1.
Scottish Parliament Building
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The Scottish Parliament Building is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. Construction of the building commenced in June 1999 and the Members of the Scottish Parliament held their first debate in the new building on 7 September 2004, the formal opening by Queen Elizabeth II took place on 9 October 2004. Enric Miralles, the Spanish Catalan architect who designed the building, Office and administrative accommodation in support of the Parliament were provided in buildings leased from the City of Edinburgh Council. 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, from the outset, the building and its construction have been controversial. The choices of location, architect, design, and construction company were all criticised by politicians, the media and the Scottish public. Scheduled to open in 2001, it did so in 2004, a major public inquiry into the handling of the construction, chaired by the former Lord Advocate, Peter Fraser, was established in 2003. The inquiry concluded in September 2004 and criticised the management of the project from the realisation of cost increases down to the way in which major design changes were implemented. Despite these criticisms and a public reaction, the building was welcomed by architectural academics and critics. The building aimed to achieve a union between the Scottish landscape, its people, its culture, and the city of Edinburgh. Comprising an area of 1.6 ha, with a perimeter of 480 m, the large site previously housed the headquarters of the Scottish and Newcastle brewery which were demolished to make way for the building. Reids Close connects the Canongate and Holyrood Road on the side of the complex. The south eastern side of the complex is bounded by the Our Dynamic Earth visitor attraction opened in July 1999. In the immediate vicinity of the building is the Palace of Holyroodhouse, to the south of the parliamentary complex are the steep slopes of the Salisbury Crags and Arthurs Seat. The Treaty of Union, signed in 1707, created a political union between the Kingdom of Scots and the Kingdom of England. The two previous Acts of Union had dissolved the previous parliaments, the Treaty of Union created the Parliament of Great Britain which was housed in the Palace of Westminster in London. As a consequence, Scotland was directly governed from London for the next 292 years without a legislature or a Parliament building of its own. Whilst much of this conversion was completed and the building was renamed New Parliament House it was determined that the facility was too small for its stated purpose. Following the April 1992 election, when a weakened John Major was re-elected, starting informally this became a permanently manned vigil to keep the concept in the public mind
2.
Parliament of Scotland
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The Parliament of Scotland, or Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The parliament, like other such institutions, evolved during the Middle Ages from the council of bishops. It is first identifiable as a parliament in 1235, during the reign of Alexander II, by the early fourteenth century, the attendance of knights and freeholders had become important, and from 1326 commissioners from the burghs attended. Parliamentary business was carried out by sister institutions, such as General Councils or Convention of Estates. These could carry out much business also dealt with by parliament – taxation, legislation and policy-making –, the Parliament of Scotland met for more than four centuries, until it was prorogued sine die at the time of the Acts of Union in 1707. Thereafter the Parliament of Great Britain operated for both England and Scotland, thus creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain, when the Parliament of Ireland was abolished in 1801, its former members were merged into what was now called the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Later, the bishops themselves were removed from the Church of Scotland during the Glorious Revolution, the Second Estate was then split into two to retain the division into three. From the 16th century, the estate was reorganised by the selection of Shire Commissioners. During the 17th century, after the Union of the Crowns and these latter identifications remain highly controversial among parliamentary historians. Regardless, the used for the assembled members continued to be the Three Estates. A Shire Commissioner was the closest equivalent of the English office of Member of Parliament, because the parliament of Scotland was unicameral, all members sat in the same chamber, as opposed to the separate English House of Lords and House of Commons. The Scottish parliament evolved during the Middle Ages from the Kings Council and it is perhaps first identifiable as a parliament in 1235, described as a colloquium and already with a political and judicial role. In 1296 we have the first mention of burgh representatives taking part in decision making, by the early 14th century, the attendance of knights and freeholders had become important, and Robert the Bruce began regularly calling burgh commissioners to his Parliament. Consisting of The Three Estates – of clerics, lay Tenants-in-chief and burgh commissioners – sitting in a single chamber, parliamentary business was also carried out by sister institutions, before c.1500 by General Council and thereafter by the Convention of Estates. These could carry out much business also dealt with by Parliament – taxation, legislation and policy-making –, the Scottish parliament met in a number of different locations throughout its history. In addition to Edinburgh, meetings were held in Perth, Stirling, St Andrews, Dundee, Linlithgow, Dunfermline, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness and Berwick-upon-Tweed. From the early 1450s until 1690, a deal of the legislative business of the Scottish Parliament was usually carried out by a parliamentary committee known as the Lords of the Articles. This was a chosen by the three estates to draft legislation which was then presented to the full assembly to be confirmed
3.
Unicameralism
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In government, unicameralism is the practice of having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Thus, a parliament or unicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of one chamber or house. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multicameralism, many multicameral legislatures were created to give separate voices to different sectors of society. Multiple chambers allowed for guaranteed representation of different social classes, ethnic or regional interests, where these factors are unimportant, in unitary states with limited regional autonomy, unicameralism often prevails. Unicameral legislatures are also common in official Communist states such as the Peoples Republic of China, similarly, many formerly Communist states, such as Ukraine, Moldova and Serbia, have retained their unicameral legislatures, though others, such as Romania and Poland, adopted bicameral legislatures. Both the former Russian SFSR and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were bicameral, the two chambers were the Soviet of Nationalities and the Soviet of the Union. The Russian Federation retained bicameralism after the dissolution of the USSR, the principal advantage of a unicameral system is more efficient lawmaking, as the legislative process is much simpler and there is no possibility of deadlock. Proponents of unicameralism have also argued that it costs, even if the number of legislators stay the same, since there are fewer institutions to maintain. There is also the risk that important sectors of society may not be adequately represented, approximately half of the worlds sovereign states are currently unicameral, including both the most populous and the least populous. Many subnational entities have unicameral legislatures, and all of the Brazilian states. In the United Kingdom, the devolved Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, Congress of Deputies of Second Spanish Republic was unicameral between 1931 and 1936. Dissolved at the end of Spanish Civil War, the actual Spanish Parliament is bicameral, Supreme Assembly of Uzbekistan was unicameral before being replaced in 2005 by the current, bicameral Supreme Assembly. National Assembly of Cameroon was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, chamber of Peoples Representative of Equatorial Guinea was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, bicameral Parliament of Equatorial Guinea. National Assembly of Kenya was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Kenya in 2013. National Assembly of Ivory Coast was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Ivory Coast in 2016. Nebraskas state legislature is also unique in the sense that it is the state legislature that is entirely nonpartisan. In 1999, Governor Jesse Ventura proposed converting the Minnesota Legislature into a unicameral chamber. Although debated, the idea was never adopted, if those constitutional changes had been approved, Puerto Rico could have switched to a unicameral legislature as early as 2015
4.
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
5.
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
6.
Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
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The Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament is the speaker of the Scottish Parliament. The current Presiding Officer is Ken Macintosh, who was elected on 12 May 2016, the Presiding Officer is elected by the Members of the Scottish Parliament, by means of an exhaustive ballot, and also heads the Corporate Body of the Scottish Parliament. He or she is considered a figurehead of the institution, the Presiding Officer presides over the Parliaments debates, determining which members may speak. The Presiding Officer is also responsible for maintaining order during debate, the Presiding Officer is expected to be strictly non-partisan, with some similarities in this respect to the tradition of the Speaker of the British House of Commons. To be seen as impartial they renounce all affiliation with their political party when taking office. They also do not take part in debate, nor do they vote except to break ties, even then, the convention is that the speaker casts the tie-breaking vote in favour of the status quo. The Presiding Officer also remains a Member of the Scottish Parliament, the office of the Presiding Officer is located in Queensberry House. Presidency of the old Scots Parliament, Lord Chancellor of Scotland Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland Presiding Officer Speaker Preses Official website
7.
Ken Macintosh
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Kenneth Donald Ken Macintosh is the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament and a MSP for the West Scotland region. In that election, he was returned on the regional list and he previously worked as a television producer for the BBC. Born in Inverness, Macintosh was educated at the Portree and Oban primary schools before attending Royal High School and he graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an History MA in 1984. His mother, Margaret Macintosh, is from Peebles and was head of Drummond Community High, before Macintosh became an MSP, he was from 1987 to 1999, a television producer for the BBC News Network. He also worked on Breakfast with Frost, Breakfast News, and he was also worked as a researcher on election programmes for both David Dimbleby and Jonathan Dimbleby. At the 1999 election, he won the Eastwood constituency with a majority of 2,125, in February 2002, Macintosh was appointed as a ministerial parliamentary aide to Minister for Education and Young People, Cathy Jamieson. He resigned from this role in September 2002 when he voted against the Labour-Liberal Democrat Coalition Scottish Executive over the closure of the A&E department at the Glasgow Victoria Infirmary. In 2006 and 2007 Macintosh has proposed a Members Bill to the Scottish Parliament providing for the regulation of sunbed parlours. Since his election in 1999 has been a member of the cross-party group on cancer, from February 2007 to April 2007, he was a Ministerial Parliamentary Aide to the First Minister Jack McConnell. Macintosh was re-elected as MSP for Eastwood at the 2007 election with a majority of 913. Macintosh was appointed Shadow Minister for Schools and Skills, Macintosh considered running for the 2008 Scottish Labour leadership election but pulled out and instead backed Andy Kerrs candidacy. At the 2011 parliamentary election he again defeated Jackson Carlaw with an increased majority of 2,012. The swing was 8. 7% from Conservative to Labour, Macintosh had feared losing the constituency following boundary changes which gave a notional Conservative majority of almost 3500. After the partys loss to the SNP, Macintosh was made Shadow Culture, only a week later though, he took over the Shadow Education portfolio after MSP Malcolm Chisholm resigned over an internal party disagreement. Ken Macintosh launched his candidacy for leader of the Scottish Labour Party on 12 September 2011, MSP colleagues who endorsed his leadership bid included, his campaign manager Michael McMahon, Claire Baker, Mary Fee, Neil Bibby, Mark Griffin, Kezia Dugdale and Jenny Marra. Macintosh was also supported by East Renfrewshire MP Jim Murphy, co-author of the Review of the Labour Party in Scotland, Murphy and Macintosh share the same constituency office in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire. In an address to party members, Macintosh said he was a devolutionist, on 28 October 2011, Macintosh officially launched his leadership campaign at Cumbernauld College in North Lanarkshire. He described the 2011 Holyrood election result as a disaster, and we need to unite as a party and to start talking positively about our values, what Labour stands for and not just what we are against
8.
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
9.
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
10.
Scottish National Party
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The Scottish National Party is a Scottish nationalist and social-democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence and its leader, Nicola Sturgeon, is the current First Minister of Scotland. With the advent of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second largest party, serving two terms as the opposition. The SNP came to power in the 2007 Scottish general election, forming a minority government, before going on to win the 2011 election, after which it formed Scotlands first majority government. The SNP is the largest political party in Scotland in terms of membership, reaching over 120,000 members in July 2016, currently the party has 63 MSPs,54 MPs and approximately 400 local councillors. The SNP also currently has 2 MEPs in the European Parliament, the SNP is a member of the European Free Alliance. The party does not have any members of the House of Lords, the SNP was formed in 1934 through the merger of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party, with Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham as its first president. Young was imprisoned for refusing to be conscripted, the SNP first won a parliamentary seat at the Motherwell by-election in 1945, but Robert McIntyre MP lost the seat at the general election three months later. They next won a seat in 1967, when Winnie Ewing was the winner of a by-election in the previously safe Labour seat of Hamilton. This brought the SNP to national prominence, leading to the establishment of the Kilbrandon Commission, the SNP hit a high point in the October 1974 general election, polling almost a third of all votes in Scotland and returning 11 MPs to Westminster. This success was not surpassed until the 2015 general election, however, the party experienced a large drop in its support at the 1979 General election, followed by a further drop at the 1983 election. In May 2011, the SNP won a majority in the Scottish Parliament with 69 seats. The No vote prevailed in a campaign, prompting the resignation of First Minister Alex Salmond. Forty-five percent of Scottish voters cast their ballots for independence, with the Yes side receiving less support than late polling predicted. The SNP rebounded from the loss in the referendum at the UK general election in May 2015, led by Salmonds successor as first minister. The party went from holding six seats in the House of Commons to 56, all but three of the fifty nine constituencies in the country elected an SNP candidate. BBC News described the result as a Scots landslide. The party gained an additional 1. 1% of the vote from the 2011 election
11.
