Scottish Devolution 10 years on: milestone or millstone?

The Labour Party swept to power in a General Election in 1997. The new government held a referendum on Scottish devolution that same year. Voters in Scotland were asked to vote on two issues. Question one: 'Should there be a Scottish Parliament'. 74.3 per cent of the electorate who voted felt there should be a Scottish Parliament. Second proposal: 'A Scottish Parliament should have tax-varying powers.' 63.5 per cent of the those who turned out to vote believed that a Scottish Parliament should have tax-varying powers.

The following year the Scottish Parliament was established under the Scotland Act. On May 6, 1999, the first elections for the devolved Scottish Parliament were held. The new Scottish Parliament first convened after the election on May 12, 1999. The Queen officially opened the Parliament on July 1.

The new Scottish Parliament moved into its new premises at Holyrood, at the foot of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, in 2004. The new complex was opened by the Queen on October 9, 2004. The new parliament cost more than ten times its original budget of £40 million and took three years longer than planned to complete. The taxpayers’ bill was £414.4 million, but the striking structure was a hit with the public attracting 700,000 visitors in its first year.

Critics of the Scottish Parliament have claimed that it is merely a talking shop which has created another costly and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy. Some English voters (and Scots living in England) look enviously north of the border at a Parliament which has abolished tuition fees for Scottish students studying in Scotland among other measures.

The system of devolved government has come in for praise, too. In May 2008, The Economist praised Holyrood as "a model of participatory democracy with an excellent system of committees, one of which even hears individual petitions."

Visitors to Edinburgh can go walk about in the Scottish capital and hear about the history of the new Scottish Parliament (and the old) with the Royal Mile & More audio downloadable travel guide. The tour is narrated by broadcaster Graeme Mackenzie. To hear an audio sample from the Royal Mile & More Edinburgh audio tour please click here.

Sightseers can take a look round Holyrood for themselves and make up their own minds on whether Devolution has been a good thing for Scotland. To find out about the Parliament's opening times please take a look at the Royal Mile & More's Where & When page.