Scotland's Democratic Heritage
Continued...
Opposition to the Union continued, with Jacobite risings in 1715 and 1745 seeking to reinstate the Stuarts on the throne of Scotland. But with the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden in 1746, it became a fait accompli. In defiance, at 12th century Traquair House in the Scottish Borders, the Bear Gates were closed in 1745, not to be reopened until the Stuarts should ascend the throne. They remain closed to this day.
The 18th century Enlightenment in Edinburgh, and the Industrial Revolution in Glasgow and on Clydeside, transformed the intellectual and economic face of Scotland, but its political life remained to all intents and purposes at a standstill. With only 45 Scottish members of parliament at Westminster, and a corrupt and limited franchise system, the country was run by powerful managers, such as Henry Dundas, the First Viscount Melville, who effectively governed Scotland for 30 years in the Tory interest, and whose family seat, Dundas Castle, is in South Queensferry.
In 1853 came the first stirrings of a new Scottish nationalism, and by 1880, Home Rule was being "distinctly and loudly mentioned." William Gladstone's famous Midlothian campaigns of 1879 and 1880 attracted massive support and interest, and it was at Dalmeny House, home of the Earl of Rosebery, that Gladstone first sketched out an idea for Scottish devolution. In 1885, Rosebery introduced a bill to appoint the first Secretary of Scotland - the Duke of Richmond and Gordon.
During the next fifty years or so various Home Rule bills were introduced by both Liberal and Labour Parties, though none of them came to anything. Support for the Home Rule movement grew during the depression of the 1930s, and the Scottish Secretary was given cabinet rank and wider powers. In 1934 two nationalist groups combined to form the Scottish National Party.
In both world wars, Scotland's soldiers fought for Great Britain with determination and total loyalty as Britons first and Scots second. But in the aftermath of World War Two, the latent sense of a separate identity resurfaced. The first Scottish nationalist candidate was elected in 1945, and the centralised powers introduced by a Labour government provoked increased reaction in Scotland. In 1948 a Scottish Covenant calling for a Scottish Parliament within the framework of the United Kingdom was drawn up attracting thousands of signatures.
Then, in 1950, a small group of Nationalists, including Ian Hamilton QC, stole the Stone of Destiny from under its throne in Westminster Abbey, creating a sensation. (The Stone of Destiny or 'Stone of Scone' was the coronation seat of the Scottish Kings at Scone Palace until Edward 1 removed it in 1296 when it was placed in Westminster Abbey). Today, it has been legitimately returned to Scotland and can be seen with the regalia of Scotland, in Edinburgh Castle.
There is little doubt that the Nationalist movement, small in number of MPs elected, but big in influence on public opinion, focused Scottish attention throughout the Fifties and Sixties on the Home Rule issue. In 1967, Mrs Winifred Ewing won the Hamilton by-election sensationally from Labour, forcing that party to consider seriously a devolution policy that they had never previously favoured.
In 1968, with the Declaration of Perth, the Tories, under Edward Heath, committed itself to reform, though that tendency was firmly reversed by Mrs Thatcher. In 1973, another famous nationalist, Margo MacDonald, won the Glasgow Govan by-election, and in the late 1970s events took place which were to lead, almost inexorably, to the creation of a Scottish parliament.
In 1976 Michael Foot introduced the first Devolution Bill, and in March 1979, a referendum was finally held, with mixed results. A majority in the Borders, Grampian, Orkney and Shetland, voted against the Bill, and an amendment providing for the repeal of the measure if 40 per cent of the registered electorate did not agree to devolution, succeeded in scuppering it. Later that month the Labour Government fell, and in May 1979, a Conservative Government under Mrs Thatcher put an end to all idea of a devolved government for the next decade.
The idea of a Scottish Parliament has never gone away, however, and it was resurrected with the publication in 1988 of a document entitled A Claim of Right for Scotland, and the establishment of a Constitutional Convention, a cross-party body which also included representatives of the church, the trade unions and other institutions. Over the following years it worked up what would become the skeleton of a future assembly.
When, after 18 years of Conservative Government, Labour was returned to power in 1997, it came with a firm undertaking to introduce devolution in the form of a Scottish Parliament - described by its leader John Smith as "the settled will of the Scottish people." A white paper, and then a referendum, which was passed by an overwhelming majority, led to the framing of the Scotland Act of 1998 which spelled out how the Parliament would work and what powers it would have.
All that remained was for a national election to be held on May 6, 1999, and for the duly elected members to take their seats, thus restoring to Scotland an institution that goes back to the very dawn of its history.
Magnus Linklater is former editor of The Scotsman and columnist for The Times and Scotland on Sunday.