The Scottish Referendum For Independence

To what extent does democracy in the UK suffer from a participation crisis? (25 marks)

Let's take it back to the 27th of May, 1967. The Australian Referendum, called by the Holt Government is about to decide whether or not citizens of Australia believe that Indigenous Australians should be given the right to vote. Although this was a successful referendum, in the government's eyes, this was going to give the recognition that the Indigenous Australians wanted. But it didn’t. The goal was to achieve a transformative lobby to concede the adverse wrongs of our colonial past. If that is so, how is it that 50 years later, this multicultural country and its government are still continuing to fail the First Australians, and ignoring the recognition they deserve - to be recognised in the Constitution.

Although complete sovereignty wasn’t lost over Scotland, the NO vote did cause parliament to devolve some power it held. This is not the first time sovereignty has been lost through Scottish referendums. In 1998 the Scottish parliament was re-established: The Scotland Act established what matters were to be devolved and what matters were to be reserved by Parliament. Devolved matters included health and social care (for example free nursing care for the elderly) and education (for example tuition fees). Reserved matters included defence, foreign policy and the constitution (the UK still controls Scottish independence, as it has the power to over-rule the referendums) Theoretically, Westminster could repeal the Scottish acts. This imbalance of power can cause some policy divergence, for example Scotland passed a law banning smoking in public places before the UK.

The centrepiece of Labour 's programme of constitutional reform was undoubtedly devolution. This was achieved with remarkably few problems. There now seems no likelihood that the new arrangements could be reversed, even by a Conservative administration. The election on 6 May 1999 of a Parliament in Scotland, with extensive powers of primary legislation as well as tax-raising, and an Assembly in Wales, with powers of secondary legislation only, will have a profound impact on governance within the UK. In

In recent years, it has been increasingly apparent that European Parliament election turnout is on the decline, with just 35.6% of British citizens casting their vote in 2014. This is remarkably low, especially when viewed alongside other national decisions such as the referendum for Britain to leave the European Union, which received a staggering 72.2% turnout. However, this decline was not

Within the United Kingdom, a recurring issue has been raised regarding the political position of Scotland and how the Scottish Parliament could better govern the country. To establish whether the quality of life could be improved for the Scottish people, key events, devolution, and the Scottish Parliament must be evaluated and analysed. The argument for greater power in decision making and the ability to implement change for the citizens of Scotland, has been central to Scottish politics for some time.

Before the individual referendums for Scottish independence and EU independence political interest and election turnout amongst young people was statistically low and steadily decreasing. This changed for the referendums but it is doubtful however there will be a high turnout of young people in forthcoming local and national elections. Young people tend to vote on single topics, for single issue parties and in referendums more than elections. If 16 year olds could vote more needs to be done to gain young people’s interest in politics.


In 1979, The Scots become asked whether they wanted a Scottish parliament or not, 52% of voters said they did—but the number was too low to accept it. Years went by, the and in 1997, over 74% of Scots voted for a parliament, which become duly formed. In 1999 Scotland got its own parliament. England still holds Scotland in an iron grip, because even though they have their own parliament, they don’t have the right to say much. Scotland getting its own government, gave them a little taste of

Moreover, even when looking at the people who did vote and the outcome which was achieved, referendums can never truly represent everyone and meet society’s needs as a whole. This is because although a majority of people voted a certain way, there is usually a very slim margin between this and the

This argument states that the two opponents give their speech to the public before the election in Scotland. In this argument analysis, one party focuses on the independence of the country for a better future and the other party argues to ensure more power in Scotland being a part of UK. Both of these two arguments are good arguments because both of them are valid and strong. The first argument for independence is weaker when compared to the second argument.

Scottish devolution was defeated in the referendum and the two biggest parties campaigned for “No”. The SNP considered the results as a victory for devolution but was against the referendum as they were campaigning about the complete independence.

The fight for Scotland’s independents began as early as 1707. The devolution campaign in 1999 helped Scotland become more independent due to the powers that they were able to control, such as education and their ability to create laws that don’t affect the UK. However, devolution has left Scotland wanting more control and has got them pleading for independence. Their plea for independence has had more support then ever before and this has lead to a referendum on the 18th September 2014.

“Parliamentary sovereignty is no longer, if it ever was, absolute” (Lord Hope). Discuss with reference to at least three challenges to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. Parliamentary sovereignty is the concept that Parliament has the power to repeal, amend or create any law it wishes and therefore no body in the UK can challenge its legal validity. There are many people who would argue that this is a key principle to the UK Constitution, on the other hand, there are those who strongly believe that this idea is one of the past, and that the idea of the UK Parliament being sovereign is false. One of these people is Lord Hope, who said “Parliamentary sovereignty is no longer, if it ever was, absolute”. During the last 50 years there have been a variety of developments that have proved to be a challenge for the legitimacy of parliamentary sovereignty, and the ones which will be examined in this essay are: the devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament; The United Kingdom’s entry into the European Union in 1973; and finally the power of judicial review. Starting with the devolution of powers, these challenges will all be evaluated when discussing whether or not the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty applies to the United Kingdom. Westminster’s sovereignty has been gradually diminishing over time as varying amounts of power have been devolved to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. In this essay, the devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament will be

The following document will be discussing the claim that the ‘Brexit’ referendum presents a fundamental challenge to the sustainability of the EU. To answer this question, we will be looking into Britain’s historic relationship with the EU, we will then discuss what Brexit is, how it happened and why. We will be focusing on four particular factors which are argued to have been decisive and divisive in the Brexit referendum such as globalisation, trade, security and migration, all of which are political issues currently challenging the EU and society as a whole.

The referendum in 1993 brought about change, not just political change which by its nature is to be expected but also a change deriving from legality. Across Europe in the early 1990s change was rife, with the collapse of the Berlin Wall in the late 1980s there was a change in political parties and politics. With the traditional parties suffering electoral difficulties. Newell argues that the change in Europe’s political landscape led to the direct encouragement of stirrings that lead to a series of vital “judicial investigations of political corruption” (Newell,2011)