Highlander Web MagazineCopyright 1995/96 Catalyst (Highlands) Ltd.
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Scotland is today governed as an integral part of the United Kingdom, by the British Parliament in Westminster, London. Prior to 1603, however, Scotland was a sovereign state with its own Parliament and Monarch. When, 1603, James IV of Scotland acceded to the throne of England creating the Union of the Crowns, and thus the end of the Scottish Monarchy, a process was started which was eventually to see the end of Scotland as an independent nation state.
In 1707, through the Act of Union, the Scots Parliament decided to merge with its English cousin to form a new British Parliament and the ancestor of the present unitary government system. Originally the Scots were allowed 45 representatives in the House of Commons, the lower chamber, while England took 513 seats. In the House of Lords, the upper chamber, the Scots had 16 representatives to Englands 190. Today the lower chamber has a total of 651 members of which Scotland is represented by 72 Scottish Mem bers of Parliament.
A condition of the 1707 Act of Union was that Scotland continue to maintain its own Church and legal system in addition to the Scottish Privy Council and office of the Secretary of Scotland. The latter two institutions soon became moribund though after the Dukes of Argyll, and finally the Dundas family, contrived to subvert the positions through political manoeuvrings in Westminster. Between 1707 and 1747 the post of Scottish Secretary was held by only 4 people: the Duke of Queensberry, the Earl of Mar, t he Duke of Roxburghe and the Marquis of Tweedale. In fact for 17 of those 40 years the post was vacant. Because the position was tamed through political fighting at Westminster Henry Dundas, (1742-1811), sometimes known as Scotlands uncrowned King, became the British Prime Ministers principal Scottish colleague at the time of the Napoleonic War. Dundas was succeeded by his son the 2nd Viscount Melville.
In the 19th century it became increasingly obvious that the system was not working in Scotland. Poor relief, prisons, health and industry were all suffering through inaction on the part of the Westminster based government. After seeking the advice of the senior Scottish minister, by then it was the Lord Advocate, the Home Secretary instituted a serious of reforms which provided for a framework of sub-departments tasked with looking after Scotland. The trend was to see major areas of Scottish life fall under the control of these sub-departments each headed by a junior Scottish Minister. The scale of these sub-departments grew to the extent that it was deemed prudent to rationalize the system and create them distinct departments responsible to the, revived position, of Scottish Secretary. In 1926 the post of Scottish Secretary was upgraded to that of Secretary of State for Scotland and for the 121 years following the posts reinstatement it has been held by;
An interesting, although recent trend, has seen the post of Secretary of State for Scotland become something of a stepping stone to promotion. Indeed six Secretaries have held the position for a fairly long time. The Marquis of Lothian held the post for 5 years while, in 1889, local county councils were established and Scottish universities were reformed. Baron Pentland held office for 7 years while Lord Alness was in office for 6.
More recently Thomas Johnston held the post for 4 difficult years during the war and William Ross - later Lord Marnock - held the post twice for a total of 8 years under the Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson called William Ross the, 'Basso Profondo' of Scottish Politics after Ross proved to be a most vociferous Secretary of State.
George Younger, the Secretary of State for 7 years of the Thatcher regime, is regarded as protecting Scotland from extremes of monetarist ideology and, as alluded to above, set something of a recent trend by being promoted from the post. He became Secreta ry of State for Defence while Malcolm Rifkind is now Foreign Secretary, the third most senior job in British politics, and Ian Lang went on to become President of the Board of Trade. Thus the post of Secretary of State for Scotland is now longer seen as p receding an early entry to the political graveyard known as the backbenches.
An even more recent development in the government of Scotland was Britains entry into the European Community in 1973. Scotland is represented in Europe by 8 Members of the European Parliament. Each member covers a huge area and a massive number of people.
Effectively Scotland holds a very weak position and is forced to go with the flow in Europe.
Since 1967 a fourth domestic party has become established in Scotland. The Scottish National Party captured their first seat in Scotland from the Labour party in Hamilton and in 1979 the Scottish National Party were instrumental in causing a referendum on the Scots Parliament being reinstated. The referendum required 40% of the vote to be in favor of devolution before further action would be taken. In fact 33% voted in favor, 33% voted against and 33% didn't vote. Thus when Thatcher won office later that year, from Labour, devolution was swiftly removed from the political agenda. However, during the 90's there has been a strong move towards devolution by the Scots and devolution is now, once again, firmly back on the agenda.
One wonders what the future will hold for the post of Secretary of State for Scotland and Scottish government generally.
Watch this space!
Highlander Web Magazine
Copyright 1995/96 Catalyst (Highlands) Ltd.
Pages by Webspinner
admin@catalyst-highlands.co.uk