Scottish devolution referendum, 1979
The Scottish referendum of 1979 was a post-legislative referendum to decide whether there was sufficient support for the Scotland Act 1978 among the Scottish electorate. This was an act to create a deliberative assembly for Scotland. The Act provided for special conditions on the referendum stipulating that for the Act not to be repealed at least 40% of the electorate would have to vote Yes in the referendum.
Tax issue
Results
"Scotland Said Yes"
See also
Although the Yes side won, Labour decided to impliment George Cunningham's 40 % rule and refused to endorse the Scotland Act. The Callaghan government, and in particular Labour MPs such as Tam Dalyell and George Cunningham preferred to risk losing a general election rather than giving Scotland the assembly which it had voted for. Labour soon lost a vote of confidence and were forced to call a General Election. Although they won in Scotland, English votes elected Margaret Thatcher as Britain's first woman Prime Minister. Although ex-Tory Prime Minister Lord Home had promised that the Conservatives would come up with a better assembly plan, one of the first acts of the Thatcher government was to repeal the Scotland Act.
Although Labour won the General Elections of 1979, 1983, 1987 and 1992 in Scotland, the party lost each time in the rest of the UK and Scotland was governed by a Conservative government who had hardly enough MPs to appoint as Scottish Ministers, between 1979 and 1997. It should not be forgotten that Labour's delegation to the Crowther/Kilbrandon Commission on the Constitution in 1970 had stated 'The Scottish Labour Party would actually prefer a Tory UK Government to a Labour controlled Scottish Parliament.'
Tax issue
In addition to all the arguments which traditionally surround discussions of Scottish devolution or independence, the public debate in 1979 was dominated by the issue of taxation. Since the proposed assembly would have no independent powers to vary taxes, it would be greatly restricted in its scope of operation, and this made it possible for the "no" campaign to play very plausibly on fears of an impotent new layer of bureaucracy. As a result, many voters who believed in devolution in principle were unwilling to support this particular devolution bill.
Results
The referendum was held on March 1, 1979. The electorate were asked to vote yes or no: "Do you want the provisions of the Scotland Act to be put into effect?"
| Yes (count) | Yes votes (%) | No (count) | No (%) | Turnout (%) |
| 1,230,937 | 51.6 |
1,153,500 | 48.4 |
63.8 |
The result was a narrow majority in favour of devolution. However, the government had set a condition that 40% of the electorate should vote "Yes" in order to make it valid. Thus, despite a turnout of over 60%, normally regarded as a high proportion of voters, the government rejected the referendum. The Scotland Act 1978 was repealed in March 1979 by a vote of 301-206 in the UK House of Commons.
"Scotland Said Yes"
In the wake of the referendum the disappointed supporters of the bill conducted a protest campaign under the slogan "Scotland said 'yes'". They claimed that the 40% rule was undemocratic and that the referendum results justified the establishment of the assembly. Devolution was, however, lost from the mainstream political agenda for a decade.
See also
Scottish independence