parliament was a long one with many different factors that played into its re-establishment.
Devolution is the process by which, powers over certain areas of governance are “devolved”
to the Scottish parliament by Westminster, in these areas the Scottish parliament has full
control and acts as the final decision making body, this is contrasted by reserved powers,
like than me suggests these are powers that are reserved for Westminster to make decision
over and the Scottish parliament has no influence over. over the years there have been
three acts passed by Westminster that gave devolved powers to Scotland, they are the
Scotland act of 1998, 2012 and 2016 some of the major powers given to Scotland include
powers over, housing, social work health care and education, while some of the powers
retained by Westminster are, power over immigration, employment and equal
opportunities, over all granting these devolved powers to Scotland has been a significant
blessing for Scotland as a whole, allowing Scotland to make the decisions that are best for it
rather than being subject to Westminster which does not always have the interests of the
Scottish people in mind, and to that effect it its believed by some that more power should
be devolved to the Scottish parliament rather than having it be retained by west
minster(Parliament. Scot, 2011)
Over the years of the Scottish parliament’s existence there have been many policy initiatives
that have had a significant effect on the country as a whole. While not all of these initiatives
have been successful many of the have made a significant positive difference in the lives of
Scottish people, one such successful initiative would be the ban on smoking in public places
in 2006, while unpopular with some this initiative lead to a significant decrees in the rates of
smoking in Scotland which had a very positive effect on the country’s health, another
successful initiative would be the ending of student fees in 2008, while it was criticized by
some it was widely hailed as a resounding success for the Scottish government, allowing
people who would have never had the opportunity other wise to get a university level
education and improve their lot in life. However some of these initiatives have not been
successful, an example of this would be the named person scheme in 2014 which was
scrapped in 2019 due to its cost and unpopularity. Overall the policy initiatives have had a
positive impact on the country despite some of them not being as successful as others
(Gov.Scot, 2011.)
One of the key elements of the devolved Scottish government is the Scottish executive, The
Scottish executive acts as the governing body for Scotland on devolved issues, The executive
is made up of, The first minister who acts as the head of the executive, the deputy first
minister who acts as second in command for the first minister as well as various other
cabinet members such as the minister for heath or the minister for education who are
responsible for different policy areas. A large number of the functions of the executive
revolve around the first minister, one of their powers is to nominate ministers to the
cabinet, while this does give the first minister significant influence their nominations can be
rejected by parliament. The first minister is as the head of the Scottish government
responsible for progress and success of policy initiatives, this acts as a double edged sword,
if initiative are successful they can act as a boost to the influence and prestige of the
Scottish executive, however, if they fail they can draw sharp criticism. The executive is also
limited in their power by the parliament, As members of the Scottish government all the
ministers including the first minister are accountable to the Scottish parliament for their
actions which can in extreme cases result in a minister being dismissed limiting their power
(Parliament. Scot, 2011).
The Scottish parliament is elected through the Additional Member System or AMS. AMS is a
combination of a traditional First past the post system or FPTP and The Party list system,
which is a form of proportional representation, when a person votes in an election under
AMS they cast two votes, the first is for their constituency MP, who is elected through FPTP,
the second vote is the regional vote, unlike the constituencies the regions have multiple
seats up for grabs and they are given out on a party list system. One of the strengths of AMS
is that due to having elements of proportional representation, the system is much fairer,
large parries don’t dominate parliament on a minority of the popular vote like under FPTP,
and smaller parties have a chance to sit in seats. Another strength of AMS is that is
discourages tactical vote like under FPTP where a person will rather than voting for who
they want, will vote for who they dislike the lease, this is achieve through the second party
list vote. One weakness of AMS is that due to the system being more complex that a system
like FPTP it may be difficult for some to fully understand, this is a weakness because it will
lower voter engagement and will result in more spoiled ballets. Another weakness of AMS is
that regional MSPs are not liked to a specific constituency and so cannot do as good a job at
representing individuals in parliament compared to constituency MSPs (Electoral Reform
Society, 2016). One perceived weakness of AMS is that due to its proportional
representation elements it is more likely to form minority or coalition governments,
however it could be argued that this is not a weakness, those who believe that this is a flaw
with AMS claim that minority and coalition governments are much less stable and do not
have the strength to push forward policy, meaning that a system like FPTP is preferred due
its ability to consistently deliver majorities to a single party, However those who believe that
it is not a weakness of AMS argue that, coalition governments are perfectly capable of
pushing policy and are in fact better because they encompass a wider range of views and
opinions meaning that policy is more likely to be suitable for a larger proportion of people,
additionally AMS encourages co-operation and bipartisanship which is a significant
advantage over other systems
In Scotland there is currently a large ongoing debate surrounding its place as a part of the
larger United Kingdom with many on each side holding strong views. One Camp is those
who argue for Unionism, it is their belief that Scotland is better of as part of the United
kingdom as a whole and leaving the Union would be hugely detriments to Scottish society,
One strength of the unionist argument is that in theory, the two countries working together
as one will make both better off economically and socially, than either country being an
independent nation. One criticism of the Unionist perspective is the disproportional levels of
influence between England and Scotland, that’s to some makes the union feel more like
Scotland is being ruled over by England rather than being a member of an equal
partnership. Another perspective as that of devolution, it is their belief that while Scotland is
still better as part of the union they should have much more sovereignty over how it is
governed and argues for more devolved powers to be granted to Scotland. One strength of
this perspective is that it works as a good compromise, Scotland gets the benefits of staying
as part of the union while also achieving more control over its own affairs. One criticism is
that Scotland is still subject to the whims of England on many issues that concern Scotland.
The final Camp is the separatists who believe that Scotland would be much better off as in
independent nation that could make its own decision in how it is governed in all aspects not
just the ones that are devolved to Scotland by England. One advantage of this position is
that Scotland would have full control over itself and would be free to make its own decision
on how it is run. One weakness of this position is that Scotland would have a weaker
position on the world stage as a much smaller nation and would lose out on positions of
influence such as being on the UN Security Council due to it being part of the United
Kingdom. Over all the arguments over Scotland position as a member of the United
Kingdom has been a divisive one with no clear or decisive argument for what course should
be taken into the future (BBC News, 2016).
In conclusion the Scottish government is a complex system with many different elements
that come together to make it unique in the United Kingdom, The large devolution of power
makes the Scottish government largely self-sufficient when dealing with issues of state,
Scottish policy initiatives have been successful in many cases which have bolstered the
influence of the Scottish government but many have also been failures. And the ongoing
debate surrounding Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom all come together to for a
unique and fascinating system of governance
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