Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision for the holding of a referendum in Scotland on the establishment and tax-varying powers of a Scottish Parliament and a referendum in Wales on the establishment of a Welsh assembly; and for expenditure in preparation for a Scottish Parliament or a Welsh Assembly.
Citation	1997 c. 61
Introduced by	Tony Blair,Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Commons) John Sewel, Baron Sewel (Lords)
Territorial extent	United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent	31 July 1997
Other legislation
Relates to	Scotland Act 1998 Government of Wales Act 1998
Status:Spent
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

Constitutional documents and events relevant to the status of theUnited Kingdom and itscountries
List per year Laws of Wales Acts 1535 Treaty of Union 1706 Acts of Union 1707 Succession to the Crown Act 1707 1707 Septennial Act 1716 Wales and Berwick Act 1746 Constitution of Ireland (1782) 1782 Acts of Union 1800 1800 HC (Disqualifications) Act 1801 1801 Reform Act 1832 1832 Scottish Reform Act 1832 1832 Irish Reform Act 1832 1832 Judicial Committee Act 1833 1833 Judicial Committee Act 1843 1843 Judicial Committee Act 1844 1844 Representation of the People Act 1867 1867 Reform Act (Scotland) 1868 1868 Reform Act (Ireland) 1868 1868 Irish Church Act 1869 Royal Titles Act 1876 1876 Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 Reform Act 1884 1884 Interpretation Act 1889 1889 Parliament Act 1911 Aliens Restriction Act 1914 Status of Aliens Act 1914 1914 Government of Ireland Act 1914 1914 Welsh Church Act 1914 Royal Proclamation of 1917 1917 Representation of the People Act 1918 1918 Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919 Government of Ireland Act 1920 Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921 Church of Scotland Act 1921 1921 Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 Ireland (Confirm. of Agreement) Act 1925 1925 Balfour Declaration of 1926 1926 Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 Representation of the People Act 1928 1928 Eire (Confirmation of Agreement) Act 1929 1929 Statute of Westminster 1931 HM Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 1936 Regency Act 1937 1937 Regency Act 1943 1943 British Nationality Act 1948 1948 Representation of the People Act 1948 1948 Ireland Act 1949 1949 Statute of the Council of Europe 1949 Parliament Act 1949 Regency Act 1953 1953 Royal Titles Act 1953 1953 European Convention on Human Rights 1953 Interpretation Act (NI) 1954 HC Disqualification Act 1957 1957 Life Peerages Act 1958 Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 1962 Peerage Act 1963 Royal Assent Act 1967 Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 1968 Immigration Act 1971 EC Treaty of Accession 1972 NI (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972 European Communities Act 1972 Local Government Act 1972 UK joins the European Communities 1973 Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 NI border poll 1973 NI Constitution Act 1973 House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 Referendum Act 1975 EC membership referendum 1975 HC (Administration) Act 1978 Interpretation Act 1978 Scotland Act 1978 1978 Wales Act 1978 1978 Scottish devolution referendum 1979 Welsh devolution referendum 1979 British Nationality Act 1981 Representation of the People Act 1983 1983 Representation of the People Act 1985 1985 Single European Act 1985 Maastricht Treaty 1993 Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 Referendums (Scotland & Wales) Act 1997 Scottish devolution referendum 1997 Welsh devolution referendum 1997 1998 GLA referendum 1998 Bank of England Act 1998 Good Friday Agreement 1998 Northern Ireland Act 1998 Government of Wales Act 1998 Human Rights Act 1998 Scotland Act 1998 GLA Act 1999 House of Lords Act 1999 Representation of the People Act 2000 2000 Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004 Constitutional Reform Act 2005 Government of Wales Act 2006 2006 GLA Act 2007 2007 Northern Ireland Act 2009 2009 LDEDC Act 2009 Lisbon Treaty 2009 Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 Parl. Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 Welsh devolution referendum 2011 Alternative Vote referendum 2011 European Union Act 2011 2011 Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 Sovereign Grant Act 2011 Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 Localism Act 2011 Scotland Act 2012 2012 Succession to the Crown Act 2013 2013 Scottish independence referendum 2014 House of Lords Reform Act 2014 Wales Act 2014 2014 HL (Expulsion and Suspension) Act 2015 Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 Recall of MPs Act 2015 European Union Referendum Act 2015 Local Government (Religious etc. Observances) Act 2015 EU membership referendum 2016 Scotland Act 2016 2016 Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 Wales Act 2017 2017 EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017 Invocation of Article 50 2017 European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 EU Withdrawal Act 2019 2019 EU Withdrawal (No. 2) Act 2019 Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 UK leaves the European Union 2020 UK Internal Market Act 2020 EU (Future Relationship) Act 2020 Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 Elections Act 2022 Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023
v t e

TheReferendums (Wales and Scotland) Act 1997 (c. 61) is anAct of theParliament of the United Kingdom, which made legal provision for the holding of two non-bindingreferendums in bothScotland on the establishment of a democratically electedScottish Parliament with tax-varying powers and inWales on the establishment of a democratically electedWelsh Assembly. In an unusual move the referendums bill was introduced to theHouse of Commons by the thenPrime MinisterTony Blair himself on 15 May 1997 just two weeks after the landslideLabour victory in the1997 General Election and was the very first Government sponsored Bill to be presented to the Commons by theBlair Government of 1997–2007. The Act receivedroyal assent on 31 July 1997 and becameSpent upon the conclusion of both referendums.

