Parties In Scotland Research Articles

High noon for the Union?

Next May, the SNP will be defending a fourteen year record in office in Edinburgh. Typically, governments find it difficult to secure electoral success in such circumstances. The 'costs of government' – the almost inevitable gap between a party's initial promises and voters' perceptions of what has actually been achieved – usually take their toll at the ballot box (Green and Jennings, 2017). Yet, even though the SNP administration has had its fair share of difficulties and disappointments during its now lengthy time in office, just how well it has met the challenges of the last 14 years may come to matter little in voters' minds when they decide how to cast their ballot.

Scottish Labour as a case study in party failure: Evidence from the 2019 UK General Election in Scotland

For Scottish Labour to be reduced to a single MP in Scotland once might seem like misfortune: that in 2019 they suffered the same fate looks like carelessness. While much focus of the 2019 UK General Election in Scotland will be on the SNP, an equally interesting puzzle is the electoral performance of the once dominant party in Scotland. In this article we explore what helps to explain why formerly successful parties fail, identifying explanations that may account for the current electoral fortunes of Labour in Scotland. To this end we rely on data from the 2019 round of the Scottish Election Survey.

The Aberdeen Doctors (c.1620–1641) on tolerable and intolerable tolerance

ABSTRACTThe Aberdeen Doctors promoted concord between Reformed and Lutheran churches in Europe and between evangelical parties in Scotland. Their efforts to establish concord internationally implied tolerance between Protestant parties with differing theological convictions and practices. Their efforts to establish concord in Scotland explicitly advocated tolerance between dissident parties, but equally insisted upon compliance with liturgical and political reforms pursued through proper legal process. This essay explores the Doctors advocacy of concord and of tolerance both internationally and nationally, drawing careful attention to the precise degree of tolerance the Doctors deemed possible and/or desirable in the particular context of early seventeenth-century Scotland.

Twenty Years of Devolution in Scotland: the End of a British Party System?

The geographical divides that characterised the outcome of the June 2016 European referendum, with a Remain majority in Scotland and Northern Ireland and a Leave majority in England and in Wales, are symptomatic of the increasingly divergent electoral results of the last two decades in each of the four UK nations. While the roots of divergent political patterns across the UK may lay in the 1960s and 1970s with the emergence of the nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales and the long decline of the Conservatives north of the border, we shall contend that the introduction of devolution to Scotland and Wales in 1999 had the most considerable impact on British party politics.

Left-wing regionalist populism in the ‘Celtic’ peripheries: Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party’s anti-austerity challenge against the British elites

The article shows how the main regionalist parties in Scotland and Wales—the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru—have engaged with a populist discourse in the wake of the Great Recession. Based on a qualitative analysis of party manifestos and party-elite interviews, the article shows that the two parties have adopted a left-wing populist discourse, based on a critique of austerity policies. In this way, albeit from distinctively regionalist perspective, they performed roles very similar to that of other contemporary left-wing populist parties, particularly in Southern Europe. The Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru were able to frame their anti-austerity stances within a populist discourse because all three traditional British parties shared a preference for pro-austerity economic policies. Therefore, in Laclau’s terms, the two ‘Celtic’ parties’ attack on austerity constituted an open challenge to the hegemonic discourse of the British ‘power bloc’. Analogous to the expansion of a right-wing anti-establishment protest in British politics (monopolized by the UKIP), the two parties (particularly the Scottish one) capitalized on the expansion of a left-wing populist area. This strategy has lately become less viable because Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party broke with the pro-austerity consensus among British elites.

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The Labour Party in Scotland

The Labour Party in Scotland

The SNP’s Conception of Scottish Society and Citizenship, 2007-2014

In a context where the Scottish National Party (SNP) has become the dominant party in Scotland, this article explores one aspect of the party’s ideology, namely its conception of Scottish society and citizenship, based on an analysis of the speeches made by Alex Salmond in the years 2007-2014, when he was both party leader and Scottish First Minister. The language of politics provides the focus for this article. Its purpose is threefold: first, to present the way in which the SNP named and labelled Scottish society in those pivotal years; second, to establish what these naming strategies revealed about the party’s conception of Scottish citizenship, nationalism and national identity; and third, to explain how this conception was made integral to its general political strategy and campaign for independence. The analysis shows that Scottish society and the Scottish people were portrayed in three, complementary ways: as the people who reside on the territory of Scotland, which is in keeping with the SNP’s “civic” nationalism and with its perception of Scottish citizenship as one that is based on residency rather than ancestry; as a “sovereign people” and as “the community of the realm of Scotland”, which bears testimony to the SNP’s exploitation of two powerful Scottish political myths; and as a social democratic society with a “shared sense of the common weal” which translates into support for universalist policies at odds with both Labour and the Conservatives’ policy choices. These visions of society and citizenship were all included in the SNP’s case for an independent social democratic Scottish State.

Are the commitment to Scottish independence and the Scottish National Party’s surge evidence of a clash of values between Scotland and England ?

