Vote 99 - Birth of a New Scotland

[Music] 1997 change was everywhere reports of my political demise were not in fact exaggerated eighteen years of Conservative government had come to an end today enough of talking it is time now to do in September Scotland quoted yes yes to a Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers I think the mood in the country was one of incredible optimism and the legislation paving the way for the Scottish Parliament was published to much acclaim there shall be a Scottish Parliament I like that [Music] the new constitutional order asserted that people not Parliament through a sovereign the parties set about winning hearts minds and above all votes the first national election under proportional representation in the Labour Party we were acutely aware that having won so decisively in the UK we were actually giving power away by committing ourselves to PR Parliament wait it was unlikely that we would be in majority power enterprise fairness democracy that's how we summed up our manifesto and then we had to see these of policies from scrapping tuition fees to keep in public services in public hands this was a new beginning after many general elections UK general elections were word fought over whether we should have a parliament or not this was the one where we've got the Parliament what were we know going to do with it there was a very clear obligation and the party to try and engage with voters and say look we're now for devolution we accept the referendum result and we now want to work with the electorate to produce a program of deliverable commitments I don't think we expected to win and I think we did a good job of reminding ourselves that actually we moved such a big it was a huge strategic step forward for the SNP and therefore the case for independence and welcome to Scottish New Labour's first campaign press conference in our new media centre here today Scottish Labour will continue the work of the New Labour government imprudently managing the Scottish economy the Labour campaign centred on the Scottish secretary Donald jurors he was in a job he'd waited a lifetime for his moderate high on social democratic principle and respected across the political divide the term right place at the right time could have been coined for Labour's language likeable lofty intellectual he did have public trust and it was a really important to not just portray him as a potential first minister but also to build up his profile because he was going be everyone in the post and we wanted to make sure that he had the authority to not just governs Gatlin but speak for Scotland that Steve Donald really spent that campaign bus Tooting the entire country being with the people talking to people whose national leader we hoped he was about to become Libre played a safety-first campaign happy to bask in the afterglow of a Westminster landslide two years previously in many ways that Lieber appeal to voters in 99 was a continuation of more of the same but with decision making closer to home and it perhaps wasn't really until the 2003 election before the election really became about manifestos that were made in Scotland we thought we could win the election and it's been a constant feature of the SNP and all my time in the party that even in elections wait if you look back objectively we probably didn't have much of a chance of winning we fought every election to win so that's how we entered the 99 election if we were to make any headway the SNP would have to take risks and in Alex Salmond they had a man not averse to a gamble almost 50 years ago NATO was formed as a defensive alliance against potential aggression from the Soviet Union it achieved its primary purpose without firing a single shot but no for the first time it is acting in an offensive capacity out with any specific limit from the United Nations it is an action of dubious legality but above all one of unpardonable folly his now infamous Kosovo broadcast delivered just before campaigning started it was designed to cast him in the role of politician of high principle but it put him on the back foot almost immediately you know from his perspective he was seeking to make sure that a different voice was held in the debate and therefore we weren't drowned out and what was the number one issue of the time and but there's no doubt that that was a difficult one on the doorsteps staggered by it I mean no one warms or likes the idea of military action but what was going on in Kosovo was unconscionable the threat there were to you know thousands tens of thousands of refugees and though it was a difficult decision for the government I believed it was the right decision I think we were horrified just because it did seem such a shocking gaffe did he really believe that nito intervening to stop serb aggression was an act of unpardonable folly the top story tonight at six Buckland today Paul shows Scots failing to back summoned but the SNP leader is standing by his opposition to NATO airstrikes one's a quote he said he wasn't play binder but I saw while in Glasgow a peaceful demonstration organized by Yugoslavians but supported by all nationality is called for a halt to the bombing the headlines we're you know supporting Milosevic the toast of Belgrade and that is how people then judged the argument and you know so in a sense it was the characterization of what he said that became the issue in the campaign rather than the the substance did it change the outcome of the election I don't think so on the verge of a national election it put him on the back foot yeah and there's no doubt that he politically was a person who was prepared to be a risk in order to move things forward and at