1.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
2.
Scottish Government
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The Scottish Government is Scotlands devolved government. It was formally renamed in 2012 to the Scottish Government by section 12 of the Scotland Act 2012, the government consists of cabinet secretaries, who attend cabinet meetings, and ministers, who do not. It is led by the first minister, who selects the cabinet secretaries, the Scottish Government is responsible for devolved matters, and those not explicitly reserved to the British Parliament in Westminster, by Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998. Devolved matters that were decided on by the Scotland Act 1998 included healthcare provision, education, justice, policing, rural affairs, economic development, the Scottish Government also has administrative responsibility for some matters where it does not have legislative power. An example is Sections 36 &37 of the Electricity Act 1989 which allow the Scottish Government to authorise power transmission lines and grant power generation consents. The Scottish Governments budget is decided upon by the grant that is formulated using the Barnett Formula with the ability to also increase or decrease income tax rates. In the financial year of 2016–17, the annual budget was £37.2 billion. The government is led by the First Minister, the Scottish Parliament nominates one of its members to be appointed as first minister by the monarch. He or she is assisted by various cabinet secretaries with individual portfolios, Ministers are similarly appointed to assist cabinet secretaries in their work. The Scottish law officers, the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General, can be appointed from outside the parliaments membership and they are appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the first minister. The first minister, the secretaries and the Scottish law officers are the members of the Scottish Government. They are collectively known as the Scottish Ministers, the members of the government have substantial influence over legislation in Scotland, putting forward the majority of bills that are successful in becoming Acts of the Scottish Parliament. The structure of the team used by the Scottish National Party after its election victory in May 2007 differs from those used by previous governments. The title cabinet secretary was introduced to replace what were called ministers, the cabinet secretaries and ministers are, The Scottish Cabinet is the group of ministers who are collectively responsible for all Scottish Government policy. While parliament is in session, the cabinet meets weekly, normally meetings are held on Tuesday afternoons in Bute House, the official residence of the first minister. The cabinet consists of the secretaries, excluding the Scottish Law Officers. The Lord Advocate attends meetings of the cabinet only when requested by the first minister, the cabinet is supported by the Cabinet Secretariat, which is based at St Andrews House. Scottish Government also includes a service that supports the Scottish ministers
3.
First Minister of Scotland
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The First Minister of Scotland is the leader of the Scottish Government. The First Minister chairs the Scottish Cabinet and is responsible for the formulation, development. The First Minister is a Member of the Scottish Parliament and nominated by the Scottish Parliament before being appointed by the monarch. Members of the Cabinet and junior ministers of the Scottish Government as well as the Scottish law officers, are appointed by the First Minister. As head of the Scottish Government, the First Minister is directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament for their actions, nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party is the current First Minister of Scotland. The process was known as devolution and was initiated to give Scotland some measure of home rule or self-governance in its affairs, such as health, education. The Secretary of State was a member of the British Cabinet, since 1999, the Secretary of State has a much reduced role as a result of the transfer of responsibilities to the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government. The First Minister is nominated by the Scottish Parliament from among its members at the beginning of each term and he or she is then formally appointed by the monarch. In theory, any member of the Scottish Parliament can be nominated for First Minister, however, the government must be answerable to, and acceptable to, the Scottish Parliament to gain supply. For this reason, the First Minister is almost always the leader of the largest party, there is no term of office for a First Minister, he or she holds office at Her Majestys pleasure. In practice, he or she holds office as long as he or she retains the confidence of the chamber, given the additional member system used to elect its members, it is difficult for a single party to gain an overall majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament. The SNP gained a majority of seats in the 2011 election. After the election of the Scottish Parliament, a First Minister must be nominated within a period of 28 days. Under the terms of the Scotland Act, if the Parliament fails to nominate a First Minister, within this frame, it will be dissolved. If an incumbent First Minister is defeated in a general election, the First Minister only leaves office when the Scottish Parliament nominates a successor individual. After accepting office, the First Minister takes the Official Oath, the oath is tendered by the Lord President of the Court of Session at a sitting of the Court in Parliament House in Edinburgh. The oath is, I, do swear that I will well and truly serve Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in the office of First Minister, the period in office of a First Minister is not linked to the term of Members of the Scottish Parliament. The Scotland Act set out a maximum term for each session of Parliament
4.
