Devolution referendum 97 result


saltire shield'The reason we need a parliament in Scotland is partly so that we can repair some of the damage done by the last Government to, for example, the health service and our manufacturing industry, and partly to ensure that anti-democratic experiments like using Scotland to rehearse the poll tax can never happen again.'
The Duke of Hamilton & Brandon, whose ancestors resisted the 1707 Treaty of Union, 9 th September 1997.
Lion Rampant

Devolution referendum 1997 - the results

(See the note below concerning the Fife count by David Boothroyd).

Ballot paper

Final votes

I agree that there should be a Scottish Parliament1,775,04574.3 %
I do not agree that there should be a Scottish Parliament614,40025.7 %

I agree that a Scottish Parliament should have tax-varying powers1,512,88963.5 %
I do not agree that a Scottish Parliament should have tax-varying powers870,26336.5 %

Votes by Unitary Authority

I agree that there should be a Scottish Parliament

AuthorityYes votesYes %No votesNo %
Orkney4,74957.3 %3,54142.7 %
Dumfries & Galloway44,61960.7 %28,86339.3 %
Perthshire & Kinross40,34461.7 %24,99838.3 %
East Renfrewshire28,25361.7 %17,57338.3 %
Shetland5,43062.4 %3,27537.6 %
Scottish Borders33,85562.8 %20,06037.2 %
Aberdeenshire61,62163.9 %34,87836.1 %
Angus33,57164.7 %18,35035.3 %
South Ayrshire40,16166.9 %19,90933.1 %
Moray24,82267.2 %12,12232.8 %
Argyll & Bute30,45267.3 %14,79632.7 %
Stirling29,19068.5 %13,44031.5 %
East Dunbartonshire40,91769.8 %17,72530.2 %
Aberdeen65,03571.8 %25,58028.2 %
Edinburgh155,90071.9 %60,83228.1 %
Highland72,55172.6 %27,43127.4 %
East Lothian33,52574.2 %11,66525.8 %
Dundee49,25276.0 %15,55324.0 %
Fife125,66876.1 %39,51723.9 %
North Ayrshire51,30476.3 %15,93123.7 %
South Lanarkshire114,90877.8 %32,76222.2 %
Inverclyde31,68078.0 %8,94522.0 %
Renfrewshire68,71179.0 %18,21321.0 %
Western Isles9,97779.4 %2,58920.6 %
West Lothian56,92379.6 %14,61420.4 %
Midlothian31,68179.9 %7,97920.1 %
Clackmannanshire18,79080.0 %4,70620.0 %
Falkirk55,64280.0 %13,95320.0 %
East Ayrshire49,13181.1 %11,42618.9 %
North Lanarkshire123,06382.6 %26,01017.4 %
Glasgow204,26983.6 %40,10616.4 %
West Dunbartonshire39,05184.7 %7,05815.3 %
Scotland1,775,04574.3 %614,40025.7 %

I agree that a Scottish Parliament should have tax-varying powers

AuthorityYes votesYes %No votesNo %
Orkney3,91747.4 %4,34452.6 %
Dumfries & Galloway35,73748.8 %37,49951.2 %
Scottish Borders27,28450.7 %26,49749.3 %
Perthshire & Kinross33,39851.3 %31,70948.7 %
East Renfrewshire23,58051.6 %22,15348.4 %
Shetland4,47851.6 %4,19848.4 %
Aberdeenshire50,29552.3 %45,92947.7 %
Moray19,32652.7 %17,34447.3 %
Angus27,64153.4 %24,08946.6 %
South Ayrshire33,67956.2 %26,21743.8 %
Argyll & Bute25,74657.0 %19,42943.0 %
Stirling25,04458.9 %17,48741.1 %
East Dunbartonshire34,57659.1 %23,91440.9 %
Aberdeen54,32060.3 %35,70939.7 %
Edinburgh133,84362.0 %82,18838.0 %
Highland61,35962.1 %37,52537.9 %
East Lothian28,15262.7 %16,76537.3 %
Renfrewshire55,07563.6 %31,53736.4 %
Fife108,02164.7 %58,98735.3 %
Dundee42,30465.5 %22,28034.5 %
North Ayrshire43,99065.7 %22,99134.3 %
Inverclyde27,19467.2 %13,27732.8 %
West Lothian47,99067.3 %23,35432.7 %
South Lanarkshire99,58767.6 %47,70832.4 %
Midlothian26,77667.7 %12,76232.3 %
Western Isles8,55768.4 %3,94731.6 %
Clackmannanshire16,11268.7 %7,35531.3 %
Falkirk48,06469.2 %21,40330.8
East Ayrshire42,55970.5 %17,82429.5 %
North Lanarkshire107,28872.2 %41,37227.8 %
West Dunbartonshire34,40874.7 %11,62825.3 %
Glasgow182,58975.0 %60,84225.0 %
Scotland1,512,88963.5 %870,26336.5 %

How Scotland voted, region by region, in 1979

Region/Islands areaYes Votes% votes% electorateNo Votes% votes% electorateTurnout
Shetland Islands 2,02027145,466733650
Orkney Islands2,1042815 5,439723954
Borders 20,7464027 30,780604067
Dumfries & Galloway 27,1624026 40,239603864
Grampian 94,9444828101,485523058
Tayside 91,482493193,325513263
Lothian 187,2215033186,421503366
Highland 44,9735133 43,274493265
Fife86,2525435 74,436463065
Strathclyde 596,5195434508,599462963
Central 71,2965536 59,105453066
Western Isles6,2185628 4,933442250
Scotland1,230,9375233*1,153,5024831*64*
*Percentage on register of 3,747,112 as adjusted by Secretary of State.


Note by David Boothroyd concerning the Fife count

I have been doing some work developing my website (which is now at http://www.election.demon.co.uk/election.html) and while preparing the results of the Scottish Parliament referendum I discovered a fairly big discrepancy in the count from Fife Council.

The Scottish Office press release giving the results of the referendum (no. 1269/97) says that 166,554 people voted in Fife, which I presume represents the number marked on registers as voting. On the first question, the total number of votes (Yes, No and spoilt ballot papers) is 166,025.

However on the second question, the total number of votes is 167,999 - 1,445 more than the number of ballot papers which should have been issued, and 1,974 more than the number of ballot papers counted on the first question.

All sources of results give the same figures and so I wrote to the Scottish Office to ask them how this discrepancy might have come about. Their reply suggests it may have resulted from voters demanding only the ballot paper for the second question, though presiding officers were instructed to give all voters both ballot papers, and such people would be marked as voting and therefore included anyway.

The Scottish Office verified that the results which were issued were those which were certified by the counting officer in Fife and so they represent the result of the referendum in spite of being inaccurate.


If anyone can shed any light on this please contact David Boothroyd at david@election.demon.co.uk



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