Scottish Blog

2. Scottish Parliament - modern history

Before you continue reading this I strongly recommend that you read my previous article on Scottish Parliament.

After the abdication of Mary Queen of Scots and the accession of James VI (who was just a child at the time), the Scottish Parliament experienced turmoil as a collective group. Its root cause was the power that the monarch held over the Scottish Parliament, combined with the political unrest of the time. As James VI was only a child, he was not able to rule. Until he came of age many assassinations and rebellions led to the title of Regent changing frequently. Every new Regent carried with him their own ideal and supporters. In such an uneasy environment, the Regent was able to summon his own supporters in Parliament. In fact, at one point, in one ten-month period in 1570 six rival Parliaments were summoned.

This period of rapid change and uncertainty for the Scottish Parliament was replaced with one equally as bad. When James VI came to the throne, he refused to call full Parliaments, instead choosing to call his supporters only. There was one exception to this, in 1633, James called a full Parliament. Although throughout the whole proceedings he sat on a throne raised above the other members, and is said to have taken no heed of the proceedings, as a show of his power.

Understandably, such a use of power was not appreciated by the Scottish Parliament. This led to a faction from Parliament drawing up a document in 1638, which was to be called “the National Covenant”. The document was in a sense a new set of rules for the Scottish Parliament. Among its chief points, of the document was that the Scottish Parliament should recognize the thoughts of the monarch, yet not be bound by them. It also contained a number parliamentary statute which the monarch was said to have violated. The implication of this document was that the Scottish Parliament had higher authority then the monarch.

The Scottish Parliament soon faced another dark era. After the execution of Charles I, England became a republic. Oliver Cromwell then led a campaign in 1651 to control Scotland. Having beaten the Scottish army, he announced that no Parliament other then that of England shall be allowed to meet. Only thirty members of Parliament were allowed to represent Scotland. This continued until 1660, when Charles II restored the monarchy and the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Parliament and the English Parliament continued to stay separate until the Act of Union in 1707. The Scottish Parliament no longer existed and was replaced by 45 Scottish seats in the 558 seat British Parliament.

The number of Scottish seats in the British Parliament grew to 72 in 1885. The business of Parliament relating to Scotland began to gain more prominence. Subsequently changes began to take place, such as the creation of the Scottish Standing Committee in House of Commons in 1957, a Commons select committee on Scottish affairs was created in the late 1960’s, becoming a permanent aspect of the British Parliament in 1979. Changes like these soon led to the Scottish Parliament’s biggest change since 1707.

In 1999 the new Scottish Parliament was created. It was elected on the 6th of May, sat for the first time on the 12th of May and took its full powers on July the 1st 1999.