Published by: THE WORLD UYGHUR NETWORK NEWS 12 September 1997

The Associated Press, 9/12/97

By MAUREEN JOHNSON

EDINBURGH, Scotland (September 12, 1997 08:21 a.m. EDT) -- Scots resoundingly endorsed creating their own Parliament Thursday after 290 years of union with England, and voted to give the new legislature the right to raise their taxes.

With results from all 32 districts counted Friday morning, the vote for the Parliament was 74.2 percent in favor, and the vote for giving the body tax-raising powers was 63.4 percent in favor. Voter turnout was 60.1 percent.

"I am absolutely delighted that the Scottish people have backed our plans," said Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose Labor Party had campaigned on creating the separate legislature before winning power in May.

"I said that we would deliver what we promised -- and we have."

The creation of a Scottish Parliament, which would open by 2000, is to be the most significant change within the United Kingdom since Ireland won its independence in 1922.

It will keep Scotland within the country with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch, but have it assume responsibility for legislation on domestic affairs. The tax authority will allow the legislature to increase, or decrease, existing taxes by 3 percentage points.

Scotland "is in for a very exciting journey," said Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party, which campaigned for a "yes" vote as a big stride toward its goal of independence.

The Nationalists get about a quarter of the vote in Scotland. Among the rest, many have turned to Labor.

Labor also campaigned for a "yes" vote but for a different reason: The government hopes the parliament will help ensure Scotland will remain part of the United Kingdom.

Voters in Wales will decide on Sept. 18 on a proposal for their own assembly, which would have fewer powers than the Scottish Parliament.

While the 129-member Parliament will not be able to rule on matters of foreign policy or defense, it will control most domestic affairs.

The two regional legislatures were key pledges of the Labor platform.

Scotland -- whose 5.1 million people represent 8.8 percent of the United Kingdom but occupy 31.9 percent of the land -- has been joined to England since the Act of Union in 1707.

Underlining national pride, Scots voted on the 700th anniversary of William Wallace's defeat of the English army. A statue of the hero depicted in the movie "Braveheart" was unveiled on the site, 35 miles west of here, Thursday.

The Conservatives, who inadvertently fueled demand for a separate parliament through an 18-year hold on power delivered on English votes, warned the parliament would stir English-Scots animosity and shatter the United Kingdom.

Scottish newspapers, mostly pro-Labor, almost uniformly urged a yes vote.

"If the vote is lost today, devolution is dead ... and independence will become the last counsel of despair," the Edinburgh-based "Scotsman" newspaper said in a front-page commentary.

Proposals for legislatures in Scotland and Wales failed in a 1979 vote. Since then, a succession of Tory governments in London and growing prosperity have changed sentiment.

The pride that Scots and Welsh felt in being part of imperial Britain has long faded.

The two countries have had the same monarch since 1603 when James VI of Scotland succeeded England's Queen Elizabeth I and became James I of England. Even the nationalists would keep Queen Elizabeth II as monarch, though they would call her Queen Elizabeth I.