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History of The Scottish Claim of Right

In June 1999 only two days before the Scottish Parliament took powers, the historic ‘Claim of Right for Scotland’ document was handed over to the Parliament by the Scottish Constitutional Convention.

It had been almost 10 years since the declaration was adopted at the inaugural meeting of the Scottish Constitutional Convention and the Scottish Claim of Right was presented to the Parliament’s Presiding Officer Sir David Steel by Canon Kenyon Wright, chair of the Convention’s executive committee.

The Convention held its inaugural meeting on 30 March, 1989 in the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly Hall in Edinburgh.  It adopted a declaration, which was signed by all its members.  This was a Claim of Right, the third in Scotland’s history, and its purpose was to root the Convention solidly in the historical and historic Scottish constitutional principle that power is limited, should be dispersed and is derived from the people.

The Scottish Claim of Right states:

"We, gathered as the Scottish Constitutional Convention, do hereby acknowledge the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of Government best suited to their needs, and do hereby declare and pledge that in all our actions and deliberations their interests shall be paramount.

We further declare and pledge that our actions and deliberations shall be directed to the following ends:

To agree a scheme for an Assembly or Parliament for Scotland;

To mobilise Scottish opinion and ensure the approval of the Scottish people for that scheme; and

To assert the right of the Scottish people to secure the implementation of that scheme."

 

The Scottish Claim of Right was signed by 58 of Scotland’s Westminster MPs, 7 of Scotland’s 8 MEPs, 59 out of 65 Scottish Regional, District and Island Councils, and numerous political parties, churches and Scottish organisations. 

Well known signatories to the Scottish Claim of Right include Gordon Brown, Menzies “Ming” Campbell, the late Robin Cook, Alistair Darling,  the late Donald Dewar, George Galloway, Charles Kennedy, Speaker Michael Martin, John Reid, George Robertson and David Steel.