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| Act of Parliament | |
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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. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 1998 c. 46 |
| Introduced by | Donald Dewar,Secretary of State for Scotland |
| Territorial extent | United Kingdom except section 25 (witnesses and documents:offences) which extends only to Scotland |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 19 November 1998 |
| Commencement | Various dates from 19 November 1998 to 1 April 2000.[1][2] |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends | Act of Settlement 1701,United Nations Act 1946 |
| Amended by | |
| Relates to | Referendums (Scotland & Wales) Act 1997 |
Status: Amended | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
| This article is part ofa series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the |
| Politics of Scotland |
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Scottish Parliament elections United Kingdom Parliament elections
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TheScotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is anAct of theParliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of thedevolvedScottish Parliament with tax varying powers and theScottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was one of the most significant constitutional pieces of legislation to be passed by theUK Parliament between the passing of theEuropean Communities Act in 1972 and theEuropean Union (Withdrawal) Act in 2018 and is the most significant piece of legislation to affectScotland since theActs of Union in 1707 which ratified theTreaty of Union and led to the disbandment of theParliament of Scotland.
The Act was introduced by theLabour government in 1998 to give effect to theScottish devolution referendum in 1997 which showed that Scotland was in favour of both of the set questions, firstly for the creation of aparliament forScotland and secondly, that this parliament should have tax varying powers.[3] The Act creates theScottish Parliament, sets out howMembers 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 becomeActs of the Scottish Parliament once they receiveroyal 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 absoluteparliamentary sovereignty.
The Act also provides for the creation of a 'Scottish Executive'[8] though one of the early actions of theSNP administration that won power in the2007 elections was to rebrand the Scottish Executive, as the group of Ministers and their civil servants had been known, as theScottish 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 aFirst Minister and other Ministers appointed by the Monarch with the approval of the Parliament, including theLord Advocate and theSolicitor 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 theHuman 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 theEuropean Convention on Human Rights orEuropean Community law.[11] The same constraints apply to acts of the Scottish Executive.[12]
The Act grants theSecretary of State for Scotland power to direct theScottish 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 theSupreme Court of the United Kingdom (prior to 1 October 2009, theJudicial 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 theGender 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 anOrder in Council.[16]
The Act was passed on 17 November 1998,[17] and receivedroyal 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.
The Act was amended by theScottish 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:
The full text ofScotland Act 1998 at Wikisource
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