didn't always payoff from attempting to outflank labour on a progressive agenda the SNP proposed a tax increase for public services their so-called penny for Scotland the SNP signaled today that the intent to make tax a key election issue and that will suit both labour and the Conservatives who believe that the penny for Scotland policy is a distinctive vote loser I think firstly was to Damon Street and use that as a way of symbolizing that social democratic left-of-center platform that we were standing on secondly it was very much about trying to to demonstrate one of the the points of having a parliament the difference of Parliament could make in the different decisions that could take and there was also a sense of trying to seize the agenda for parties you see it's not as actionable I think it certainly got cut through I think the mistake was that we hadn't really articulated what we were going to do with the money so well so we hadn't created the the upside but we had we had talked a lot about that the don't said which was to tax it dead mark the SNP oh is social democratic and definitely not going through with the norm but they'd feel at the time that it was a bit late in the day I think it's fair to say the snps divorce means more tax there was a real strong feeling I think across political and media establishment in Scotland in the 1990s that Scots were up for a more taxation more public spending regardless of the consequences and I think the SNP decision to go for a penny for Scotland really was based on that the first Scottish Conservative leader David McClatchy was an unknown quantity he had little profile and was leading a party that had lost office in the UK and was seen as out of touch on the home real question that David was pitted against three seasoned well-known very competent politicians Donald juror Alex Salmond and Jim Wallace and I think many people thought that David would be the inexperienced slightly at sea not quite in the same league as these three tried and tested you know political beasts in fact David proved everyone wrong Scotland's new Parliament was to be elected by proportional representation meaning that labor favourites to be the largest party would need a coalition partner the Lib Dems were hounded during the campaign with one question would they do a deal with Donald Jura I'm talking today about bringing this campaign to successful conclusion by winning seats matters on what happens post-election will be dealt with post-election I suspect by the towards the end of the campaign you were getting bored hearing that answer and it did probably get you on to some other things and the other thing is that more people voted Liberal Democrat the more likely it was in any Parliament where we had a sizeable number the more liberal Democrat MSPs the more likely we were to get more of our manifesto implemented and we stuck pretty rigidly to these lines to the extent of probably boring people journalists like yourself but the other positive side of it was it we were seen to be relevant when it became clear during the elation campaign itself not afterwards but during it that it was likely that there would be a parliament with an overall majority then some of the issues that would form part of the negotiations became really key to the last few days of the election company [Music] the campaign TV debates were businesslike and the divisions between the parties really brought a bad tent with exchangers a new way forward for Scotland all the parties have been involved I believe that we are on the threshold of a new era it will be up to the parties after me the seventh to prove that to the Scot I've no doubt will deliver perhaps there was something after all about change assuring in a new less confrontational politics the new electoral system also promised hope for independence Denis caliban's stood and Falk of West after Labour refused to put him on their panel of prospective candidates I had the support of over 97% of the party members in my constituency on a one member one vote basis over 97% and yet you had the situation where the three men and a dog could a number all of my constituency party members I thought that was quite insulting to the Christian Labor Party and even more insulting to the people of Falkirk West constituency who had voted me and he elected me over a period of a quarter of a century or more the Scottish Socialist Party like the Scottish Greens hope that any elected MSPs could wield real influence in a parliament where no one party would have an overall majority we are standing and every one of the eight regional lists in Scotland but most of the attention was on the established part the polls pointed to a Labour victory the SNP campaign hit a law when they find it difficult to quantify the extent of the deficit an independent Scotland [Music] age 29 I have to ask you about her famous press conference and that give us some more times I wasn't active in Glasgow what did you make of it when you saw it wasn't finest I think it's fair to see their leader look to the Great's and he said well you answered it then and of course had to quickly try to work it out and it wasn't it and wasn't I did not look orderly it was not professional I do and to look back in a furnace oh well if you TV 16 and it's a player 2.5 billion you'll get this off the table in your bed 1.7 billion flips is not any form of structural deficit Scotland which says angry reckless says it's a superior position to the UK we were under a degree of scrutiny that we'd never been under before and I think generally we stood up to that pretty well but you know it was a new experience for all even for Alec the most seasoned and experienced of all