Scottish referendum set to fuel devolution momentum
Despite the no vote, Scotland’s drive for greater autonomy could spur calls for more devolution in the nations and regions. Geraldine Kendall assesses the implications
Last month’s historic referendum may have seen the Scottish people reject independence, but the debate around devolution is only just beginning.
Although voters chose to stay within the union, the huge groundswell of support that the yes campaign attracted – as evidenced by the knife-edge polls in the final days before voting – clearly indicates a nation that will not be happy to return to the status quo now that the ballots have closed.
In the final days before the referendum, Westminster politicians threw all manner of devolution promises into the mix in a desperate bid to save the union: the question now is which of those will be honoured.
For Scotland’s culture sector, it may not seem like all that much will change at first glance. Culture is already devolved in all four nations; prior to the independence vote, most of the debate regarding culture centred on what would happen to shared collections and whether the country would lose out on UK-wide programmes and funding, such as Acceptance in Lieu and Heritage Lottery Fund grants, in the event of a yes vote.
The no vote has put those questions to rest for now, but enhanced devolution will undoubtedly have an indirect impact on culture because of how it will influence the Scottish government’s decisions around spending and policy.
Balance of power
In its white paper on independence last year, the Scottish National Party (SNP) said that greater powers of taxation would give the government more discretion to invest in the country’s culture and creative sectors. It remains to be seen what new powers the country will now negotiate, but those words are encouraging if Scotland does indeed gain more powers to raise its own revenue.
Although issues such as health, welfare and taxation will be at the forefront of devolution negotiations, there may be other, more intangible, ways in which museums, galleries and other cultural organisations can capitalise on this period of flux.
David Stevenson, a lecturer in cultural policy at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, says that culture will be an important tool to help heal divisions caused by what was an often fraught referendum debate.
Museums can also play a part, not just by collecting objects and stories related to the referendum, but by providing a forum for debate on devolution issues. This is something they held back on prior to the ballot out of fear of taking sides (a concern that did not trouble Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, who declared support for the union as private citizen).
But the coming months will provide an ideal opportunity for museums to tackle contemporary issues, particularly when public engagement in politics is at record levels.
Art critic and author Julian Spalding, the former head of Glasgow Museums, believes that a more autonomous Scotland could also result in greater devolution of national collections and expertise.
“At last, the nation will have a truly national museum service and not one divided into ‘local’ and ‘national’,” he says. “The class system in museums will finally be eradicated.”
Cultural vacuum
One of Spalding’s key concerns, however, is the lack of clear cultural policy from the SNP, whose white paper on independence contained just one “bland” paragraph related to culture. “The SNP’s vision for culture in Scotland is non-existent,” he says.
Stevenson agrees, saying there is a feeling that the party’s cultural policy up to now has been based more on rhetoric than strategy.
He says that while the SNP has always voiced strong support for culture, it has tended to direct funding towards specific events such as the Homecoming festival, based on advancing other government agendas such as tourism and economic growth, rather than strategically supporting grassroots cultural activity.
The SNP won’t always be the party in power, of course, but greater devolution will inevitably bring the cultural sector closer to any government, Stevenson says. “The closer you are, the greater the chances that your work is going to be influenced by government policy and agenda.”
For this reason, he says, the Scottish government must clarify its cultural policy and publish a more concrete strategy.
Each to their own
The rest of the UK will not be untouched by the impact of the referendum. There is a strong feeling that Scotland’s greater autonomy will spur calls for enhanced devolution in the nations, regions and cities, particularly those that have suffered from the imbalance of investment that several recent reports have laid bare.
To some extent, devolution in the English regions has already been enacted through the introduction of initiatives such as Local Enterprise Partnerships, City Deals and Community Budgets, all of which give greater autonomy to local authorities to tailor their investments to local needs.
New powers are also promised to the Welsh assembly in the Wales bill, which is progressing through the House of Lords.
But the referendum result could have an even more significant impact on local government and the constitutional future of the UK, says Janet Sillett of the Local Government Information Unit thinktank.
“At present, all of those groups have to negotiate their deals with the government,” she says. “They will be saying: ‘We want these things as a right.’
“There will be a push from local government that there has to be something more radical about devolution, at least in the manifestos ahead of next year’s general election.”
The momentum towards greater devolution outside Scotland has already begun – ahead of last month’s ballot, the Local Government Association in England published a statement calling for the immediate devolution of powers to local government regardless of the result.
When the dust has finally settled on this year’s historic referendum, the governance of the UK may look very different. There will undoubtedly be challenges – but the opportunities are there for those who seize them.
The devolution of culture was not thought through and has not been working well. Many London-based national institutions still describe themselves as UK-wide, while ignoring the spirit of the devolution legislation, and thinking and behaving exactly as they did before.
There is no court of appeal for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland when funding or opportunity are not distributed fairly.
I also believe that greater devolution is needed for the BBC. It is still very much an English metropolitan organisation, and is no more impartial in its coverage of the arts in Wales now than it was 15 years ago.
There appears to be little Wales can do to get network coverage for the arts we produce that are truly of international quality, and that damages our cultural offer.
Each nation should have full control of its own cultural output. If we don’t have control, we don’t have devolution. That the Celtic nations ask for this is a reflection not of ill feeling towards England, but of frustration at the way that legislation is being applied.
David Anderson is the director general of Amgueddfa Cymru
1997
1999
2000
2004
2005
2006
2012
2014
Although voters chose to stay within the union, the huge groundswell of support that the yes campaign attracted – as evidenced by the knife-edge polls in the final days before voting – clearly indicates a nation that will not be happy to return to the status quo now that the ballots have closed.