Ruth Davidson
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After graduating from Edinburgh University, she worked as a BBC journalist and signaller in the Territorial Army. In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, Davidson stood for election in the Glasgow Kelvin constituency and she finished in 4th place in the former, but was successful in the latter, and following party leader Annabel Goldies resignation in May 2011, Davidson stood in the subsequent leadership election. She won the contest and was declared party leader on 4 November 2011, Davidson was born at the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion in Edinburgh and was raised in Selkirk and later in Fife. Davidson has lived in Glasgow for most of her adult life and her family lived in Bridgelands Road, Selkirk, and Davidson attended Knowepark Primary School until primary three. When her father took a job in the industry, the family left the Borders for Fife. She went on to study English literature at the University of Edinburgh, after graduation, she joined the Glenrothes Gazette as a trainee reporter. She later moved to Kingdom FM followed by Real Radio and finally joined BBC Scotland in late 2002 where she worked as a radio journalist and she left the BBC in 2009 to study International Development at the University of Glasgow. She served as a Signaller in the Territorial Army for three years before suffering an injury in a training exercise at Sandhurst. She was also a Sunday school teacher, in 2009 after having left the BBC to study at the University of Glasgow, Davidson joined the Conservative Party. She said she was inspired by David Camerons call, in the wake of the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal and she came in third with 5. 2% of the vote, losing to Labours Willie Bain. She tried again unsuccessfully in the seat at the 2010 general election. From early 2010 to March 2011 she worked as the head of the office of the then Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie. She played a part in the organisation of campaign media events at the 2010 general election. This would have made it unlikely that Davidson would have been able to be elected to the Scottish Parliament. However, with only a couple of months to go, newspaper stories appeared in March 2011 that questioned Macaskills past business history and it was revealed that Macaskill failed to fully disclose his business career on his CV to party members ahead of a 2010 internal party selection contest. The Party chairman Andrew Fulton then decided that Macaskill was to be deselected, then after coming a distant fourth in Glasgow Kelvin, Davidson was elected to the Scottish Parliament on the Glasgow region list. After the election, she was appointed by Goldie as the Conservative spokesperson for Culture, Europe, police Scotland stated in reference to the report that no evidence of criminality was found and consequently there was no charge to answer. Following the resignation of Annabel Goldie as Scottish Conservative leader on 9 May 2011 and her rivals later claimed that Davidson received assistance from Party headquarters, though her supporters stated that these claims were part of a smear campaign
12.
Scottish Conservatives
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It describes itself as a centre-right political party. It is the second largest party in the devolved Scottish Parliament, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives is Ruth Davidson MSP, who has held the post since 2011. The modern Scottish Conservative Party was established in 1965 with the merger of the Unionist Party into the Conservative Party of England and they had also achieved a majority of the vote 24 years earlier in the 1931 general election with 54. 4%. The party has returned a single MP from Scotland in the 2001,2005,2010 and 2015 Westminster elections and they currently control 31 of the 129 seats, with 24 of these seats won through the additional member system. The party has one of the six Scottish seats in the European Parliament, in 2012, the Scottish Conservatives had 11,000 members. As of May 2016, the party is the second largest in the Scottish Parliament following a gain of 16 seats in the Holyrood Elections. Electoral defeat in the 1959 general election led to the reforms of 1965 and it was renamed the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and constitutionally came under the control of the UK party. These, and further reforms in 1977, saw the Scottish Conservatives being viewed as a unit, with its personnel, finance. These changes had serious implications for the Conservatives Scottish identity and this may seem paradoxical, but the Unionist Party had benefited greatly from its projection as an independent Scottish party opposing the London-based British Labour Party. These elections witnessed the rise of the SDP-Liberal Alliance, which ate into traditional Unionist Party vote, along with increased support for Labour and SNP in 1987. At the 1987 General Election, the Conservatives had their number of Scottish seats lowered from 21 to 10, by then advocating the introduction of the poll tax a year early in Scotland they further exacerbated the image of being anti-Scottish. Ironically the Scottish Conservatives had been amongst the fiercest advocates of introducing the poll tax to replace the system of local government rates and it was the first time in almost 180 years that a centre-right party had been completely shut out in Scotland. It was the establishment of a Scottish Parliament, an institution they had opposed vehemently, however, this was only because of the Parliaments proportional representation electoral system, and the level of national support they received in 1999 and 2003 hardly moved. Following their by-election victory, the Conservatives managed to pick up three seats in 2003, Edinburgh Pentlands, Galloway and Upper Nithsdale and Ayr. In subsequent Westminster elections, their vote has been equally sluggish, with a rearrangement of parliamentary constituencies in 2005 the sitting Conservative MP in Galloway and Upper Nithsdale subsequently lost against Labour in the 2005 election in a redrawn seat. However the party did gain the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale seat from notional Labour control in 2005, in the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections, the party gained their fourth constituency seat in Roxburgh and Berwickshire. The party would have notionally won 14 seats using AMS, giving them 20 seats, the 1997 wipe out and subsequent lack of movement has resulted in debate about how the party should change to revive its fortunes. Echoing their pre-1965 position, one suggestion has been to drop the name Conservative, however, the Strathclyde Commission ruled out a return to the Scottish Unionist Party name because of sensitivity to Northern Irish sectarian connotations
13.
Scottish Labour Party
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The Scottish Labour Party is the Scotland branch of the British Labour Party. Labour hold 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and two of six Scottish seats in the European Parliament, after these, Scottish Labour entered a coalition with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, forming a majority Scottish Executive. It remained the second largest party after the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Scottish Labour lost 13 of its 37 seats, becoming the third largest party for the first time after being surpassed by the Scottish Conservative Party. Kezia Dugdale is the directly elected Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, the Scottish Labour Party is administered by the Scottish Executive Committee, which is responsible to the Labour Partys National Executive Committee. The Scottish Executive Committee is made up of representatives of party members, elected members and party affiliates, for example, trade unions, the current Scottish general secretary is Brian Roy. His predecessor was Ian Price, who succeeded Colin Smyth in 2013, the Scottish Labour headquarters is currently at Bath Street, Glasgow. It was formerly co-located with the offices of Unite the Union at John Smith House,145 West Regent Street, the party holds an annual conference during February/March each year. In 2008, Scottish Labour Party membership was reported as 17,000, in September 2010, the party issued 13,135 ballot papers to party members during the Labour Party leadership election. These did not necessarily equate to 13,135 individual members – due to the electoral structure. The party has declined to reveal its membership figures since 2008, in November 2014 the partys membership was claimed by an unnamed source reported in the Sunday Herald to be 13,500. Other recent reports in the media have quoted figures of as low as 8,000, in December 2014 the newly elected leader Jim Murphy claimed that the figure was about 20,000 on the TV programme Scotland Tonight. According to the accounts it submitted to the Electoral Commission the party had an income from membership of £115,636 in 2013, the Labour Party campaigned for the creation of a devolved Scottish Parliament as part of its wider policy of a devolved United Kingdom. Donald Dewar led Labours campaign for the first elections to the Scottish Parliament on 6 May 1999, Labour won the most votes and seats, with 56 seats out of 129, a clear distance ahead of the second-placed Scottish National Party. Labour also won 53 of the 73 constituency seats, Dewar became the inaugural First Minister of Scotland. Dewar died only a year later on 11 October 2000, a new first minister was elected in a ballot by Scottish Labours MSPs and national executive members, because there was insufficient time to hold a full leadership election. On 27 October, Henry McLeish was elected to succeed Dewar, Labours dominance of Scotlands Westminster seats continued in the 2001 general election, with a small loss of votes but no losses of seats. The press called the affair Officegate, after McLeishs resignation, Jack McConnell quickly emerged as the only candidate, and was elected First Minister by the Parliament on 22 November 2001. The coalition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats was narrowly re-elected at the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, with Labour losing 7 seats, the SNP also lost seats, though other pro-independence parties made gains
14.
