Scottish Constitutional Convention
In 1989 the Scottish Constitutional Convention was formed encompassing the Labour Party and the Lib-Dems as well as other parties, local authorities, and huge sections of "civic Scotland". Its purpose was to devise a scheme for the formation of a devolution settlement for Scotland. Suddenly the prospects for a Scottish Assembly seemed much brighter, despite the fact the SNP decided not to take part as they felt that independence would not be a constitutional option countenanced by the convention.
The convention produced its final report in 1995 and, with the return of a Labour government in 1997, devolution seemed assured. Later that year the Scottish people voted overwhelmingly in favour of establishing the devolved Scottish Parliament in a referendum, and the first elections for that body took place in 1999.
Read more about this topic: Scottish Assembly
Famous quotes containing the words scottish and/or convention:
“I have hardly begun to live on Staten Island yet; but, like the man who, when forbidden to tread on English ground, carried Scottish ground in his boots, I carry Concord ground in my boots and in my hat,—and am I not made of Concord dust? I cannot realize that it is the roar of the sea I hear now, and not the wind in Walden woods. I find more of Concord, after all, in the prospect of the sea, beyond Sandy Hook, than in the fields and woods.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The metaphor of the king as the shepherd of his people goes back to ancient Egypt. Perhaps the use of this particular convention is due to the fact that, being stupid, affectionate, gregarious, and easily stampeded, the societies formed by sheep are most like human ones.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)