of us that I think that was a level of scrutiny even he hadn't been used to the picture sort of said to folk have not done their homework that can't be trusted with government that certainly her labor site yeah and I think that criticism is probably valid it wasn't you know laughing about it though remembering how I felt at the time not laughing so much and sayd and there's no doubt that that was a big lesson man for you know um the one see it wasn't entirely my fault it wasn't entirely my fault but certainly I was largely my fault I suppose and and that's something we've taken into the you know rate the way through what happened next as you've got to prepare if they get rigorously and for everything and you know very recent history I think proves that I think it was a turning point in the campaign because that first Scottish Parliament election campaign was in many ways a proxy for was the right solution for Scotland to have its own Parliament in the United Kingdom and with new influence in Europe or was the right strategy for the Parliament simply to be a staging post to Scotland walking out of the UK they were the terms of reference and when it came to judgment on economic pans on that occasion they think we were found wanting Tony Blair headed north and could smell an SNP campaign in trouble his verbal assault cemented Alex Salmond's reputation as a cheeky chappie is a balance sheet that assumes that a separate Scotland will in its first year receive 1.8 billion pounds in North Sea oil revenue which is more than his forecast this year for the whole of Britain and it is about jeet that assumes that the windfall tax actually yield scotland 100 million pounds more than it paid in now that's just with an hour or so to go that was the media campaign again she was it was relentless and there was a sense I don't care I'm articulating this from the perspective of somebody who was you know very much on the receiving end of that but it felt as if the media and that campaign were doing more than just putting us under the the scrutiny that any party should expect in a campaign they were almost trying to destroy us in that campaign and test us to destruction with the emphasis being on destruction know I think we came through that really well but it was tough and it was you know a daily onslaught the reason why the Nationalists are so strong and Scotland even if they don't win next week and anyway they are still very strong compared to at the time when I was a kid because they very compliant and friendly nationalism media with a small just as much as the newspapers the conditions in the past 20 years which have allowed nationalism to flourish British identity there was a sense that not all journalists by any stretch of the imagination but that some journalists we're almost doing Labour's job for them they were putting the the lanes and the attack lines that liebherr liebherr were setting up the lanes and they were being delivered by by some journalists as the campaign entered the home straight it was pretty clear that the Labour would win and the SNP would come second the only real question how big would the gap be I fully expected labour to be the largest party because just remember where we were Tony Blair had always was coming up to the second anniversary of his election he was still riding high in in in you know in opinion polls there was still an aura about that the billion government which you know was bound to translate itself with Scotland was one of the you know the pillars of that of that Labour government [Applause] pauling day arrived and another historical day at a time when these days seem to abound Thursday May the 6th 1999 a day which changed the course of Scottish history as we voted for our own Parliament for the first time in 300 years [Music] [Applause] [Music] making clear that Tom McCabe is elected is elected as the first member of the Scottish Parliament 16,000 [Applause] 18500 and deliver sure Scottish Labour Party sixteen thousand seven hundred and forty nine votes Scottish politics have whatever changed Keir Hardie was elected at the end of the last century and the color of this last century has been socialism the next century the colour of it for the future of the world has to be green fourth is William Aikens what is conservative and unionist party you know of a conservative at Holyrood yes well it's splendid isn't it five minutes and thirty seven sentiment on the position I was in a studio a last journal election ladies and gentlemen the Scottish Conservative the unionist party is back we are going to be the third force in Scottish politics and Nicola Sturgeon Scottish National Party nine thousand six hundred and sixty five votes I hereby declare like Gordon Jackson is chili elected to serve as a member of the Scottish Parliament governs on stage yeah I've been elected as one of a hundred and twenty nine members of this first Parliament in three hundred years it was historic and yet in that in moment and for the couple of days after that my overwhelming feeling was one a disappointment that I hadn't won the constituency the most urgent you expected to win govern and you didn't well I hope to win and I'm disappointed that we haven't it took me a bit of time to get over that and I suppose when I look back personally that's kind of what I remembered and how odd that all felt for a while and I think the more significant underlying current was the sheer of the vote because of course this was PR election and those of us who really anoraks of safale G as you indeed are Barnard there was a sense that we knew that the share of the vote indicated what we knew that since really the early 90s Scotland had been at least a four party