The notion that Scotland could one day become independent owes much to the fact that Scottish society is quite often described as being more progressive than English society. The (self-)description, of course, plays no mean part in Nationalist discourse, which stresses such things as the support for the Conservatives in England and the rise of UKIP. Nevertheless, there is factual evidence that the rejection of London policies and the increased backing for anti-Union parties in Scotland should not automatically be equated with proof that the Scots’ outlook on education, social justice, the economy, immigration, etc., and that of the English are poles asunder. But if so, then it may well be that the gap between (self-)description and reality tells us a lot more about the essence of Scottish nationalism than about any discrepancy between Scotland and England.

A New Power in the Late Fourteenth‐Century Low Countries: Philip the Bold's Planned Franco‐Burgundian Invasion of England and Scottish Alliance, 1385–1386

AbstractThis article considers the power of Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy and count of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy Palatine, and his attempts to use violence against England to strengthen his rule in the Low Countries, and help to secure his nephew's rule in France. In 1385, and again in 1386, he came close to launching a large‐scale invasion of England with the support of Scotland and of Brittany that had the potential to remove English influence from Flanders and even force Richard II to give up claims to the French throne. The invasions have been considered from a French and English perspective, and in adding a Burgundian view the present article pulls together English, French, Flemish and Scots source to offer a full analysis of the motivations for the invasion, showing the significance of the Hundred Year War for the rulers of Flanders. Philip's planned invasion capitalized on weaknesses in England, on growing hawkish parties in Scotland, on unity in France and on his own power in the Low Countries. Although the invasions never left Sluis, the attempt to retake the initiative, and to change the balance of power in Europe, merits further consideration for the ambition of Philip and for the centrality of the Low Countries for fourteenth‐century Europe.

Scotland: Nation without Nationalism?

In the period before 1990s two concepts were used to describe the Scottish political development: “Nation without nationalism” and “The stateless nation”. After the devolution of 1998 and electoral achievements of SNP neither of these constructions can properly characterize the processes, undergoing in Scotland. The forming of new alignment of political powers in Scotland is not yet fi nished, but so far its development leads to the emergence of political con fi guration separated from that of All-British, with regard to extreme weakening of “big” parties in Scotland.

The Birth of the Social Democratic Party in Scotland

The birth of the British Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981 has been the subject of much discussion in recent years, but its trajectory in Scotland has largely been ignored. This article aims to redress that balance. At its heart are three interlocking themes: the organisation of the Scottish SDP, its relationship to the Labour Party and its attitude to devolution. Underpinning each is the idea that the necessities of Westminster politics and centralised control prevented the party in Scotland from truly developing as an autonomous unit, which hindered its attempts to adapt to the Scottish political environment.

The Conundrum of multi-level politics in the UK after devolution: the case of the Scottish Liberal Democrats in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election

As early as the 2001 general election The Scotsman underlined the dilemma facing the Liberal Democrats post devolution, as the party seemed to be torn between the two levels of governance in Edinburgh and London. Indeed, whereas the Liberal Democrats had been Labour’s partner in government in Scotland since 1999, at Westminster, they were in opposition, and in the British general election campaign, the two parties were rivals in the race for power. Ten years later, the Scottish Liberal Democrats found themselves in the position of contesting the fourth Scottish Parliament election as an opposition party at Holyrood, while being identified with the Conservative party as their coalition partner in government in London since May 2010. How did they come to terms with campaigning in the 2011 Scottish Parliament as a party which had been sitting on the opposition benches in Edinburgh for the past four years, while bearing the brunt of the attacks on the UK coalition government in Scotland? This article will first focus on the specific circumstances which made the campaign particularly difficult to handle for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, before looking into the party’s disastrous election results. Finally it will attempt to highlight the predicament facing the party in Scotland as a result of the multi-level nature of the British political system after devolution.

The 2011 Scottish Labour campaign: changing tactics?

After the setbacks Labour suffered at the Scottish Parliament elections of May 2007, it appeared clearly that the Labour party in Scotland urgently needed to readjust its political strategy and message to the new post-devolution constitutional system. Soon after the May 2007 elections, voices were consequently raised within Labour to stress the need to formulate distinct Scottish policies. Yet, in May 2011, Scottish Labour suffered its worst electoral defeat in Scotland since the UK general election of October 1931 whilst the SNP managed to secure the first electoral majority since the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 in spite of an electoral system explicitly devised to prevent single party government and ensure proportional representation. This paper therefore seeks to study the outcome of the May 2011 election in light of Labour’s political strategies and programme, and analyse the structural problems met by Scottish Labour in its attempt to appeal to the wider Scottish electorate in the context of Scottish Parliament elections. How do the Scottish Labour Party's links with the UK Parliamentary Labour Party affect it in terms of image and policymaking? To what extent is a complete restructuration of the party necessary North of the border and how will this affect politics in Scotland?