Nicola Sturgeon
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Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon is a Scottish politician who is the fifth and current First Minister of Scotland and the leader of the Scottish National Party, in office since 2014. She is the first woman to hold either position, Sturgeon has been a member of the Scottish Parliament since 1999, first as an additional member for the Glasgow electoral region from 1999 to 2007, and as the member for Glasgow Southside since 2007. A law graduate of the University of Glasgow, Sturgeon worked as a solicitor in Glasgow, after being elected to the Scottish Parliament, she served successively as the SNPs shadow minister for education, health and justice. In 2004 she announced that she would stand as a candidate for the leadership of the SNP following the resignation of John Swinney, however, she later withdrew from the contest in favour of Alex Salmond, standing instead as depute leader on a joint ticket with Salmond. Both were subsequently elected, and as Salmond was still an MP in the House of Commons, the SNP won the highest number of seats in the Scottish Parliament in the 2007 election and Salmond was subsequently appointed First Minister. He appointed Sturgeon as Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and she was appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities in 2012. No one else was nominated for the post by the nominations closed. She was formally elected to succeed Salmond as First Minister on 19 November, forbes magazine ranked Sturgeon as the 50th most powerful woman in the world in 2016 and 2nd in the United Kingdom. Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon was born in Ayrshire Central Hospital in Irvine and she is the eldest of three daughters born to Robin Sturgeon, an electrician, and Joan Kerr Sturgeon, a dental nurse. Her family has roots in North East England, her paternal grandmother was from Ryhope in what is now the City of Sunderland. Sturgeon grew up in Prestwick and Dreghorn and she attended Dreghorn Primary School from 1975 to 1982 and Greenwood Academy from 1982 to 1988. She later studied at the University of Glasgow, where she read Law, Sturgeon graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1992 and a Diploma in Legal Practice the following year. During her time at Glasgow University she was active as a member of the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association, following her graduation, Sturgeon completed her legal traineeship at McClure Naismith, a Glasgow firm of solicitors, in 1995. In the mid-1990s, Sturgeon and Charles Kennedy went together on a study visit to Australia. The 1997 general election saw Sturgeon selected to fight the Glasgow Govan seat for the SNP, boundary changes meant that the notional Labour majority in the seat had increased substantially. Sarwar did, however, win the seat with a majority of 2,914 votes, shortly after this, Sturgeon was appointed as the SNPs spokesperson for energy and education matters. Sturgeon stood for election to the Scottish Parliament in the first Scottish Parliament election in 1999 as the SNP candidate for Glasgow Govan. Although she failed to win the seat, she was placed first in the SNPs regional list for the Glasgow region, during the first term of the Scottish Parliament, Sturgeon served as a member of the Shadow Cabinets of both Alex Salmond and John Swinney
5.
Deputy First Minister of Scotland
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The Deputy First Minister of Scotland is the deputy to the First Minister of Scotland. The post is not recognised in statute, and its holder is simply a member of the Scottish Government. The post has existed since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament. When one party alone, the Deputy First Minister is a senior member of the governing party. When the government is formed by a coalition, the Deputy First Minister is usually the leader of the minority partner, alongside the responsibilities of the post-holders functions as Deputy First Minister, the post holder is also required to have direct responsibility for a cabinet secretary post. The current Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, is also Cabinet Secretary for Education, the Additional Member System used to elect Members of the Scottish Parliament makes it difficult for a single party to have an absolute majority. Between 1999 and 2007, the Scottish Executive was formed by a Labour, the First Minister was appointed from the majority coalition partner and the Deputy First Minister from the minority partner. When Sturgeon became First Minister, the partys leader, Stewart Hosie, was serving in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Deputy First Ministers post thus went to John Swinney, during the illness of the first First Minister, Donald Dewar, the Deputy First Minister took over the running of the Executive as Acting First Minister. The spelling used in the titles of all Deputy First Ministers so far has not been in line with traditional Scottish usage, which uses the form Depute in preference to Deputy
6.