On 1 March 1979, voters in both Scotland and Wales voted in referendums on proposed Assemblies under the provisions of theScotland Act 1978 and theWales Act 1978. The result in Scotland was a narrow "yes" by 51% of voters but failed to achieve an overall minimum 40% "yes" vote of the registered electorate and the motion failed to pass and in Wales the proposal was rejected outright by 79% of voters and political fallout from the results led to the fall of theLabour government, 1974–1979 which then led toMargaret Thatcher's victory in the1979 UK General Election and the beginning of eighteen years of Conservative government.

The Act legislated for the holding of non-binding referendums to be held on 11 September 1997 inScotland on whether there should be a democratically electedScottish Parliament with tax varying powers and on 18 September 1997 inWales on whether there should be a democratically electedWelsh Assembly and gave powers to both theSecretary of State for Scotland and theSecretary of State for Wales to enable the referendums to take place and gave them both the power to appoint Chief Counting Officers to oversee the referendums.

The right to vote in the referendums in both Scotland and Wales applied to residents who were British, Irish andCommonwealth citizens as well as those who were entitled to vote in all local government elections including all residentEU citizens. Members of theHouse of Lords from both Scotland and Wales were also able to vote in the referendums. The minimum age for voters in both referendums was 18 years with polling stations open from 07:00 to 22:00BST. In total almost 6.2 million people would be eligible to vote across Scotland and Wales combined in the referendums.

The Act legislated for a referendum to be held acrossScotland on 11 September 1997 on the establishment of a Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers. TheSecretary of State for Scotland under the act would appoint a Chief Counting Officer to oversee the referendum and also appoint local counting officers in each of the local government areas. Just under four million people were eligible to vote includingEU nationals residing in Scotland.

Under the Act the electorate was asked to vote on two sets of statements which corresponded to both proposals on different coloured ballot papers.^[1]

On the first ballot paper the following appeared:

Parliament has decided to consult people in Scotland on the Government's proposals for a Scottish Parliament:

I agree there should be a Scottish Parliament

or

I do not agree there should be a Scottish Parliament

(To be marked by a single (X))

On the second ballot paper the following appeared:

Parliament has decided to consult people in Scotland on the Government's proposals for a Scottish Parliament to have tax-varying powers:

I agree that a Scottish Parliament should have tax-varying powers

or

I do not agree that a Scottish Parliament should have tax-varying powers

(To be marked by a single (X))

The 32Scottish council areas were used as the counting areas for the referendum under the provisions of the Act.

Every council area voted "I agree" to the proposed Scottish Parliament.

Votes in favour of tax-varying powers still commanded significant majority, when compared to establishing the Parliament per se. A majority voted 'I agree' in every local council, apart from inDumfries & Galloway^[2] andOrkney.^[3]

The Act legislated for a referendum to be held in Wales on 18 September 1997 on the establishment of a Welsh Assembly. TheSecretary of State for Wales under the act would appoint a Chief Counting Officer to oversee the referendum and also appoint local counting officers. Almost two and a quarter million people were eligible to vote including EU nationals residing in Wales.

On the ballot paper the following appeared in both English and Welsh:

Parliament has decided to consult people in Wales on the Government's proposals for a Welsh Assembly:
Mae'r Senedd wedi penderfynu ymgynghori pobl yng Nghymru ar gynigion y Llywodraeth ar gyfer Cynulliad i Gymru:

I agree there should be a Welsh Assembly

Yr wyf yn cytuno dylid cael Cynulliad i Gymru

or

I do not agree there should be a Welsh Assembly

Nid wyf yn cytuno dylid cael Cynulliad i Gymru

(To be marked by a single (X))

The 22Welsh council areas were used as the counting areas for the referendum under the provisions of the Act.

Note: In Wales under theWelsh Language Act 1993 the Welsh language has equal status with the English language.

Following the results of both referendums theScotland Act 1998 and theGovernment of Wales Act 1998 were both passed by the UK Parliament which established both theScottish Parliament and theWelsh Assembly and came into being following elections in both Scotland and in Wales in 1999.

• Referendums in the United Kingdom
• 1999 Scottish Parliament election
• 1999 National Assembly for Wales election

• United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1997
• Referendums in Scotland
• Referendums in Wales
• Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Scotland
• Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Wales
• 1997 in Scotland
• 1997 in Wales
• Referendums in the United Kingdom
• Election legislation in the United Kingdom

• Use British English from August 2025
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from November 2019