Hug me, I'm a Tory': Young Conservatives' Reflections on the Image of the Conservative Party in Scotland

The recent general election showed that whilst the Conservative Party finds electoral support in England and Wales, it still struggles in Scotland. The Scotsman called the election result an 'unexpected and paradoxical twist' (8 May 2010) and mused that the Scottish Conservative Party has yet to become 'a more credible political force' (8 May 2010). In Scotland in particular, judging by the election results, the Conservative Party grapples to overcome its negative image and to 'decontaminate' the brand-name 'Tory' (cf. Bale 2010). The rationale from the point of view of Scottish Conservative activists for continuing with brand decontamination efforts especially now is a simple one: improving the image of the Party in Scotland means lessening the burden that arises from belonging to an unpopular party that is still perceived to be thoroughly English and elitist. Not only is Conservatism 'contaminated' in Scotland; it is even stigmatised.

A Catenaccio Game: the 2010 Election in Scotland

The result of the general election in Scotland was very different from the rest of the UK. No seats changed hands. Labour consolidated its position as the dominant party in Scotland. Cameron may have been able to detoxify the Conservatives’ image in England but failed to do the same in Scotland. The Liberal Democrats were the only major party in Scotland to see its vote share reduced. Nevertheless, the Liberal Democrats in coalition with the Conservatives provide cover for the Conservatives in Scotland who might be accused of having no legitimacy in Scotland. The 2010 election campaign was a very British affair. The ‘Prime Ministerial Debates’ presidentialised the elections, marginalising regional voices and issues. Furthermore, the economy and public finances dominated the agenda, and constitutional issues were neutralised as all British parties appeared to agree with the Calman Commission's conclusions. Despite little change in the headline figures, under the surface there were interesting developments. The Scottish National Party overtook the Liberal Democrats as Scotland's second party in vote share. Targeting was unsuccessful in Scotland with parties generally performing better in marginals where they were incumbents than their overall performance and less well where they were challengers.

The neoliberal project—Local taxation intervention in Scotland

This paper is concerned with one of the central economic aspects of neoliberalism namely taxation. The shifting of the burden of taxation from the rich to the poor has been one of the raft of neoliberal economic reform policies. However, there has been a growing social movement in the UK against such a regressive form of taxation. This was led by a socialist political party in Scotland. 1 1 The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP). Up until the last Scottish General Election in 2007 the SSP had 6 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), but due to an internal split the SSP lost all its seats in the Scottish Parliament. However, many of the key elements outlined in the Scottish Service Tax (SST) Bill, proposed by the SSP, were included in the Scottish Nationalist Party's (SNP) Bill put before the Scottish Parliament in 2008 to replace the regressive Council Tax. This party devised a new taxation system which was specifically designed to reverse some of the economic inequalities brought about by the neoliberal turn. The new form of taxation, the Scottish Service Tax formed a bill (the Council Tax Abolition and Service Tax Introduction (Scotland) Bill) which was put before the Scottish Parliament in February 2006. This paper, taking a political-economy perspective, sets the possibilities presented by the bill within the context of neoliberalism.

Regionalist Party Mobilisation on Immigration

This article explores the various ways in which regionalist parties approach the issue of immigration. Drawing on several cases, it compares how regionalist parties ‘construct’ the territory and how issues of diversity and immigration inform their policy goals. It is shown that mobilisation on immigration varies across regions. Whilst parties in Scotland and Catalonia have encouraged immigration as a way of expanding national membership and bolstering the labour market, those in Bavaria and Northern Italy have viewed immigration as a threat to their culture and economy. This article identifies factors influencing party immigration policies, including party ideology, local party competition, central government policy and other state-wide influences. It also assesses the extent to which European integration has influenced parties' territorial projects, in particular whether parties have responded to pressures to adopt EU norms and common principles, such as diversity and multiculturalism, in order to be perceived as credible.

Adjustment and Integration: The Scottish Representation in the British House of Commons, 1707–14*

The small minority of Scots who entered the house of commons in 1707 were slow to make their mark. Besides lack of numbers, they suffered several significant disadvantages. The Westminster scene was strange, and the style and tone of debate more vigorous and informal. Moreover, the aristocracy had dominated the unicameral Scottish parliament, and commoners found it difficult to emancipate themselves from noble tutelage. Most importantly, Scottish politics did not yet reflect the two‐party system dominant in England. Thus in the first sessions the Scots were unable to make headway in the essential business of parliament, legislation. Scotland suffered in comparison with the English provinces, and even the Irish, who were able to muster a more effective lobby. Soon, however, a new generation of debaters appeared, able to use their wit to discomfit English antagonists, and a new class of ‘men of business’ who grasped the rules of the legislative game. The fortuitous deaths of leading magnates and the polarisation of sectarian antagonisms in Scotland permitted the coalescence of the Scottish representation into two broad factions allied with the English parties. It was with English tory support that bills were passed to benefit the sectional concerns of Scottish episcopalians, accompanied by other measures of a more general nature. The combined attempt by Scottish peers and MPs in 1713 to secure the repeal of the union does not point to a lasting breakdown in Anglo‐Scottish relations, since it was also a manifestation of political opportunism by English whigs and discontented tories, and their Scottish allies. But the dawn of a party system in Scotland was dispelled by the death of Queen Anne and the ensuing jacobite rebellion. The complicity of tories in the Fifteen resulted in the destruction of the party in Scotland, and the construction of a whig hegemony.

The Role of the English Party in Scotland, 1513 - 44

The Role of the English Party in Scotland, 1513 - 44