Patrick Harvie
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Patrick Harvie is the co-convener of the Scottish Green Party and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow region. He was first elected in the 2003 election and was re-elected in 2007,2011 and 2016, Harvie went to Dumbarton Academy between 1984–1991, and attended Manchester Metropolitan University where he was briefly a member of the Labour party. Although this work was concerned with HIV prevention, it also involved Harvie in equality campaigning. During this period, he was active in the campaign to repeal Section 2A of the Local Government Act and this campaign was successful, and Harvie has stated that the experience prompted him to become more actively involved in politics, leading to his joining the Scottish Green Party. Quickly after becoming an MSP he caused controversy by proposing civil partnership legislation in the Scottish Parliament. In 2004 Harvie was given the One to Watch award at the annual Scottish Politician of the Year event, in addition to the Communities portfolio, Harvie covered the Justice portfolio for the Greens, and has been active on a number of civil liberties issues. He has also been convener of the Cross Party Group on Human Rights, following the Green Partys disappointing performance in the 2007 election, Harvie was returned with a reduced share of the vote. The tight parliamentary arithmetic and a relationship with the Scottish National Party led to a Co-operation Agreement between the two parties. Under this, Harvie was nominated to convene the Transport, Infrastructure and he is a board member of the Glasgay. From 2003 till 2007, Harvie wrote a column in the Scottish edition of the Big Issue. He is bisexual, and is the first openly bisexual party leader in Scotland and he was also a candidate in the election for Rector of the University of Glasgow in February 2008. Harvie is an advocate of Open Source and Free Software, and his use of Twitter during an important political dinner drew much media comment. Patrick Harvie MSP profile at Scottish Green Party Scottish Parliament profile
15.
Scottish Green Party
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The Scottish Green Party is a green political party in Scotland. The party has six MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of 2016, the party also have twelve councillors in 5 of the 32 Scottish local councils. The Scottish Green Party was created in 1990 when the former Green Party split into separate, independent parties, for Scotland, Northern Ireland, the party is affiliated to the Global Greens and the European Green Party. Party membership increased dramatically following the Scottish independence referendum, as of May 2016, the Scottish Green Party has become the fourth biggest party by membership in Scotland, overtaking the Scottish Liberal Democrats. It is a member of the European Green Party. The party currently has six MSPs and fourteen councillors, at the 2005 Westminster election, the party contested 19 seats and polled 25,760 votes, they returned no MPs. Its highest share of the vote was 7. 7% of the vote in Glasgow North, in the European Parliament election of 2004, it polled 6. 8% of the vote and did not return any MEPs. The party lost five of their seven seats in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, within days of the Scottish Independence referendum being held, the membership swelled to more than 5,000. Launching its manifesto for the 2015 General Election, the Scottish Green Party stated a membership of over 8,500, by October 2015 the party were holding their biggest ever conference, with their membership standing at more than 9,000. The party is made up of branches, who cover a geographical area. The Scottish Green Party originated as the Scottish branch of the Ecology Party, the Ecology Party became the UK Green Party and it remained a constituent party until 1990, when the Scottish Green Party became a separate entity. The Scottish Green Party benefits from the fact that the British government created a Scottish Parliament, on 1 May 2003 the Scottish Greens added six new MSPs to their previous total. In the 2007 elections, the Party lost five seats in Holyrood, on 11 May, the Greens signed an agreement with the Scottish National Party, which meant that the Greens voted for Alex Salmond as First Minister and supported his initial Ministerial appointments. In return, the Nationalists backed a climate change bill as an early measure, the SNP also agreed to nominate Patrick Harvie, one of the Green MSPs, to convene one of the Holyrood committees, Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change. On 28 January 2009, the two Green MSPs were instrumental in the defeat of the Governments budget, though a slightly amended version was passed easily the following week. On 31 May, Cllr Martin Ford, formerly a Liberal Democrat, on 13 October 2009, he was joined by fellow former Liberal Democrat Cllr Debra Storr. Both Councillors continued to serve on Aberdeenshire Council as members of the Democratic Independent group, at the 2012 Scottish local elections Councillor Debra Storr stood down to concentrate on her professional career. Councillor Martin Ford was re-elected, this time standing as a Scottish Green Party candidate, after the Scottish Government announced the referendum on Scottish independence, a campaign group called Yes Scotland was established to promote a vote for independence
16.
Willie Rennie
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William Cowan Rennie is a Scottish politician and current Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats after he succeeded the post in May 2011. After college, Rennie spent most of his career as a Liberal Democrat election campaigner. He became the Member of Parliament for Dunfermline and West Fife after a win in February 2006. He later lost this seat to Labour in the May 2010 UK general election and he briefly served as a Special Government Adviser for the Liberal Democrat Scottish Secretaries of State Danny Alexander MP and Michael Moore MP at the Scotland Office. He was then elected to the Scottish Parliament in the May 2011 election, despite the overall collapse of the party in the election, he was elected as an additional member for the Mid Scotland and Fife region. He was soon after elected unopposed as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Rennie has held the constituency seat of North East Fife. Rennie was born in Fife and grew up in Strathmiglo, where his family ran the village shop and his mother was secretary of the local community association and his grandfather was the local Minister. Rennie went to Bell Baxter High School in Cupar, Fife, before going to Paisley College of Technology, after that, he received a Diploma in Industrial Administration at Glasgow College. Rennie lives in Kelty with his wife Janet and their two sons, Alexander and Stephen and he is a keen runner and is a member of Dunfermlines Carnegie Harriers. He was also runner-up in the 2006 Scottish Coal-Carrying Championships held in Kelty, Rennie was one of the 50 MPs who ran a mile to raise money for Sport Relief finishing close behind the winner, David Davies. While a student at the Paisley College of Technology he was president of the student union. Rennie ran the Scottish Young Liberal Democrats and after went on to work for the English Liberal Democrats in Cornwall. He then went on to work for the Liberal Democrats campaigns department, in the House of Commons, he was a member of the Liberal Democrat shadow defence team, chair of their parliamentary campaigns unit, and a member of the Commons Defence Select Committee. In the General Election of 6 May 2010, Rennie lost his seat to the Labour candidate Thomas Docherty and he was then for a time Special Adviser to the new Liberal Democrat Scottish Secretary Michael Moore MP. He was the only new Liberal Democrat MSP to win a seat in this election, after the resignation of the Scottish Liberal Democratss leader Tavish Scott, Willie Rennie stood in the resulting leadership election. He was the candidate to be nominated, and was declared elected when the nominations closed on 17 May. He vowed to stand up to the SNP bulldozer majority, in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, the Liberal Democrats again elected five MSPs, while gaining two constituency seats and holding their existing two with increased majorities. Rennie was elected in North East Fife, gaining it from the SNP with a 9. 5% swing, Willie Rennie was appointed as an honorary patron of Armed Forces Legal Action in April 2014
17.
