Elections in Scotland: United Kingdom at Devolution© Peter Weber
May 17, 1999
After almost 300 years Scotland has elected a new Parliament. With the regional elections in Scotland and Wales the United Kingdom has made an important step towards devolution of political power and decision making. In both regions voters preferred the Labour Party for its reforms in favor of regional rebirth. Nationalist parties arrived second in both assemblies, while the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats found themselves third and fourth. After its victory in Great Britain´s general elections in 1997, Tony Blair's governing New Labour had accelerated reforms by two referendums for regional autonomy for both Scotland and Wales. The popular decisions in favor of the reform and now the elections of regional assemblies represent only a first step in a wider reform process that is going to change institutions in the UK.
Political life for Scotland and Wales
With the regional election of May 5th the people in Scotland have elected representatives to their national Parliament for the first time since about 300 years. In Wales they did the same for the first time ever. After their incorporation into the United Kingdom both regions had always been governed from London.
The Celtic kingdom of Wales, home of the mythical King Arthur, was conquered more than seven centuries ago by King Edward I (Anjou-Plantagenet). After the defeat of the last Celtic throne pretender, Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffud, Wales was annexed in 1284 and in 1301 it became the principality of the English crown prince, called since then the Prince of Wales. Later the Union with England was formalized again under King Henry VIII (Tudor) with the Act of Union in 1536. Today about 20 % of the people of Wales still understand and talk their Welsh language, a Celtic idiom.
The period of Scottish independence
Scotland had a longer period of independence following the rebellion of the Scottish national hero William Wallace ("Braveheart") in the years 1297 - 1305. After the battle of Bannockburn (1314) the English recognized the independence of Scotland and Robert Bruce founded the Stuart dynasty. Thus Scotland had already well defined institutions when the two countries were again united under one crown in the year 1603, when the Scottish King Jacob VI (Stuart) followed the childless last Tudor Queen Elizabeth I on the throne of England, becoming King James I. A permanent Union between England and Scotland was created only after the Glorious Revolution against the catholic King James II (Stuart) in 1688. The Union was formalized in 1707 in an agreement between the English and Scottish Parliament, with the last assembly in Edinburgh voluntarily voting itself out of existence and moving its representatives to London.
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