A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side won with 2,001,926 (55.3%) voting against independence and 1,617,989 (44.7%) voting in favour. The turnout of 84.6% was the highest recorded for an election or referendum in the United Kingdom since the January 1910 general election, which was held before the introduction of universal suffrage.
The Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013 set out the arrangements for the referendum and was passed by the Scottish Parliament in November 2013, following an agreement between the devolved Scottish government and the Government of the United Kingdom. The independence proposal required a simple majority to pass. All European Union (EU) or Commonwealth citizens residing in Scotland age 16 or over could vote, with some exceptions, which produced a total electorate of almost 4,300,000 people. This was the first time that the electoral franchise was extended to include 16- and 17-year-olds in Scotland.
Yes Scotland was the main campaign group for independence, while Better Together was the main campaign group in favour of maintaining the union. Many other campaign groups, political parties, businesses, newspapers, and prominent individuals were also involved. Prominent issues raised during the referendum included what currency an independent Scotland would use, public expenditure, EU membership, and North Sea oil. An exit poll revealed that retention of the pound sterling was the deciding factor for those who voted No, while "disaffection with Westminster politics" was the deciding factor for those who voted Yes.
History
The Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England were established as independent countries during the Middle Ages. After fighting a series of wars during the 14th century, the two monarchies entered a personal union in 1603 (the Union of the Crowns) when James VI of Scotland also became James I of England. The two nations were temporarily united under one government when Oliver Cromwell was declared Lord Protector of a Commonwealth in 1653, but this was dissolved when the monarchy was restored in 1660. Scotland and England united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 (Wales had already been unilaterally incorporated into England in the mid-16th century). The Scots favoured union to solve the economic problems caused by the failure of the Darien scheme and the English favoured it to secure the Hanoverian line of succession. Great Britain in turn united with the Kingdom of Ireland in 1801, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Most of Ireland left the Union in 1922 to form the Irish Free State; consequently, the full name of the United Kingdom since 1927 is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Devolution
The Labour Party was committed to home rule for Scotland in the 1920s, but it slipped down its agenda in the following years. The Scottish National Party (SNP) was founded in 1934, but did not achieve significant electoral success until the 1960s. A petition calling for home rule, the Scottish Covenant, was signed by 2,000,000 people (out of a population of 5,000,000) in the late 1940s.
As James Callaghan's Labour Government of the late 1970s was pressured by the SNP, Scottish devolution was, for the first time, seriously proposed. In a 1979 referendum for a devolved Scottish Assembly, a narrow majority of votes were cast in favour of devolution, but this had no effect due to a requirement that the number voting 'Yes' had to exceed 40% of the total electorate.
No further constitutional reform was proposed until Labour returned to power in a landslide electoral victory in May 1997. A second Scottish devolution referendum was held later that year, as promised in the Labour election manifesto. Clear majorities expressed support for both a devolved Scottish Parliament (74.3% in favour) and that Parliament having the power to vary the basic rate of UK income tax (63.5% in favour). The Scotland Act 1998 established the new Scottish Parliament, first elected on 6 May 1999, with power to legislate on unreserved matters within Scotland.
2007 SNP administration
A commitment to hold an independence referendum in 2010 was part of the SNP's election manifesto when it contested the 2007 Scottish Parliament election. The press were largely hostile towards the SNP, with a headline for The Scottish Sun in May 2007 stating – beside an image of a hangman's noose – "Vote SNP today and you put Scotland's head in the noose". As a result of that election, the SNP became the largest party in the Scottish Parliament and formed a minority government led by the First Minister, Alex Salmond.
The SNP administration launched a 'National Conversation' as a consultation exercise in August 2007, part of which included a draft referendum bill, the Referendum (Scotland) Bill. After this, a white paper for the proposed Referendum Bill was published, on 30 November 2009. It detailed four possible scenarios, with the text of the Bill and Referendum to be revealed later. The scenarios were: no change; devolution per the Calman Review; further devolution; and full independence. The Scottish government published a draft version of the bill on 25 February 2010 for public consultation; Scotland's Future: Draft Referendum (Scotland) Bill Consultation Paper contained a consultation document and a draft version of the bill. The consultation paper set out the proposed ballot papers, the mechanics of the proposed referendum, and how the proposed referendum was to be regulated. Public responses were invited.
The bill outlined three proposals: the first was full devolution or 'devolution max', suggesting that the Scottish Parliament should be responsible for "all laws, taxes and duties in Scotland", except for "defence and foreign affairs; financial regulation, monetary policy and the currency", which the UK government would retain. The second proposal outlined Calman-type fiscal reform, gaining the additional powers and responsibilities of setting a Scottish rate of income tax that could vary by up to 10p in the pound compared with the rest of the UK, setting the rate of stamp duty land tax and "other minor taxes", and introducing new taxes in Scotland with the agreement of the UK Parliament, and finally, "limited power to borrow money". The third proposal was for full independence.
In the 3rd Scottish Parliament only 50 of 129 MSPs (47 SNP, 2 Greens, and Margo MacDonald) supported a referendum. The Scottish government withdrew the bill in September 2010 after failing to secure opposition support.