Scottish Liberal Democrats
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The Scottish Liberal Democrats is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Scotland. The Scottish Liberal Democrats hold 5 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 1 of 59 Scottish seats in the UK Parliament. The Scottish Liberal Democrats are one of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats, the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats, the Liberal Democrats do not contest elections in Northern Ireland. Local parties are responsible for the partys political campaigning and for selecting candidates for parliamentary. There are also eight regional parties, the partys headquarters are located at 4 Clifton Terrace, Edinburgh. The conference is the highest decision-making body of the party on both policy and strategic issues, see below for the current office-bearers and all other members of the Partys three management committees. All party members vote every two years in elections to elect people to all the below positions, except Leader & Depute Leader. Vice-Convener, Policy, Isobel Davidson Policy Committee Members, Jacquie Bell, Ewan Hoyle, Barbara Mills, Euan Robson, vice-Convener, Conference, Jenni Lang Conference Committee Members, Graeme Cowie, David Green, Callum Leslie, Sandy Leslie, Paul McGarry, Ross Stalker. Vice-Convener, Campaigns & Candidates, Alan Reid Treasurer, Caron Lindsay The party employs a team of staff at their HQ in Edinburgh. Associated organisations generally seek to influence the direction of the party on an issue or represent a section of the party membership. Following the Local Council Election of May 2012, under the Single Transferable Vote system,71 Liberal Democrats were elected, a voluntary Executive Committee meets several times a year to run the organisation. The party campaigned for the creation of a devolved Scottish Parliament as part of its policy of a federal United Kingdom. In the first elections to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the party won 17 seats, following this, the party formed a coalition government with the Scottish Labour Party in the Scottish Executive. The then party leader, Jim Wallace, became Deputy First Minister of Scotland and this partnership was renewed in 2003 and Wallace became Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning. On 23 June 2005, Nicol Stephen MSP succeeded Wallace as party leader, prior to the partnership government being formed in 1999, the UK had only limited experience of coalition government. The partys participation attracted criticism for involving compromises to its preferred policies and this experience led to some criticism of the partys election strategy and its leader. On 2 July 2008, Nicol Stephen resigned as the party leader, at the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, the party lost all its mainland constituencies, retaining only the two constituencies of Orkney and Shetland. It also secured three List MSPs and this was by far the partys worst electoral performance since the re-establishment of a Scottish parliament in 1999
18.
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
19.
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
20.
Next Scottish Parliament election
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The next Scottish Parliament election is due to be held on Thursday 6 May 2021 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It would be the general election since the parliament was established in 1999. 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 2016 election. This would clash with the date of the next United Kingdom general election. In November 2015, the Scottish Government published a Scottish Elections Bill and that Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 25 February 2016 and received Royal Assent on 30 March 2016, setting the new date for the election as 6 May 2021. 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. The total number of Members of the Scottish Parliament elected to the Parliament is 129, 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. The Scottish Parliament uses an Additional Members System, designed to produce approximate proportional representation for each region, there are 8 regions, each sub-divided into smaller constituencies. There are a total of 73 constituencies, each constituency elects one MSP by the plurality system of election. Each region elects 7 additional MSPs using an additional member system, a modified DHondt method, using the constituency results, is used to elect these additional MSPs. The boundaries used for the Scottish Parliament elections were then revised for the 2011 election, the Boundary Commission also recommended changes to the electoral regions used to elect list members of the Scottish Parliament, which were also implemented in 2011. The Westminster constituency boundaries are due to be revised, with the intention of reducing the number of seats to 600. Below are listed all the constituencies which require a swing of less than 5% from the 2016 results to change hands
21.
Edinburgh
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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls
22.
Politics of Scotland
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Scotland is a country which is part of the United Kingdom. The UK is de jure a unitary state, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom, located at Westminster, London, is sovereign over the whole state. However, since the late 1990s, a system of devolution has emerged in the UK, under which Scotland, Wales, Scotland entered into a political union with England in 1707, and since then has sent representatives to the Palace of Westminster, which became the British parliament. In 1999, an 129-member Scottish Parliament was established in Edinburgh, it has power to make law in Scotland. In the UK government, Scottish affairs are represented by the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Scottish Government is headed by a First Minister, who is the leader of the political party with the most support in the Scottish Parliament, currently Nicola Sturgeon MSP. The head of state in Scotland is the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, as the UK is part of the European Union, Scotland also elects six Members to sit in the European Parliament. Scotland can best be described as having a multi-party system, in the Scottish Parliament, the centre-left pro-independence Scottish National Party is the party which forms the government, it currently holds a plurality of seats in the parliament. Opposition parties include the Scottish Labour Party, the Scottish Conservative Party, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, elections are held once every five years, with 73 Members being elected to represent constituencies, and the remaining 56 elected via a system of proportional representation. At Westminster, Scotland is represented by 56 MPs from the Scottish National Party, and 1 MP each from the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, today, the creation of an independent Scotland outside the United Kingdom remains a prominent issue. On 18 September 2014, the people of Scotland voted in a referendum on whether to become independent, the party with the largest number of seats in the Scottish Parliament is the Scottish National Party, which campaigns for Scottish independence. The current First Minister of Scotland is SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, the previous First Minister, Alex Salmond, led the SNP to an overall majority victory in the May 2011 general election, which was then lost in 2016 and now forms a minority government. Other parties represented in the parliament are the Labour Party, Conservative Party which form the opposition, Liberal Democrats. The next Scottish Parliament election is due to be held in May 2021 and this has been done on a number of occasions where it has been seen as either more efficient, or more politically expedient to have the legislation considered by Westminster. The Scotland Office is a department of the United Kingdom government, the current Secretary of State for Scotland is David Mundell MP, a Conservative. Until 1999, Scottish peers were entitled to sit in the House of Lords, the main political debate in Scotland tends to revolve around attitudes to the constitutional question. Under the pressure of growing support for Scottish independence a policy of devolution had been advocated by all three GB-wide parties to some degree during their history. Now that devolution has occurred, the argument about Scotlands constitutional status is over whether the Scottish Parliament should accrue additional powers. To clarify these issues, the SNP-led Scottish Executive published Choosing Scotlands Future, the programmes of legislation enacted by the Scottish Parliament have seen the divergence in the provision of public services compared to the rest of the United Kingdom
23.
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
24.
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
25.