In the final days before the referendum, Westminster politicians threw all manner of devolution promises into the mix in a desperate bid to save the union: the question now is which of those will be honoured.
For Scotland’s culture sector, it may not seem like all that much will change at first glance. Culture is already devolved in all four nations; prior to the independence vote, most of the debate regarding culture centred on what would happen to shared collections and whether the country would lose out on UK-wide programmes and funding, such as Acceptance in Lieu and Heritage Lottery Fund grants, in the event of a yes vote.
The no vote has put those questions to rest for now, but enhanced devolution will undoubtedly have an indirect impact on culture because of how it will influence the Scottish government’s decisions around spending and policy.
Balance of power
In its white paper on independence last year, the Scottish National Party (SNP) said that greater powers of taxation would give the government more discretion to invest in the country’s culture and creative sectors. It remains to be seen what new powers the country will now negotiate, but those words are encouraging if Scotland does indeed gain more powers to raise its own revenue.
Although issues such as health, welfare and taxation will be at the forefront of devolution negotiations, there may be other, more intangible, ways in which museums, galleries and other cultural organisations can capitalise on this period of flux.
David Stevenson, a lecturer in cultural policy at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, says that culture will be an important tool to help heal divisions caused by what was an often fraught referendum debate.
Museums can also play a part, not just by collecting objects and stories related to the referendum, but by providing a forum for debate on devolution issues. This is something they held back on prior to the ballot out of fear of taking sides (a concern that did not trouble Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, who declared support for the union as private citizen).
But the coming months will provide an ideal opportunity for museums to tackle contemporary issues, particularly when public engagement in politics is at record levels.
Art critic and author Julian Spalding, the former head of Glasgow Museums, believes that a more autonomous Scotland could also result in greater devolution of national collections and expertise.
“At last, the nation will have a truly national museum service and not one divided into ‘local’ and ‘national’,” he says. “The class system in museums will finally be eradicated.”
Cultural vacuum
One of Spalding’s key concerns, however, is the lack of clear cultural policy from the SNP, whose white paper on independence contained just one “bland” paragraph related to culture. “The SNP’s vision for culture in Scotland is non-existent,” he says.
Stevenson agrees, saying there is a feeling that the party’s cultural policy up to now has been based more on rhetoric than strategy.
He says that while the SNP has always voiced strong support for culture, it has tended to direct funding towards specific events such as the Homecoming festival, based on advancing other government agendas such as tourism and economic growth, rather than strategically supporting grassroots cultural activity.
The SNP won’t always be the party in power, of course, but greater devolution will inevitably bring the cultural sector closer to any government, Stevenson says. “The closer you are, the greater the chances that your work is going to be influenced by government policy and agenda.”
For this reason, he says, the Scottish government must clarify its cultural policy and publish a more concrete strategy.
Each to their own
The rest of the UK will not be untouched by the impact of the referendum. There is a strong feeling that Scotland’s greater autonomy will spur calls for enhanced devolution in the nations, regions and cities, particularly those that have suffered from the imbalance of investment that several recent reports have laid bare.
To some extent, devolution in the English regions has already been enacted through the introduction of initiatives such as Local Enterprise Partnerships, City Deals and Community Budgets, all of which give greater autonomy to local authorities to tailor their investments to local needs.
New powers are also promised to the Welsh assembly in the Wales bill, which is progressing through the House of Lords.
But the referendum result could have an even more significant impact on local government and the constitutional future of the UK, says Janet Sillett of the Local Government Information Unit thinktank.
“At present, all of those groups have to negotiate their deals with the government,” she says. “They will be saying: ‘We want these things as a right.’
“There will be a push from local government that there has to be something more radical about devolution, at least in the manifestos ahead of next year’s general election.”
The momentum towards greater devolution outside Scotland has already begun – ahead of last month’s ballot, the Local Government Association in England published a statement calling for the immediate devolution of powers to local government regardless of the result.
When the dust has finally settled on this year’s historic referendum, the governance of the UK may look very different. There will undoubtedly be challenges – but the opportunities are there for those who seize them.
True devolution requires each nation to have full control of its own cultural output
The devolution of culture was not thought through and has not been working well. Many London-based national institutions still describe themselves as UK-wide, while ignoring the spirit of the devolution legislation, and thinking and behaving exactly as they did before.
There is no court of appeal for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland when funding or opportunity are not distributed fairly.
I also believe that greater devolution is needed for the BBC. It is still very much an English metropolitan organisation, and is no more impartial in its coverage of the arts in Wales now than it was 15 years ago.
There appears to be little Wales can do to get network coverage for the arts we produce that are truly of international quality, and that damages our cultural offer.
Each nation should have full control of its own cultural output. If we don’t have control, we don’t have devolution. That the Celtic nations ask for this is a reflection not of ill feeling towards England, but of frustration at the way that legislation is being applied.
David Anderson is the director general of Amgueddfa Cymru
Scottish devolution and cultural policy: timeline*
1997
- Devolution referendum
1999
- Scottish parliament established
- Consultation on national cultural strategy
2000
- Publication of Scotland’s national cultural strategy
2004
- Cultural Commission established
2005
- Museums Galleries Scotland set up
2006
- Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen join forces to establish Creative Scotland
- Publication of Scotland’s Culture report on impact of devolution on cultural policy
2012
- Publication of Going Further, Scotland’s first national strategy for museums
2014
- Independence referendum delivers a no vote