TWO decades ago today, Scots voted in favour of a Scottish Parliament. Voted Yes/Yes in fact – that second affirmative giving tax powers to the country’s first separate legislature for 200 years.
Since that vote, and the opening of Holyrood itself three years later, the change in Scotland has been immense, and overwhelmingly positive.
The change in fortunes of Scotland’s political parties alone has been fascinating.
The SNP was lukewarm at best about the devolution proposal. For some it fell short of aspirations for independence, for others it was designed specifically to wall off the prospect permanently. Either way, there was not wholehearted support – and yet the Scottish Parliament has been the focus of immense strides made by the party. It enabled Alex Salmond’s first minority government to convince voters to hand the SNP a landslide in 2011 – something the electoral system was meant to have rendered impossible. Even if the party’s popularity has slipped back, its standing has been changed for good.
Scottish Labour’s journey has been more difficult. Initially dominant at Holyrood it has faced near collapse and been forced to change. Despite creating it, for too long many of its best performers dismissed the Scottish Parliament, continuing to prioritise Westminster and London.
The Conservatives opposed devolution, but have been strengthened by it. The idea that they had no support in Scotland was never true, but the fairer Holyrood voting system has given visibility to their residual support.
Meanwhile the people of Scotland, regardless of political affiliation, have gained a proximity to their leaders which has benefited us all. Businesses, charities, cultural leaders and churches have all been able to speak truth to power more readily, whether directly, or via Holyrood’s committees. Policy has been more relevant and policy-makers more reactive. It is impossible to imagine returning to the days when distant Scotland Office ministers and staff fashioned ill-fitting strategies from Whitehall.
But there is much that successive administrations have not done well. Scotland’s economy has not flourished. The decline in the standing of Scottish education is worrying. The NHS in Scotland is under strain and we have a chronic housing crisis.
The constitutional question still looms large over domestic politics in Scotland and some claim that the SNP in government has been overly cautious, saving any radicalism for after independence is secured. Whether independence is an inevitable consequence of devolution as many felt and still feel, or whether it never comes, it cannot be allowed to stall progress.
There are challenges to come, not least Brexit and the additional repatriated powers it may bring to Edinburgh. Devolution is an ongoing process. But it has ushered in a new era in Scotland. It has led to an increasing national self confidence, self-determination. It was, and remains, a change for the better.
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