The Scottish Nation Faces the Post-Imperial World

Abstract

At Hamilton on November 2, 1967, a Scottish National party candidate at a by-election, Mrs. Winifred Ewing, turned a Labour majority of 16,576 into an S.N.P. majority of 1J99.1 In next municipal elections, held on May 7, 1968, S.N.P. made startling advances all over which showed that party could count on support of about one-third of electors. And on June 18, 1968, S.N.P. took control in first municipal elections in world-famous experimental new town of Cumbernauld, with 18 of 21 council seats. The other main parties are now on defensive. At Perth on May 18, 1968, Mr. Edward Heath made it clear that Conservatives must bend with wind if they were not to break. In a speech almost entirely devoted to Scottish nationalism he committed Conservative party to the creation of an elected Scottish Assembly consisting of a single chamber to establish in a new means of expressing Scottish opinion on all matters relating to Scotland and to enable purely Scottish legislation to be handled at certain stages in Scotland.2 The Liberal party has long been committed to setting up of national parliaments for Wales and Scotland. And now at last Labour government has also let it be known that it is contemplating a further measure of Scottish devolution. The choice for electors now seems to be between complete independence for advocated by S.N.P. and a variety of experiments in administrative decentralization, each of them involving a move towards a federal United Kingdom.