John Swinney
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John Ramsay Swinney is a Scottish National Party politician who is currently the Deputy First Minister of Scotland and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. He is also the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Perthshire North, Perthshire North takes in Highland and East Perthshire, the Carse of Gowrie and the Perth City Centre ward of Perth and Kinross Council. Swinney was born in the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, the son of Kenneth Swinney and his uncle Tom Hunter was awarded the Victoria Cross whilst serving with the Royal Marines in World War II. He was educated at Forrester High School, before attending the University of Edinburgh, Swinney joined the SNP at the age of 15, citing his anger at the way in which Scotland had been portrayed by television commentators at the Commonwealth Games. Swinney was an officer for the Scottish Coal Project, a senior management consultant with Development Options. In the SNP, he served as National Secretary until 1992, then Vice Convenor, at the 1997 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament for the Tayside North constituency, and in 1999 he was elected to represent the same area at the Scottish Parliament. He stood down as a Westminster MP at the 2001 general election in order to avoid splitting his time and he defeated a leadership challenge from Bill Wilson in 2003, defeating Wilson by 577 votes to 111. After the SNP emerged as the largest party following the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election and he was later appointed Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth in the Cabinet of the minority SNP government. The Scottish Government added, The power has not lapsed, the HMRC simply does not have an IT system capable of delivering a ten-month state of readiness, in 2000, Swinney was elected Leader of the SNP, becoming Leader of the Opposition in the Scottish Parliament. He stood down as SNP leader in 2004 and became Convener of the Scottish Parliaments European and External Relations Committee. Swinney was previously a Member of Parliament for Tayside North in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, in 2007 he achieved the largest constituency vote for any candidate in Scotland. At the election in May 2011, he was re-elected with 18,219 votes, swinneys vote was the second highest in Scotland, second only to the then First Minister, Alex Salmond MSP. Following Nicola Sturgeon taking the office of First Minister, it was announced on 21 November 2014 that Swinney would become Deputy First Minister of Scotland in a cabinet reshuffle. Born in Edinburgh, Swinney was educated at the University of Edinburgh, Swinney is married and has three children. John Swinney MSP Scottish Parliament – John Swinney MSP Hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by John Swinney
26.
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
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The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is the independent public prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by Her Majestys Lord Advocate, who under the Scottish legal system is responsible for prosecution, in Scotland, virtually all prosecution of criminal offences is undertaken by the Crown. The day-to-day running of the Service is done by the Crown Agent & Chief Executive, the Service employs both civil servants who carry out administrative and other duties and solicitors and advocates who represent the Crown in Court. The history of the Lord Advocate, and the department of the Crown Office, is somewhat obscure. There are references on record to a kings procurator-fiscal in 1434 and 1457, the history of the procurator fiscal is similarly difficult to set down with exactness, though the role has developed significantly over time. The first document reference appears in the Records of the Parliament of Scotland for 22 August 1584, the fiscal was an officer appointed by, and accountable to, the Sheriff, who by the 18th Century was responsible for most prosecutions in local areas. By the nineteenth century advocates depute were first appointed, to assist him in conducting cases in the High Court of Justiciary, the Book of Regulations is still used today in providing the framework for local prosecution in Scotland. This prosecutorial role can not be removed from her by the Scottish Parliament, the Lord Advocate is the senior of the two Scottish Law Officers, and is the chief legal adviser to the Scottish Government as well as representing its ministers in civil proceedings. He is also responsible under the Scotland Act 1998 for ensuring that each Act of the Scottish Parliament is within the competence of that Parliament, the Solicitor General can act as the deputy for the Lord Advocate. The position of Lord Advocate has been the subject of controversy, most notably sparked by Scottish High Court judges, the Crown Agent is the principal legal adviser to the Lord Advocate on prosecution matters. He also acts as Chief Executive for the Department and he acts as solicitor in all legal proceedings in which the Lord Advocate appears as representing his or her own department. At trials in the High Court in Edinburgh, he attends as instructing solicitor, at the High Court of Justiciary prosecutions are brought by the Crown Office, who are represented in Court by Advocates Depute. Advocates-Depute are either advocates or solicitor-advocates to whom rights of audience in the High Court have been given by that Court, Procurators fiscal make preliminary investigations into criminal cases, take written statements from witnesses and are responsible for the investigation and prosecution of crime. This includes the power to direct the police in their investigation, once someone has been charged with an offence and remanded in custody, the Crown must bring the case to trial within 110 days or the accused will be admitted to bail. Otherwise, in cases the trial must commence within 12 months of the date of first appearance in court. Procurators fiscal work in the local sheriffdom and most of the Fiscal offices in Scotland are either in or near the Sheriff Court, the Procurator Fiscal is also responsible for the investigation of all sudden, suspicious and unexplained deaths in Scotland. This includes the decision to call a Fatal Accident Inquiry and he or she is also responsible for the independent investigation of criminal police complaints made in that sherrifdom. The law in Scotland does not say that a crime must be prosecuted, until 1987, however, their discretion only extended to the degree to which they should prosecute, if at all, there were no alternatives to prosecution
27.
Scottish public bodies
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Public bodies of the Scottish Government are organisations that are funded by the Scottish Government. It is a tightly meshed network of executive and advisory non-departmental public bodies, tribunals and these public bodies are distinct from executive agencies of the Scottish Government, as they are not considered to be part of the Government and staff of public bodies are not civil servants. The Scottish Government is responsible for appointing a board of directors to run public bodies, the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland is responsible for regulating the process. Public bodies are assigned sponsoring departments who provide funding in the form of grant-in-aid to assist with running costs, most public bodies also have other sources of income
28.
Executive agencies of the Scottish Government
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Executive agencies are established by Ministers as part of Scottish Government departments, or as departments in their own right, to carry out a discrete area of work. Agencies are staffed by civil servants, executive agencies were first established following Sir Robin Ibbs Next Steps Report in 1988. The intention was that they would take responsibility for, and bring a new, more customer-focused approach to and this would leave their parent departments to concentrate on policy development, although this boundary can be very blurred. Agencies are not to be confused with public bodies such as Scottish Enterprise
29.