2011 SNP administration
The SNP repeated its commitment to hold an independence referendum when it published its manifesto for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election. Days before the election, Salmond said that legislation for a referendum would be proposed in the "second half of the parliament", as he wanted to secure more powers for the Scottish Parliament via the Scotland Bill first. In the election, the SNP won 69 of the 129 seats, securing a majority in a proportional representative voting system. UK Prime Minister David Cameron congratulated Salmond on his 'emphatic win', but pledged to campaign for the Union if the SNP carried out their pledge to hold a referendum.
In January 2012, the UK government offered to legislate to provide the Scottish Parliament with the powers to hold a referendum, providing it was 'fair, legal and decisive'. This would set 'terms of reference for the referendum', such as its question(s), elector eligibility, and which body would organise the vote. As the UK government worked on legal details, including the timing of the vote, Salmond announced an intention to hold the referendum in the autumn of 2014. Negotiations continued between the two governments until October 2012, when the Edinburgh Agreement was reached.
The Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Act 2013 was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 27 June 2013 and received Royal Assent on 7 August 2013. On 26 November 2013, the Scottish government published Scotland's Future, a 670-page white paper laying out the case for independence and the means by which Scotland might become an independent country.
Administration
Date
The Scottish Government announced on 21 March 2013 that the referendum would be held on Thursday 18 September 2014. Some media reports mentioned that 2014 would be the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn and that Scotland would also host the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2014 Ryder Cup. Salmond agreed that the presence of these events made 2014 a "good year to hold a referendum".
Eligibility to vote
Under the terms of the 2010 Draft Bill, the following people were entitled to vote in the referendum:
- British citizens who were resident in Scotland;
- Citizens of other Commonwealth countries who were resident in Scotland;
- Citizens of other European Union countries who were resident in Scotland;
- Members of the House of Lords who were resident in Scotland;
- Service/Crown personnel serving in the UK or overseas in the British Armed Forces or with Her Majesty's Government who were registered to vote in Scotland.
Convicted prisoners were not able to vote in the referendum. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had ruled that this restriction was unlawful, but Scottish judge Lord Glennie said that he believed the ECHR judgment would apply only to parliamentary elections. Appeals against his ruling were rejected by the Court of Session in Edinburgh and the UK Supreme Court.
The normal voting age was reduced from 18 to 16 for the referendum, as it was a Scottish National Party policy to reduce the voting age for all elections in Scotland. The move was supported by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens.
In January 2012, Labour MSP Elaine Murray led a debate arguing that the franchise should be extended to Scots living outside Scotland, including the approximately 800,000 living in the other parts of the UK. This was opposed by the Scottish government, which argued that it would greatly increase the complexity of the referendum and stated that there was evidence from the United Nations Human Rights Committee that other nations "might question the legitimacy of a referendum if the franchise is not territorial".
In the House of Lords, Baroness Symons argued that the rest of the UK should be allowed to vote on Scottish independence because it would affect the whole country. This argument was rejected by the UK government, as the Advocate General for Scotland Lord Wallace said that "whether or not Scotland should leave the United Kingdom is a matter for Scotland". Wallace also pointed to the fact that only two of 11 referendums since 1973 had been across all of the United Kingdom. Professor John Curtice cited the precedent of the 1973 Northern Ireland sovereignty referendum (the "border poll"), which allowed only those resident in a part of the UK to vote on its sovereignty.
Legality of a referendum
There was debate as to whether the Scottish Parliament had the power to legislate for a referendum relating to the issue of Scottish independence, as the constitution is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament. The Scottish government insisted in 2010 that they could legislate for a referendum, as it would be an "advisory referendum on extending the powers of the Scottish Parliament", whose result would "have no legal effect on the Union". Lord Wallace, Advocate General for Scotland, said in January 2012 that holding a referendum concerning the constitution would be outside the legislative power of the Scottish Parliament and that private individuals could challenge a Scottish Parliament referendum bill.
The two governments signed the Edinburgh Agreement, which allowed for the temporary transfer of legal authority. Per the Edinburgh Agreement, the UK government drafted an Order in Council granting the Scottish Parliament the necessary powers to hold, on or before 31 December 2014, an independence referendum. The draft Order was approved by resolutions of both Houses of Parliament, and the Order ("The Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) Order 2013"), was approved by Queen Elizabeth II at a meeting of the Privy Council on 12 February 2013. Under the powers temporarily transferred from Westminster under the section 30 Order, the Scottish Parliament adopted the Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013. The Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 14 November 2013 and received Royal assent on 17 December 2013. Under section 36 of the Act, it came into force the day after Royal Assent.
Electoral supervision
The Electoral Commission was responsible for overseeing the referendum, "with the exception of the conduct of the poll and announcement of the result, and the giving of grants. In its role of regulating the campaign and campaign spending, the Electoral Commission will report to the Scottish Parliament. (...) The poll and count will be managed in the same way as [local] elections, by local returning officers (...) and directed by a Chief Counting Officer".