Scottish devolution referenda – 1979 vs 1997

It's interesting to note that between the two devolution referenda in 1979 and 1997, the swing to "Yes", though very large at 22.7 percent, was incredibly uniform. Excluding the tiny Orkney and Shetland islands, 8 of the other 10 1979 regions had swings within a four point range of one another (20.4 to 24.4).

These regional authorities had mostly been split into local authorities by the late 1990s, but by recomposing them through simple addition, we can make the following comparison:
In the next post I’ll look at what this can tell us about the 2014 referendum.




About The Author

Related Posts