United Kingdom legislation
Scotland Act 1998
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Long title
| An Act to provide for the establishment of a Scottish Parliament and Administration and other changes in the government of Scotland; to provide for changes in the constitution and functions of certain public authorities; to provide for the variation of the basic rate of income tax in relation to income of Scottish taxpayers in accordance with a resolution of the Scottish Parliament; to amend the law about parliamentary constituencies in Scotland; and for connected purposes.
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Citation
| 1998 c. 46
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Introduced by
| Donald Dewar
,
Secretary of State for Scotland
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Territorial extent
| United Kingdom
except section 25 (witnesses and documents:offences) which extends only to Scotland
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Royal assent
| 19 November 1998
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Commencement
| Various dates from 19 November 1998 to 1 April 2000.
[1]
[2]
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Amends
| United Nations Act 1946
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Amended by
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Relates to
| Referendums (Scotland & Wales) Act 1997
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The
Scotland Act 1998
(c. 46) is an
Act
of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
which legislated for the establishment of the
devolved
Scottish Parliament
with tax varying powers and the
Scottish Government
(then Scottish Executive). It was one of the most significant constitutional pieces of legislation to be passed by the
UK Parliament
between the passing of the
European Communities Act
in 1972 and the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act
in 2018 and is the most significant piece of legislation to affect
Scotland
since the
Acts of Union in 1707
which ratified the
Treaty of Union
and led to the disbandment of the
Parliament of Scotland
.
Content and history
[
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]
The Act was introduced by the
Labour
government in 1998 to give effect to the
Scottish devolution referendum in 1997
which showed that Scotland was in favour of both of the set questions, firstly for the creation of a
parliament
for
Scotland
and secondly, that this parliament should have tax varying powers.
[3]
The Act creates the
Scottish Parliament
, sets out how
Members of the Scottish Parliament
are to be elected,
[4]
makes some provision about the internal operation of the Parliament
[5]
(although many issues are left for the Parliament itself to regulate) and sets out the process for the Parliament to consider and pass Bills which become
Acts of the Scottish Parliament
once they receive
royal assent
.
[6]
The Act specifically declares the continued power of the UK Parliament to legislate in respect of Scotland;
[7]
thereby upholding the concept of Westminster's absolute
parliamentary sovereignty
.
The Act also provides for the creation of a 'Scottish Executive'
[8]
though one of the early actions of the
SNP administration
that won power in the
2007 elections
was to rebrand the Scottish Executive, as the group of Ministers and their civil servants had been known, as the
Scottish Government
. Despite the re-branding, the 'Scottish Executive' still uses the original description for a number of purposes (s.44 of the Scotland Act defines the nature of the body but does not use the words "shall be known as" with regard to a name as is the case with various other bodies whose names are thus fixed by statute). It consists of a
First Minister
and other Ministers appointed by the Monarch with the approval of the Parliament, including the
Lord Advocate
and the
Solicitor General for Scotland
.
The Act sets out the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament. Rather than listing the matters over which the Scottish Parliament does control (devolved powers), it specifies the matters over which it does not (reserved matters).
[9]
It further designates a list of statutes which are not amenable to amendment or repeal by the Parliament
[10]
which includes the
Human Rights Act 1998
and many provisions of the Scotland Act itself. Even when acting within its legislative competence, the Act further constrains the powers of the Parliament by inhibiting it from acting in a manner incompatible with the
European Convention on Human Rights
or
European Community
law.
[11]
The same constraints apply to acts of the Scottish Executive.
[12]
The Act grants the
Secretary of State for Scotland
power to direct the
Scottish Government
not to take any action which he has reasonable grounds to believe "would be incompatible with any international obligations" or to act where he believes such action "is required for the purpose of giving effect to any such obligations".
[13]
The Act also sets up mechanisms to resolve disputes over questions about legislative competence of the Parliament and powers of the Executive. The ultimate appeal in such matters lies to the
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
(prior to 1 October 2009, the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
).
[14]
The Westminster government can unilaterally prohibit an Act of the Scottish Parliament ? even if legislatively competent ? from receiving royal assent if it believes the law would affect matters of reserved law; this provision has been only used once, to veto the
Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill
in 2023.
[15]
The Act also allows the powers of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive to be adjusted over time by agreement between both parliaments by means of an
Order in Council
.
[16]
The Act was passed on 17 November 1998,
[17]
and received
royal assent
two days later on 19 November.
[18]
The first elections were held in May 1999 and the Scottish Parliament and Executive assumed their full powers on 1 July 1999.
Amendments to the Act
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The Act was amended by the
Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004
to end the link between the number of MPs at Westminster and the number of constituency MSPs. It was amended again in 2016 as a reaction to the 2014 Scottish Independence vote.
The Wales Act 2014 made amendments to Part 4A of the Scotland Act around the definition of a Scottish taxpayer, to ensure that an individual could not be a taxpayer in both Scotland and Wales in the same year.
[19]
The Act has been amended by:
See also
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References
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Further reading
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- Walker, Graham. "Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Devolution, 1945?1979,"
Journal of British Studies
Jan. 2010, Vol. 49, No. 1: 117?142.
External links
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Referendums
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devolved bodies
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Commissions
| UK Parliament commissions
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Scottish parliament commissions
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Devolution legislation
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Committees
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UK Government departments
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Budget
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Proposed
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Proposed alternatives to devolution
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