Local government in Scotland
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Local government in Scotland is organised through 32 unitary authorities designated as Councils which consist of councillors elected every five years by registered voters in each of the council areas. Councils receive the majority of their funding from the Scottish Government, AEF consists of three parts, Revenue Support Grants, Non-Domestic Rates, and Income and Specific Grants. Councils obtain additional income through the Council Tax, that the council itself sets, Scottish councils co-operate through, and are represented collectively by, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. The history of Scottish local government mainly surrounds involves the counties of Scotland, the counties have their origins in the sheriffdoms or shires over which a sheriff exercised jurisdiction. Malcolm III appears to have introduced sheriffs as part of a policy of replacing native Celtic forms of government with Anglo Saxon and this was continued by his sons Edgar, Alexander I and in particular David I. David completed the division of the country into sheriffdoms by the conversion of existing thanedoms, from the seventeenth century the shires started to be used for local administration apart from judicial functions. In 1667 Commissioners of Supply were appointed in each sheriffdom to collect the land tax, the commissioners eventually assumed other duties in the county. In 1858 police forces were established in each county under the Police Act 1857, as a result of the dual system of local government, burghs often had a high degree of autonomy. Between 1890 and 1975 local government in Scotland was organised with county councils and this system was further refined by the passing of the Local Government Act 1947. The only exceptions to this were the three Island Councils, Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney which had the powers of Regions. The Conservative government of John Major decided to abolish this system, the changes took effect in 1996 with shadow councillors elected in 1995 to oversee the smooth transition of control. The power vested in local authorities is administered by elected councillors, there are currently 1,222, each paid a part-time salary for the undertaking of their duties. In total, there are 32 unitary authorities, the largest being the City of Glasgow with more than 600,000 inhabitants, councillors are subject to a Code of Conduct instituted by the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. Act 2000 and enforced by the Standards Commission for Scotland, if a person believes that a councillor has broken the code of conduct they make a complaint to the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland. The Commissioner makes a determination on whether there is a need for an investigation, each council elects a Convener and Depute Convener to chair meetings of the Council and to act as a figurehead for the area. Most councils use the term Provost, the office of Provost or Convener is roughly equivalent to that of a Mayor in other parts of the United Kingdom. Traditionally these roles are ceremonial and have no significant administrative functions, Lord Provosts in the four city councils have the additional duty of acting as Lord Lieutenant for their respective city. The Leader of the Council is elected as the leader of the largest political grouping of councillors, the Leader of the Council has no executive or administrative powers designated by statute, but the position is salaried
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Act of the Scottish Parliament
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An Act of the Scottish Parliament is primary legislation made by the Scottish Parliament. The power to create Acts was conferred to the Parliament by section 28 of the Scotland Act 1998 following the successful 1997 referendum on devolution, prior to the establishment of the Parliament under the 1998 Act, all post-union laws specific to Scotland were passed at the Westminster Parliament. Although the Westminster Parliament has retained the ability to legislate for Scotland, since the passing of the 1998 Act, the Westminster Parliament has passed five public general acts that apply only to Scotland. A draft Act is known as a Bill, once it is passed by the Scottish Parliament and receives royal assent, the Bill becomes an Act and is then a part of Scots Law. Public Bills are the most common type of Bill, in the Parliaments fourth session,81 of the 86 proposed Bills were Public Bills. A Private Bill is a Bill which will apply only to the Bills promoter, for example, the National Trust for Scotland was created by Act of Parliament in 1935, making its constitution part of the law. As a result, amending the Trusts constitution required an Act of the Scottish Parliament – the National Trust for Scotland Act 2013, certain Private Bills are classified as Works Bills. These are Bills to grant the power to construct or alter works such as bridges, docks, roads, or tunnels. Unlike with Public Bills, anyone with suitable interest in the outcome of a Private Bill can lodge an objection and have it considered by a parliamentary committee, Private Bills also differ from Public Bills in that they can legislate outside of the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament. If all of the provisions of a Private Bill are within the Parliaments legislative competence, if not, however, then the Bills passage is covered under a 1936 Act of the UK Parliament. The number of Private Bills is low compared to Public Bills, in the fourth session of the Parliament, five of the 86 proposed Bills were Private Bills. A Hybrid Bill is a class of Bill introduced in 2009, Hybrid Bills are always introduced by a member of the Scottish Government and, like Public Bills, can make general law provisions within the Scottish Parliaments legislative competence. The first Hybrid Bill put before the Parliament was the Forth Crossing Bill on 16 November 2009 and this Bill was later passed as the Forth Crossing Act 2011, which granted the Scottish Government the power to build the Queensferry Crossing. There are a number of stages a Bill must pass through before it becomes an Act, following a Bills introduction to Parliament, the first three stages a Bill passes through are broadly defined by section 36 of the Scotland Act 1998. The precise process is set out by the Parliaments standing orders, the first stage after introduction is a debate of the Bills intentions and its general principles, referred to in the standing orders as Stage 1 and required by section 36 of the 1998 Act. The Bill is referred to the relevant parliamentary committee or committees, plus the Delegated Powers, one of the relevant committees is designated the lead committee, and that committee prepares a report on the Bills general principles. The DPLR, if it is involved, will prepare a report on the necessity of conferring the power to create secondary legislation. Once prepared, the reports are presented to Parliament for consideration, the Parliament may move to have a further report produced by the lead committee, or proceed to debate
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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
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2nd Scottish Parliament
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This is a list of members returned to the second Scottish Parliament at the 2003 election. Government coalition parties denoted with bullets This is a comparison of party strengths in the 2nd session of the Scottish Parliament at the time of its dissolution in April 2007. 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 2003 election see here. The changes table below records all changes in party affiliation during the session
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3rd Scottish Parliament
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This is a list of members returned to the third Scottish Parliament at the 2007 election. Government parties denoted with bullets This is a comparison of party strengths as they were in the 3rd session of the Scottish Parliament. Note this is not the seating plan of the Scottish Parliament. This is a list of MSPs at dissolution, the changes table below records all changes in party affiliation during the session. See here a list of MSPs elected in the 2007 election
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4th Scottish Parliament
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This is a list of members returned to the fourth Scottish Parliament at the 2011 election. Government parties denoted with bullets This is a comparison of party strengths as they were in the 4th session of the Scottish Parliament. Note this is not the seating plan of the Scottish Parliament. This is a list of MSPs at dissolution, the changes table below records all changes in party affiliation during the session. See here a list of MSPs elected in the 2011 election, Scottish Parliament website List of Members of the Scottish Parliament
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Elections in Scotland
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Scotland has elections to several bodies, the Scottish Parliament, the United Kingdom Parliament, the European Parliament, local councils and community councils. Scottish Parliamentary elections use the Additional Member System system, under this system, voters are given two votes, one for their constituency, which elects a single MSP by first-past-the-post, and one for their region, which elects seven MSPs by closed list. Five Scottish Parliamentary elections have been held since the reconvention of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, elections are held every four years, on the first Thursday in May. It was too late for him to be replaced and he read as the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party candidate on the ballot paper. Since 1995 Local elections are held in Scotland every 4 years. Between 1975 and 1992 elections were held every 2 years for either District or regional council, the election was contested for the second time under the STV system of proportional representation. It was also the first time in 13 years for the elections not be held on the day as the Scottish parliament elections. For full analysis see Scottish council elections,2012, since then, the number of MEPs returned by Scotland has been reduced twice more to seven in and then to six in. Elected candidates are shown in bold, brackets indicate the number of votes per seat won
