Auld Lang Sign of Things To Come

The movement for Scottish independence has been in the news lately.  Scotland had been a sovereign nation until 1707 when they were brought into the Kingdom of Great Britain. The desire for independence had been around in varying degrees for many years, but the first legislative action in this regard didn't come about until the UK Parliament passed the Scotland Act of 1978 which was intended to establish a devolved Scottish legislature. (The District of Columbia here in the States is an example of devolution.)

The Act called for a referendum on the matter that took place on March 1, 1979.  The Act stipulated that, rather than the vote being decided by a simple majority, 40% of registered voters would have to approve the measure for it to pass.  While the Act did get a majority yes vote (roughly 52%-48%), the 1.2 million Scots who voted for the measure only constituted about 33% of the voters, and the Act failed.  The Labour government of James Callaghan decided not to pursue it any further and the Scotland Act was repealed later in March.  Two months later, Margaret Thatcher and the Conservatives came to power and led the UK for nearly two decades.  In 1997, Tony Blair and the "New" Labour Party took over and the issue came up again, this time successfully.  A new Scotland Act was passed the next year, elections were held in 1999 and the Scottish Parliament came into being in July of that year.

While this was still a devolved legislature, the movement for outright independence has grown and came to a head in 2011 with the elevation of the Scottis Naitional Pairtie to the majority in the Parliament.  The SNP have called for a referendum on full independence, which could take place in the fall of 2014.