Marking the card : the Scottish Parliament at 1000 days

The first term of the Scottish Parliament is more than half-way to completion, with fifteen months to run. This paper assesses what it has achieved, and its prospects. It is important to appreciate that (a) there is no uniform game-plan for devolution in the UK; and (b) that the so-called “Scottish anomaly”, a self-governing Scotland within a unitary British state, has a dynamic of its own. The paper reviews the outcomes of the parliament in the context of people’s expectations, and argues, by means of recent surveys, that while Home Rule has become the prevailing consensus in contemporary Scotland, people are by no means averse to a parliament with extended powers and responsibilities.