system thundered nationally for the first election to the Scottish Parliament was less than sixty percent in in my constituency it was about over sixty percent but not much so I was disappointing fight at one stage I was worried I thought I really Italy thought that the law done no would mean that my chances of winning run diminish I think it was very much to Davis credit and that he is leader at the end of that campaign had produced 18 conservative MSPs for that new Parliament I think quite a lot of people would have been initially a wee bit disappointed the more you know the part of being a political campaigner to you you have to always be optimistic and hope for more but I think on reflection definitely am satisfied I mean it really felt good when you know a substantial position group went into Hollywood in 1999 Labour 156 seats as against 35 for the SNP the Scottish Conservatives won 18 the Liberal Democrats 17 and one each for the Greens and Scottish socialists Dennis Kahneman of course was elected as an independent almost immediately labour in the Liberal Democrats started negotiations with a view to forming a coalition government I think a coalition was absolutely needed and those first four years to make sure that the Parliament there is stabilized I get on with this business start till eight ously agree budgets and make sure that it served the people of Scotland and not just be kid didn't just become a battleground for the politicians no Jim Wallace has of course was leading with the Liberals has a fantastic anecdote where they are sitting together and trying to put together a coalition and the advisers had come up with the proposals of the Labour Party and the proposals of the Liberal Democrats tried to put them together and dole described what's this piece of nonsense here and Jim Wallace turns to and says that's a piece of labour on since Donald Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Jim Wallace left his party's Edinburgh headquarters worse morning for the first face-to-face negotiations with Dominic jus to see how we get on at least two occasions during the coalition talks when I folded my notepad and said well sorry Donald I think we've covered this our best try I just don't think it's going to work and I'm left and then would we try a full calm about and we'll try again later and eventually it did work but it was never it was never a given labour and the Liberal Democrats for the coalition as the era of a new politics arrived we German myself can confirm that agreement has been reached between labor and the liberal liberal democratic groups in the Scottish Parliament this historic agreement will ensure that Scotland's first Parliament for 300 years will make a difference for all of the people of Scotland it was now time for the new Parliament to get down to work fill legislative powers are devolved on the 1st of July 1999 we are fallible we all know that we'll make mistakes but I hope and I believe we will never lose sight of what brought us here the striving to do right by the people of Scotland to respect their priorities to better their lot and to contribute to the common weal and that was add remarkably um historically generous speech that he gave you know he really give everyone a stake in the story he uncovered it and in the history of how it got to where we were and and really challenged the politicians to to step up for him politics was always about rating the social arithmetic we called it and by rating the social arithmetic he meant that a child's life chances shouldn't be determined by the circumstances of their birth and the rest as they say is history the early years of the Parliament was dominated by the scandal of the Holyrood building project Donald Jura died in 2000 his successor lasted a year Jack McConnell steadied the good ship devolution and then in 2007 a real what a shared moment the SNP win the general election four years later they bust the system by forming a majority administration by 2014 Scotland looks on the verge of independence but as the late Donald juror used to remind us devolution is a process not an event the story of Scotland's Parliament continues what embody unipro says which means happy destination the implementation of free personal care for all we will with your support introduce a comprehensive ban on smoking and enclosed public places having a clear signal that Scotland has changed I'm honored to announce that on Thursday the 18th of September 2014 we will hold Scotland's referendum has started day for the people who decide Scotland's future regardless of your politics or your point of view my job is to serve you I hope that my election as First Minister does indeed help to open the gate to greater opportunity for all women here from my generation we still think of and remember and talk about the pre Scottish Parliament days but I wish straights me when I speak to skilled pupils which I do a lot and if ever find myself talking about the days before the Scottish Parliament they just look at you blankly as if what are you talking about that there was ever a time when we didn't have this Parliament and the fact that so quickly it became so established and it's unthinkable that it wouldn't exist it's probably the greatest success of all [Music] you

Channel: STV News

Views: 17,103

Keywords: Devolution, Holyrood, “Scottish Devolution”, “First Minister”, Nicola Sturgeon, “Scottish Parliament”, “Jack McConnell”, “Wendy Alexander”, “Dennis Canavan”, “Annabel Goldie”, “Jim Wallace”, “Andrew Wilson”, “Lord McConnell”, “Lord Wallace”, “Baroness Goldie”, referendum, “Bernard Ponsonby”, “STV News”

Id: 7aLsp5kqpEk

Length: 28min 24sec (1704 seconds)

Published: Fri May 03 2019