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How effective were the Conservative Governments of 1979 to 1997 in terms of the territorial management of Scotland and Wales

Broadly speaking, the Conservative Governments’ territorial management of Scotland and Wales during the period 1979 to 1997 was very similar to the administration of England. A dominant political philosophy of laissez faire was prevalent across the UK at the time that kept state intervention to a bare minimum, permitting instead the pre eminence of the free market in determining official policy. Yet the unusual levels of protest witnessed in both Scotland and Wales as Tory rule progressed points to a different truth, one that concealed an underlying antipathy towards the national regions of Britain emanating from the heart of the Westminster decision making process.

For the purposes of the following study a chronological approach must be adopted that attempts to chart the changing attitudes in Tory policy towards Wales and Scotland during the period 1979 1997. A conclusion will be sought that attempts to show that external factors kept the joint issues of Wales and Scotland at the forefront of the domestic political climate, in spite of Tory efforts to silence those voices in favour of federalism and devolution.

The most important issue facing the regions of Wales and Scotland in 1979 was without doubt the question of devolution. In March of 1979 referenda were held in Scotland and Wales, which were ultimately defeated in both countries; by an overwhelming majority of four to one in Wales, while the Scottish vote failed to yield the necessary 40% required for the devolution process. Andrew Marr (BBC Online: first viewed 09/01/06) highlights the reasons for the widespread failure of devolution during the last parliament of the old Labour Party.

“In 1979 devolution carried the stigma of a failing government. It had been imposed on a doubtful party by a London leadership for purely electoral reasons. It had been legislated for in a fog of internal dissent and confusion. It was campaigned for by divided parties at a time of economic chaos.”

The issue was thus far from resolved when, two months later in May 1979, Margaret Thatcher came to power, heralding the end of Labour’s obsession with devolution that had constituted the primary debate in British Parliament during the 1970’s. The Conservatives made it immediately clear that calls for devolution would be deleted from Whitehall policy programmes. The Tories have historically been the more nationalist of the two major parties of Britain, dating back to the...


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