General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

The General Assembly of the Church met in a ‘blended’ form, based at the Assembly Hall, from 22 May to 27 May. The Moderator on this occasion was an elder, rather than a minister, but with the distinction of being Lord Wallace of Tankerness PC QC FRSE, a Liberal Democrat life peer since 2007, who served as the Deputy First Minister of Scotland from 1999 to 2005. He was formerly Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 1992 to 2005 and of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords from 2013 to 2016. He also served as a Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland from 1983 to 2001 and a Member of the Scottish Parliament for Orkney from 1999 to 2007. He was Advocate General for Scotland in the Westminster Government from 2010 to 2015.

3. Debating Politics and Making Laws

This chapter evaluates the institution of the UK Parliament, where parliamentarians have a chance to debate issues of the day and to make laws. It reviews classic arguments about the power of Parliament in relation to the executive, before looking at the role of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The account is still influenced by the Westminster system of government, whereby the executive in the form of the government is sustained in power by having a majority in the House of Commons. The chapter then considers what Members of Parliament (MPs) and other representatives do in office, and how their behaviour links to other features of the political process, such as public opinion and constituency interests. It also compares other legislatures, such as the Scottish Parliament, with the UK Parliament.

4. What People Think and Do about Politics

This chapter focuses on citizen attitudes, values, cultures, and behaviours, which underpin the British political system. Particularly important is voting for elected representatives, whether MPs, Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), Members of the Senedd (MSs), Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs), directly elected mayors, police and crime commissioners (PCCs), local councillors, or even parish councillors. Then there are extensive forms of political participation from citizens and groups, ranging from complaining to public authorities to protesting. Both voting and participation are linked to wider attitudes and beliefs about politics. The chapter also provides an understanding of the different forms of turbulence that have emerged in recent years, in particular since 2014, with the arrival of populist movements, and the more frequent use of referendums.

Uniting the Nation through Transcending Menstrual Blood: The Period Products Act in Historical Perspective

This article sets the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) (2021) Act in the context of historical imaginations both of menstruation and of the nation. It identifies the following underlying assumptions about menstruation in the parliamentary debates of the Act: (1) that menstruating is a stigma, (2) that menstruators are always the others, and (3) that menstruation particularly affects those in already marginalised groups. Speaking about menstruation (4) creates a privileged, pioneering position for the speakers, and (5) forges bonds between them. The article traces the historical precursors of these assumptions in premodern and early modern humoral medicine, especially Pseudo-Albertus Magnus’ Secreta mulierum, and in modern fiction discussed in the Scottish parliament: the film I, Daniel Blake and Alasdair Gray’s novel Poor Things. The parliamentary debates also imagine the nation as a collective body which is united by a shared blood and which at the same time transcends blood, in this case menstrual blood. This is part of a historical pattern of similar imaginations of the Scottish nation in relation to blood. The article demonstrates how this conception of menstruation and the nation functions not only in the parliamentary debate, but also in a sample of Scottish writing and thought from the Middle Ages to today.

Democratic Innovation in the Scottish Parliament: An Evaluation of Committee Mini-Publics

When the Scottish Parliament was established the intention of the founders was to make it a more innovative, participatory, and deliberative legislature than the UK had experienced before. Research suggests that attempts to achieve these aspirations were short-lived. Recently, a Commission on Parliamentary Reform (2017) was established to add fresh impetus to this mission. Its recommendations included the running of inhouse mini-publics to support the committee system. In 2019 the Scottish Parliament’s Citizen Engagement Unit ran their first mini-publics: a Citizens' Jury on land management and the natural environment for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee, and a series of Citizens’ Panels on the future of primary care for the Health and Sport Committee. This paper evaluates their design and implementation against key norms of deliberative democracy and the expectations of the reform committee, to establish whether the Scottish Parliament is now adopting a meaningful ‘new politics’. We analyse primary data collected from a mixed method study that included structured participant surveys, semi-structured interviews with parliamentary staff, committee members, and expert witnesses; supplemented with non-participant observations and secondary data sources. We conclude with suggestions to enable mini-publics to be embedded in the committee system more permanently.

The UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill—A Reference by the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Scotland [2018] UKSC 64, Supreme Court

Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in The UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill—A Reference by the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Scotland [2018] UKSC 64, Supreme Court. This case is concerned with the competencies of the Scottish Parliament, and the nature of devolution in the UK more generally. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.

AXA General Insurance Ltd v Lord Advocate [2011] UKSC 46, Supreme Court

Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in AXA General Insurance Ltd v Lord Advocate [2011] UKSC 46, Supreme Court. This case addressed the extent to which Acts of the Scottish Parliament (ASPs) were reviewable by the courts, the special status of ASPs, and regularized the rules on standing as between English and Scots law. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.

Imperial Tobacco Ltd v The Lord Advocate (Scotland) [2012] UKSC 61, Supreme Court

Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Imperial Tobacco Ltd v The Lord Advocate (Scotland) [2012] UKSC 61, Supreme Court. This case concerned the devolved legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, the powers reserved to the Westminster Parliament under the Scotland Act 1998, and how these provisions should be interpreted. The statutory interpretation of constitutional legislation is also considered. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.

Internal political struggle in Scotland on the issue of the region status in 2007–2011

For the first time in the national historiography, various aspects of the internal political struggle in Scotland regarding its political status in 2007–2011 are considered. The key actors in this struggle are identified, the forms and tools used by various political forces to realise their goals are highlighted, and the issue of the Scottish National Party as a government party is explored. The activity of two organisations – «National Conversation» and the Calman Commission, created at the initiative of two opposing camps of Scottish politics, is analysed. It is noted that as a result of their work, the discussion about the political future of the region was brought to a qualitatively new level, and all the main political forces in the region recognised the need to expand the powers of the Scottish Parliament.