The Scottish Constitutional Convention (The Devolution Convention)

About 100 years after William Ewart Gladstone, introduced a Bill for Home Rule for Scotland, some Scots came together to sign the Claim of Right 1989. This Declaration claimed that Scotland was a nation - albeit a "submerged" one - and that having been independent with its own Parliament until 1707, the time had come to re-establish that Parliament within the framework of the United Kingdom.

The Convention grew out of the Claim of Right, with the aims of defining the powers, composition and structure of a Scottish Parliament, and enlisting the support of the Scottish people in creating - or re-creating - their Parliament, which had disappeared in 1707.

What were the defining characteristics of the Scottish Constitutional Convention (SCC)? Can we say that they are in some way related to the European Constitutional Convention (ECC), due to meet from February 2002 to April 2003?

The background to the SCC was the Scotland Act 1978, which offered limited devolution of powers to a Scottish Assembly. The subsequent referendum in 1979 resulted in a small majority of votes for the devolution settlement proposed in the Act, but this majority was insufficient to trigger the devolution settlement; this failure brought down the Labour government and led to an election won by Mrs Thatcher, leading the Conservative party.

After 10 years of despair and recrimination, but eventually hope and reconciliation, in Scotland, the Claim of Right was signed by persons representing a wide cross-section of Scottish opinion. The Convention was created, invitations were issued to all political parties, churches, local authorities, business and trade union organisations, and indeed to all civic organisations in Scotland, to send representatives. The Labour, Scottish Liberal Democrat and Scottish National parties joined, but the latter left after three weeks; the Scottish Conservatives refused to participate. All the major churches took part, as did most local authorities. Of business organisations, only the Small Businesses Federation joined: the banks, the financial sector, industry and commerce were generally hostile. The voluntary sector and smaller political parties such as the Scottish Green Party were, however, enthusiastic participants.

In the six years of its work, the SCC succeeded in defining an outline of the powers, functions, composition and procedures of a Scottish Parliament. While the SCC's Executive Committee met in private, public sessions of the Convention itself were held in various parts of Scotland, in order to encourage public involvement. By 1995, when it presented its final report to the Scottish people at a lively ceremony in Edinburgh including women drummers, dancers, singers and others, the Convention had, by a series of unanimous decisions, laid the foundations for the renewed Scottish Parliament.

How was all this financed? Local authorities in Scotland provided most of the funds needed to hold meetings, print papers and reports and publicised the campaign. Their authority to do so was challenged in court by the inimical Conservative Party but the court upheld the authorities' right to spend council tax-payers' money in this way.

In effect, the SCC's work formed the framework for the Scotland Act 1998, which enacted the devolution settlement, and for the Consultative Steering Group's report of 1999, which (with the tardy participation of the Nationalist and Conservative parties) in turn set out the principles, aims and structure and procedures of the Scottish Parliament. The group was chaired by a government minister and included representatives of political parties, academia, business and the churches, the voluntary sector and local authorities.

In sum, the Scottish Constitutional Convention was an invaluable means of gathering support from key sectors of Scottish life and opinion for the eventual shape and character of the Parliament.

(See also the Scottish Independence Convention)

Some political background to the devolution convention is available here