Scottish Parliament
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The Scottish Parliament, is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the city, Edinburgh. The most recent general election to the Parliament was held on 5 May 2016, as a consequence, both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England ceased to exist, and the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London was formed. The Act delineates the legislative competence of the Parliament – the areas in which it can make laws – by explicitly specifying powers that are reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster, the British Parliament retains the ability to amend the terms of reference of the Scottish Parliament, and can extend or reduce the areas in which it can make laws. The first meeting of the new Parliament took place on 12 May 1999, initial Scottish proposals in the negotiation over the Union suggested a devolved Parliament be retained in Scotland, but this was not accepted by the English negotiators. Suggestions for a devolved Parliament were made before 1914, but were shelved due to the outbreak of the First World War, one of the principal objectives of the commission was to examine ways of enabling more self-government for Scotland, within the unitary state of the United Kingdom. Kilbrandon published his report in 1973 recommending the establishment of a directly elected Scottish Assembly to legislate for the majority of domestic Scottish affairs, the party argued that the revenues from the oil were not benefitting Scotland as much as they should. The combined effect of events led to Prime Minister Wilson committing his government to some form of devolved legislature in 1974. However, it was not until 1978 that final legislative proposals for a Scottish Assembly were passed by the United Kingdom Parliament, publishing its blueprint for devolution in 1995, the Convention provided much of the basis for the structure of the Parliament. Devolution continued to be part of the platform of the Labour Party which, in May 1997, an election was held on 6 May 1999, and on 1 July of that year power was transferred from Westminster to the new Parliament. Since September 2004, the home of the Scottish Parliament has been a new Scottish Parliament Building. The Scottish Parliament building was designed by Spanish architect Enric Miralles in partnership with local Edinburgh Architecture firm RMJM which was led by Design Principal Tony Kettle. Some of the features of the complex include leaf-shaped buildings. Throughout the building there are many repeated motifs, such as based on Raeburns Skating Minister. Crow-stepped gables and the upturned boat skylights of the Garden Lobby, Queen Elizabeth II opened the new building on 9 October 2004. In March 2006, one of the Holyrood buildings roof beams slipped out of its support and was left dangling above the back benches during a debate, the debating chamber was subsequently closed, and MSPs moved to The Hub for one week, whilst inspections were carried out. During repairs, all business was conducted in the Parliaments committee room two
7.
1st Scottish Parliament
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This is a list of members returned to the first Scottish Parliament at the 1999 election. The 1999 election produced a parliament, with the Labour MSPs forming the largest minority. Consequently, they formed a government with the Liberal Democrats to form the first Scottish Executive. Government coalition parties denoted with bullets This is a comparison of party strengths in the 1st session of the Scottish Parliament at the time of its dissolution in April 2003. Note this is not the seating plan of the Scottish Parliament. This is a list of MSPs at dissolution, for a list of MSPs elected in the 1999 election, see here. The changes table below records all changes in party affiliation during the session, during the 1999 to 2003 period there were one death and three resignations amongst constituency MSPs, and replacement MSPs were elected in by-elections. Also there was one resignation amongst the additional member MSPs, with that MSP being replaced by the candidate who was next on the members list at the time of the 1999 election
8.
