Scottish Parliament
- SNP 65
- Speaker 1
- Labour 37
- Tories 15
- LibDems 5
- SGP 2
- Indep. 4
The Scottish Parliament (English: The Scottish Parliament, Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h- Alba - Parliament of Scotland ) takes over the tasks of the Scottish legislature.
The original Parliament of Scotland (English: Parliament of Scotland) in 1707 merged with the English Parliament to the British Parliament under the Act of Union. Already in the referendum in Scotland in 1979, a slight majority had been reached for a device. But not until 1998 that the basis for a partially independent Scottish Parliament was hit by a second referendum by the Scotland Act. The newly elected Parliament was constituted for the first time on 12 May 1999.
Powers
The Scottish Parliament has the power of decision in the areas that have been transferred to it by the UK parliament, including education, health, agriculture and justice. What Parliament can legislate and has a limited scope in setting tax rates. In addition, the Scottish Executive to Parliament is accountable. Other tasks, such as the complete range of foreign policy continue to be perceived by the British Parliament.
Electoral system
The Scottish Parliament elections were the first in the UK, where the seats were allocated by proportional representation. Similar to the German electoral system, each voter has two votes. These he distributed to a direct candidates in his constituency and a party. Of the 129 seats will be awarded 73 according to the majority vote to the winner of a constituency. The remaining 56 are determined by proportional representation from the eight different electoral regions. Each region sends this seven deputies of the regional lists of being beaten parties. If, through this system to overhang seats, the seat number of other parties shall be reduced in the region in order to keep the number of deputies constant.
Select all members a Presiding Officer, comparable to the German Bundestag president. Since May 2011 Tricia Marwick dressed this post.
Furthermore, the Parliament the First Minister, the head of the executive and of its task the German prime minister chooses very similar. Since May 2007 Alex Salmond is the First Minister. Although it is according to the Constitution, the Parliament's responsibility to determine the other ministers, it is in reality so that they are chosen by the First Minister.
Parliament building
Since September 2004, the seat of the Parliament is in the new Parliament building at Holyrood, a suburb of Edinburgh, right across from Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the Queen in Scotland. It was designed by the Catalan architect Enric Miralles. It is characterized by its distinctive roof in the shape of an upturned ship. It was opened on 9 October 2004 by Queen Elizabeth II
In the period before the completion of the parliament met in the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. Official Media events were usually held in the neighboring yard belonging to the University of Edinburgh Theological College. Today, such events are held in the garden area of the new parliament building. It is claimed that this was the place to be abspiele the real policy.
Mid-October 2005 won the parliamentary building the Stirling Prize, the prestigious architecture award from the Royal Institute of British Architects. This annual award is considered the highest award for contemporary British architecture.
History
By the Act of Union in 1707, the Scottish Parliament was the legislature of the independent state of Scotland, whose monarch since 1603 was also King of England. In the negotiations for union with England, the Scots wanted to enforce the establishment of a Scottish Parliament. The British rejected this, however. Over the next 300 years, Scotland remained without its own parliament, although numerous proposals for a regional parliament were made.
Since the late 1960s there was a renewed flare-up of the Scottish national sentiment. This has been triggered by oil discoveries in the North Sea. Scottish nationalists were of the view that Scotland would not benefit to a sufficient extent of the oil money.
In 1979, voted in referendum devolution in Scotland over the establishment of a regional parliament. Although voted a bare majority of the participants choice for the referendum, the required number of affirmative votes of 40 % of all eligible participants was but misses. Therefore, the referendum, which was criticized by supporters of the campaign Scotland Said "yes" failed. In the 1980s and 1990s, the desire increased after partial independence under conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major to continue. This can be explained by the small number of Scottish MPs in the Conservative Party and the weak influence these have on government. In 1997, the Labour Party with Tony Blair won the election. Since Labour supported the decentralization, was held a referendum in September 1997, which brought a large majority for a regional parliament. After the election in May 1999, the new Parliament were by the British Parliament on 1 July 1999 transferred the new rights. At the opening Sheena Wellington Robert Burns A Man 's a Man for A 'That sang, which was translated all this in Germany as defiance and known.