The Present Era of Change

                                       From the 1960’s

As stated earlier the present manifestation of this process of Scottish history is the struggle that has gathered pace from the 1960’s onwards. This was to first of all confirm Scotland’s survival as a political entity. And then to ensure its continued successful development in to the future. The Present Era of Change began with the election of the SNP MP Winnie Ewing in the Hamilton bye-election in 1967. With the traditional political parties of Labour and the Conservatives having by 2020 being replaced in the domination of Scottish politics by the new SNP(Scottish National Party). Together with the Scottish Green political parties.

                                      The Scottish Parliament

The political events of the last few decades in Scotland have been dominated by the re-convening of the Scottish Parliament . Often simply called the Holyrood Parliament in the press. This was established following the successful Scottish Devolution referendum of September 1997. The victory of the SNP under Alex Salmond in the Holyrood election of 2007. Together with the subsequent achieving of an overall majority in the Holyrood election of 2011, directly led in turn to the Scottish Independence Referendum of 2014.

                                             The Survival of Scotland

Though it often baffles observers as to how Scotland has managed to survive as a viable political entity in to the modern era. The reasons for this lie in the factors outlined in the previous pages . That is primarily in the use of geography and topography to ensure an extraordinary ability to survive through the ages.