The Scottish Parliament and its capacity for redistributive policy: The case of Land Reform

Parliamentary Affairs

Volumn 61, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 160-184

  Laible, Janet ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 38049002610     PISSN: 00312290     EISSN: 14602482     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/pa/gsm055     Document Type: Review

References (50)

1. For helpful comments and assistance, the author would like to thank. James Mitchell, Terrence Casey, Mark Shephard, Bonnie Meguid, the staff of the West Highland Free Press and two anonymous reviewers. Funding for this research was provided by a faculty research grant from Lehigh University.
2. J. Bradbury and J. Mitchell, 'Devolution: New Politics for Old?', Parliamentary Affairs, April 2001.
3. See also G. Jordan and L. Stevenson, 'Redemocratizing Scotland. Towards the Politics of Disappointment?' in A. Wright (ed.), Scotland. The Challenge of Devolution, Ashgate, 2000;
4. J. Mitchell, 'New Parliament, New Politics in Scotland', Parliamentary Affairs, July 2000.
5. See D. Arter, 'On Assessing Strength and Weakness in Parliamentary Committee Systems: Some Preliminary Observations on the New Scottish Parliament', The Journal of Legislative Studies, Summer 2002;
6. N. Bonney, 'The Scottish Parliament and Participatory Democracy: Vision and Reality', The Political Quarterly, 2003;
7. M. Keating, 'Policy Convergence and Divergence in Scotland under Devolution', Regional Studies, June 2005.
8. Among these constraints M. Keating, op. cit. includes the requirements of the UK single market, the political principle of universal entitlement regardless of place of residence embedded in the British welfare state, the European Union, and global free-trade regimes.
9. Some analysts have noted the ability of the Scottish Parliament to develop regulatory policies to achieve collective goals, with regulatory policy understood as 'public control over private activities in the public interest', covering economic, social and environmental issues but involving minimal state spending beyond implementation costs. See J. Mitchell, 'What Could a Scottish Parliament Do?' in H. Elcock and M. Keating (eds.), Remaking the Union: Devolution and British Politics in the 1990s, Frank Cass, 1998;
10. J. Mitchell and J. Bradbury, 'Devolution: Comparative Development and Policy Roles', Parliamentary Affairs, April 2004.
11. A croft is a unit of land; a crofter is usually the tenant of a croft. Although, crofters have tended to develop similar agricultural practices over time, there is nothing that formally distinguishes the work of a crofter from that of a small farmer.
12. For a general overview of concerns about land tenure and land ownership in Scotland, see A. Wightman, Who Owns Scotland?, Canongate, 2000.
13. A. Wightman, Scotland: Land and Power: The Agenda for Land Reform, Luath Press, 1999. Ownership figures can be modified, with a number of large estates passing into community ownership since 1999: these include the 50,000-acre North Harris Estate, the 92,000-acre South Uist Estate, and an additional 44,000 acres purchased in Assynt.
14. R. Stewart, F. Bechofer, D. McCrone and R. Kiely, 'Keepers of the Land: Ideology and Identity in the Scottish Rural Elite', Identities, September 2001.
15. Scottish Office, Land Reform Policy Group: Identifying the Problems, February 1998.
16. A vivid illustration of the social and economic consequences of landlords' lack of investment in basic infrastructure on the isle of Eigg may be found in C. Dressier, Eigg: The Story of an Island, Polygon, 1998.
17. On deer, see D. Macmillan, 'An economic case for land reform', Land Use Policy, January 2000; on forestry,
18. see Dressler, op. cit.
19. Although all land sales since 1979 are recorded in the Land Register, which is replacing the Register of Sasines begun in 1617, the Register is not yet complete and the above-noted fact that many estates are never sold on the open market means that their details will not be recorded.
20. See the comments of James Hunter, then chairperson of Skye and Lochalsh Enterprise, in West Highland Free Press, 4 July 1997;
21. see also Scottish Office, op. cit.
22. For details of this process on Eigg, see A. Mcintosh, Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power, Aurum Press, 2002.
23. James Hunter argued that all crofting communities should be granted an absolute right to buy out their landlords (West Highland Free Press, 1 August 1997); for arguments about the regulation of land markets,
24. see A. Wightman, 2000, op. cit.;
25. R. Callander, How Scotland is Owned, Canongate, 1998.
26. Scottish Office, op. cit.
27. Scottish Office, Land Reform Policy Group: Recommendations for Action, January 1999.
28. M.G. Lloyd and M. W. Danson, 'The Land Reform Policy Group in Scotland: Institutional sponsorship for land reform?', Local Economy, 2000.
29. M. Keating, op. cit.
30. Scottish Labour Party, Building Scotland's Future, 1999.
31. Scottish Liberal Democrats, Raising the Standard: Scottish Parliament Manifesto 1999, 1999. This and the party manifestoes below were accessed at http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk
32. Scottish Land Commission, Report: Public Policy Towards Land in Scotland, 1999.
33. Scottish National Party, Enterprise, Compassion, Democracy: Manifesto for the 1999 Elections, 1999.
34. Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Scotland First, 1999.
35. Scottish Executive, Making it Work Together: A Programme for Government, 1999;
36. The Scottish Office, 'Donald Dewar Statement to Parliament' News Release 1217/99, 1999.
37. Scottish Executive, A Smart, Successful Scotland: Ambitions for the Enterprise Networks, 2001;
38. Highlands and Islands Enterprise, A Smart, Successful Scotland: The Highlands and Islands Dimension, 2002.
39. M.G. Lloyd and M.W. Danson, op. cit.;
40. D. Macmillan, op. cit.
41. Responsibility for the SLF recently passed to the Big Lottery's Scottish Committee; Big Lottery Scotland has continued to support community land purchases, approving a £2 million grant in support of the buy-out of the 92,000 acre South Uist crofting estate in November 2006.
42. Scottish Parliament, Rural Development Committee, 8102.
43. Interviewed in London on 16.7.02.
44. Torcuil Crichton of the Sunday Herald (Glasgow), interviewed in London on 17.7.02.
45. Scottish Parliament, Rural Development Committee, c. 2740, 2002.
46. Scottish Parliament, Rural Development Committee, c. 2751, 2002.
47. Scottish Parliament, Rural Development Committee, c. 2762, 2002.
48. See the comments of Alastair McIntosh in his address to the Council of the Scottish Landowners' Federation, Edinburgh, 10 June 1998, available at www.AlastairMcIntosh.com/article/1998_slf.htm
49. See also the Scottish Countryside Alliance, Response to the Justice 2 Committee's call for evidence on the Land Reform Bill, 2001.
50. M. Keating, op. cit.