Scottish Parliament election, 2016
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The 2016 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the general election since the parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary election in Scotland in which 16 and 17 year olds were able to vote and it was also the first time the three main parties were led by women. Parliament went into dissolution on 24 March 2016, allowing the official period of campaigning to get underway, of those five parties, four changed their leader since the 2011 election. During the campaign, a series of televised debates took place, BBC Scotland held the first leaders’ debate on 24 March, STV broadcast the next on 29 March, and BBC Scotland hosted the final debate on 1 May. The Scottish National Party won the election and a term in government. The Conservatives saw a significant increase in support and displaced the Labour Party as the second largest party at the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Greens won six seats on the regional list and overtook the Liberal Democrats, who remained on five seats. Under the Scotland Act 1998, a general election to the Scottish Parliament would normally have been held on the first Thursday in May four years after the 2011 election. In May 2010, the new UK Government stated in its coalition agreement that the next United Kingdom general election would also be held in May 2015. In response to criticism, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg offered the right to vary the date of the Scottish Parliament election by a year either way. All the main political parties then stated their support for delaying the election by a year, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, a statute of the UK Parliament, moved the date of the Scottish Parliament general election to 5 May 2016. The date of the poll may be varied by up to one month either way by the monarch, therefore, if the First Minister resigned, Parliament would then have 28 days to elect a successor. If no new First Minister was elected then the Presiding Officer would ask for Parliament to be dissolved under s3a and this process could also be triggered if the First Minister lost a vote of confidence by a simple majority, as s/he must then resign. To date the Parliament has never held a vote on a First Minister. No extraordinary general elections have been held to date, the subsequent ordinary general election reverts to the first Thursday in May, a multiple of four years after 1999. It was envisaged that the election would still have taken place as scheduled if Scotland had voted in favour of independence in 2014. For that reason there were far more challenges than normal within the SNP, the First Periodical Review of the Scottish Parliaments constituencies and regions by the Boundary Commission for Scotland, was announced on 3 July 2007. The Commission published its proposals for the regional boundaries in 2009
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Secretary of State for Scotland
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Her Majestys Principal Secretary of State for Scotland is the principal minister of Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland representing Scotland. He heads the Scotland Office, a government department based in London, the post was created soon after the Union of the Crowns, but was abolished in 1746, following the Jacobite rebellion. Scottish affairs thereafter were managed by the Lord Advocate until 1827, in 1885 the post of Secretary for Scotland was re-created, with the incumbent usually in the Cabinet. In 1926 this post was upgraded to a full Secretary of State appointment, consequently, the role of Secretary of State for Scotland has been diminished. A recent Scottish Secretary, Des Browne, held the post whilst simultaneously being Secretary of State for Defence, the current Secretary of State for Scotland is David Mundell. John Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar had served as Secretary of State of an independent Scotland since 1705, following the Acts of Union 1707, he remained in office. The post of Secretary of State for Scotland existed briefly after the Union of the Parliament of Scotland, after the rising, responsibility for Scotland lay primarily with the office of the Home Secretary, usually exercised by the Lord Advocate. The Secretary for Scotland was chief minister in charge of the Scottish Office in the United Kingdom government,1885 saw the creation of the Scottish Office and the post of Secretary for Scotland. From 1892 the Secretary for Scotland sat in cabinet, the Secretary for Scotland post was upgraded to full Secretary of State rank as Secretary of State for Scotland in 1926. All Secretaries for Scotland also held the post of Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, the post of Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland was held ex officio by Secretaries of State for Scotland from 1926 to 1999. Secretaries of State for Scotland since Donald Dewar have not been Keepers of the Great Seal, with the rise of the SNP in the Scottish and British parliaments and the resultant interest in Scottish Independence, the Secretary of states role has also subsequently increased in prominence. The Scotland office itself has received an increase in budget of 20% from 2013 to 2017 with a 14. 4% increase in 2015/16 alone. The UK governments website lists the Secretary of State for Scotlands responsibilities as being, The main role of the Scottish Secretary is to promote, other responsibilities include promoting partnership between the UK government and the Scottish government, and relations between the 2 Parliaments. This seeming lack of responsibility has in recent years seen calls for the scrapping of the role and the wider department of the Scottish office itself by opposition MPs
10.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
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It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster
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European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
Scotland portal 
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