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Scottish Parliament election, 1999
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The first election to the devolved Scottish Parliament, to fill 129 seats, took place on 6 May 1999. Following the election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats formed the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Parliament was created after a referendum on devolution took place on 11 September 1997 in which 74. 3% of those who voted approved the idea. The Scotland Act was then passed by the UK Parliament which established the devolved Scottish Parliament and this meant that it would be unlikely for any party to gain a majority of seats in the new parliament and either minority or coalition Scottish Executives would have to be formed. Labour formed a government with the Liberal Democrats, who won 17 seats. The Scottish National Party had done well in opinion polls running up to the election, gaining 40% in some approval ratings, the SNP were the second largest party with 35 seats, which still represented their best performance since the October 1974 UK general election. The Scottish Socialist Party and the Greens picked up unexpected additional member seats, robin Harper became the first ever elected Green parliamentarian in the history of the United Kingdom. Dennis Canavan, who had failed to become an approved Labour candidate, for a full list of MSPs elected, see Members of the Scottish Parliament, 1999-2003. For lists of constituencies and regions, see Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions
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Scottish Parliament election, 2003
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The Scottish Parliament election,2003, was the second election of members to the Scottish Parliament. It was held on 1 May 2003 and it brought no change in terms of control of the Scottish Executive, jack McConnell, the Labour Party Member of the Scottish Parliament, remained in office as First Minister and the Executive continued as a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition. Three independent MSPs were elected, Dennis Canavan, Margo MacDonald, john Swinburne, leader of the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, was also elected. This led to talk of a rainbow Parliament, but the arithmetic meant that the coalition of Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrats could continue in office, the decline in support for the SNP was viewed by some as a rejection of the case for Scottish independence. Others argued against this, pointing out that the number of MSPs in favour of independence actually rose because most of the parties such as the SSP share this position with the SNP. For a full list of MSPs elected or re-elected see Members of the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Greens did not stand in any constituencies, instead concentrating their resources on winning the largest possible share of the second vote for list seats. Three independents were elected, Margo MacDonald, Dennis Canavan and Jean Turner, overall turnout was 49. 4%, down on the 1999 election. As part of the deal between Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Labour allowed proportional representation to be used in Scottish local government elections. This system was first used in 2007
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Scottish Parliament election, 2007
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The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. Local elections in Scotland fell on the same day, the Scottish National Party emerged as the largest party with 47 seats, closely followed by the incumbent Scottish Labour Party with 46 seats. The Scottish Conservatives won 17 seats, the Scottish Liberal Democrats 16 seats, the Scottish National Party formed a minority government as a result of the election. The Scottish Socialist Party and the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, former MSP Tommy Sheridans new party, Solidarity, also failed to win any seats. Campbell Martin and Dr Jean Turner both lost their seats, and Dennis Canavan and Brian Monteith retired. The main issues during the trail were healthcare, education, council tax reform, pensions, the Union, Trident. Some parties proposed raise the leaving age from 16 to 18. Jack McConnell, as First Minister, entered the election defending a small majority of five seats via a coalition of Labour. The Scottish Executive coalition government had been in power, with three different First Ministers, since the first Scottish Parliament election in 1999. Opinion polls suggested its majority could be lost in 2007, due to falling support for the Labour Party and rising support for other parties, in particular the Scottish National Party. The polls suggested that no party was likely to acquire an overall majority. A TNS Poll in November 2006 gave Labour an 8% lead over the SNP which was second behind Labour in terms of numbers of Members of the Scottish Parliament, as the election approached the SNP gained support while Labours support declined. Based on pre-election projections, there could have some possibility of an SNP–Liberal Democrat coalition. Scottish Greens contested 1 seat, Scottish Socialist Party contested 1 seat, Scottish Christian Party, a number of local issue parties also stood in single constituencies. The Nine Per Cent Growth Party stood candidates on the regional lists, standing in the Glasgow Regional List the party finished last of 23 candidates, receiving only 80 votes, a record low. Some counts in the Western Isles were delayed because the helicopter sent to pick up the ballot boxes was delayed by bad weather. The boxes were transferred by sea and road to be counted in Stornoway
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Scottish Parliament election, 2011
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The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday,5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish National Party won 69 seats, the most the party has held at either a Holyrood or Westminster election. The SNP gained 32 constituencies, twenty two from the Scottish Labour Party, nine from the Scottish Liberal Democrats and one from the Scottish Conservatives. Such was the scale of their gains that, of the 73 constituencies in Scotland and they did, however, remain the largest opposition party. Party leader Iain Gray announced his resignation following his partys disappointing result, the Scottish Liberal Democrats were soundly defeated, their popular vote share was cut in half and their seat total reduced from 17 to 5. Tavish Scott announced his resignation as party leader shortly after the election, during the campaign, the four main party leaders engaged in a series of televised debates, as they had in every previous general election. These key debates were held on 29 March,1 May, the results of the election were broadcast live on BBC Scotland and STV, on the night of the election. Under the Scotland Act 1998, a general election to the Scottish Parliament was held on the first Thursday in May four years after the 2007 election. This policy decision was contradicted, however, by the staging of the Alternative Vote referendum on 5 May 2011 as well, Labour MP Ian Davidson expressed opposition to the referendum being staged on the same date as other elections. Scottish Secretary Michael Moore stated that having the referendum on another date would cost an additional £17 million, british, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens living in Scotland who were aged 18 or over on election day were entitled to vote. The deadline to register to vote in the election was midnight on Friday 15 April 2011, the table below shows the notional figures for seats won by each party at the last election. The Conservatives have been the biggest gainers as a result of the changes, winning an extra 3 seats and Labour has lost the most seats. The total number of Members of the Scottish Parliament elected to the Parliament is 129, 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. The Scottish Parliament uses an Additional Members System, designed to produce approximate proportional representation for each region, there are 8 regions each sub-divided into smaller constituencies. There are a total of 73 constituencies, each constituency elects one by the plurality system of election. Each region elects seven additional member MSPs using an additional member system, a modified DHondt method, using the constituency results, is used to calculate which additional member MSPs the regions elect. The recommendations can be summarised below, Glasgow was reduced from 10 constituency seats to 9, Glasgow Govan was largely replaced by Glasgow Southside
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Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions
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Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions were first used in 1999, in the first general election of the Scottish Parliament, created by the Scotland Act 1998. Each region is a group of constituencies, and the DHondt method of allocating additional member seats from party lists is used to produce a form of representation for each region. The total number of seats is 129. For lists of MSPs, see Member of the Scottish Parliament, the Arbuthnott Commission, in its final report, January 2006, recommended that council area boundaries and Holyrood and Scottish Westminster constituency boundaries should all be reviewed together. This recommendation has not been implemented,1999 boundaries were used also for the 2003 and 2007 elections. Total numbers of constituencies, regions, and MSPs remain at, respectively,73,8, and 129
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