Scotland Act 1978
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1978 c. 51 |
| Year | 1978 |
Scotland Act 1978
1978 CHAPTER 51
An Act to provide for changes in the government of Scotland and in the procedure of Parliament and in the constitution and functions of certain public bodies.
[31st July 1978]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
The Scottish Assembly and Executive
The Scottish Assembly
1 The Scottish Assembly.
(1) There shall be a Scottish Assembly.
(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, the initial members of the Assembly shall be returned for the areas which, at the time of their election, are constituencies for parliamentary elections in Scotland, and there shall be—
(a ) three initial members for each of those areas of which the electorate is more than 125 per cent. of the electoral quota; and
(b ) two initial members for each of the others.
(3) There shall be one initial member for Orkney and one for Shetland.
(4) The members of the Assembly other than the initial members shall be returned for the Assembly constituencies for the time being specified in an Order in Council under Schedule 1 to this Act and there shall be one member for each such constituency.
(5) In this section and Part III of Schedule 1 to this Act ‘initial members’ means members elected before an election to which an Order in Council under Part I of that Schedule applies, and ‘electorate’ and ‘electoral quota’ have the meanings assigned to them by paragraph 14 of that Schedule.
2 Time of election and term of office of members ofAssembly.
(1) The first ordinary election of members of the Assembly shall be held on a day appointed by order of the Secretary of State and, subject to subsection (2) below, any subsequent ordinary election shall be held on the third Thursday in March in the fourth year following that in which the previous ordinary election was held.
(2) The Secretary of State may, by order made with respect to the second or any subsequent ordinary election of members of the Assembly, appoint as a day for the holding of the election a day not more than two months earlier nor more than two months later than the day on which the election would be held apart from the order.
(3) The term of office of any member of the Assembly, whether elected at an ordinary election or otherwise, shall begin on the day on which he is elected and end with the dissolution of the Assembly.
(4) No order under this section shall be made unless a draft of it has been laid before, and approved by resolution of, each House of Parliament.
3 Dissolution of Assembly.
(1) The Assembly as constituted from time to time—
(a ) shall stand dissolved on the eve of any ordinary election of members; and
(b ) shall be dissolved by order of the Secretary of State if the Assembly resolves that it should be dissolved and, if the resolution is passed on a division, the members voting in favour of it number not less than two-thirds of the total number of members of the Assembly (including any whose seat is vacant).
(2) An order dissolving the Assembly shall require an election of members to be held on the day following the dissolution, and that day shall not be later than two months after the date of the resolution in pursuance of which the order is made.
4 Elections to Assembly.
(1) The persons entitled to vote as electors at an Assembly election in any Assembly constituency shall be—
(a ) those, who at the date of the election—
(i) have their names on such parts of the register of parliamentary electors as relate to the Assembly constituency; and
(ii) would be entitled to vote as electors at a parliamentary election in the parliamentary constituency comprising the Assembly constituency; and
(b ) peers who, at that date—
(i) have their names on such parts of the register of local government electors as relate to the Assembly constituency; and
(ii) would be entitled to vote at a local government election in an electoral area comprised in or wholly or partly coinciding with the Assembly constituency.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section applies with the necessary modifications to the election of initial members (within the meaning of section 1 of this Act).
(3) The Secretary of State may by order make provision—
(a ) as to the conduct of elections of members of the Assembly (including the registration of electors); and
(b ) as to the questioning of such an election and the consequences of irregularities.
(4) An order under this section may—
(a ) apply, with such modifications or exceptions as may be specified in it, any provision of the Representation of the People Acts, any provision of the enactments relating to returning officers, and any provision made under any enactment; and
(b ) so far as may be necessary in consequence of any provision made by it for the registration of electors, amend any provision made by or under the Representation of the People Acts as to the registration of parliamentary electors or local government electors.
(5) An order under this section may provide for the charging of any sum on the Scottish Consolidated Fund.
(6) No election of a member of the Assembly shall be questioned except under the provisions of Part III of the Representation of the People Act 1949 as applied by an order under this section.
(7) A statutory instrument made under this section shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
5 By-elections.
(1) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, where the seat of a member of the Assembly is vacant an election shall be held to fill the vacancy.
(2) The date of the election shall be fixed by the presiding officer of the Asembly in accordance with subsection (3) of this section.
(3) The date of the election shall be not later than three months after the occurrence of the vacancy, except that if the vacancy does not come to the notice of the presiding officer within one month of its occurrence the date of the election shall be not later than three months after the vacancy comes to his notice.
(4) The election shall not be held if the latest date for holding it would fall within the three months preceding the next election to be held in pursuance of section 2 or section 3 of this Act.
(5) For the purposes of this section a vacancy shall be deemed to have occurred on such date as may be determined under the standing orders of the Assembly, and references in this section to the presiding officer include any person for the time being performing the functions of presiding officer.
6 First meeting of Assembly.
6. The first meeting of the Assembly shall be held on such day and at such time and place as the Secretary of State may direct.
7 Procedure of Assembly.
(1) The procedure of the Assembly shall be regulated by standing orders of the Assembly; but the Secretary of State may give directions for regulating its procedure pending the making of standing orders.
(2) The standing orders shall include provision for the election of a presiding officer from among the members of the Assembly and for his tenure of office.
8 Disqualification for membership of Assembly.
(1) Subject to section 9 of this Act, a person is disqualified for membership of the Assembly if—
(a ) he is disqualified for membership of the House of Commons under paragraphs (a ) to (e ) of section 1(1) of the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 ; or
(b ) he is disqualified otherwise than under that Act for membership of that House or for sitting and voting in it; or
(c ) he is a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary; or
(d ) he holds any of the offices for the time being designated by Order in Council as offices disqualifying for membership of the Assembly; or
(e ) he has been convicted in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Irish Republic of any offence and has had passed on him a sentence of imprisonment (whether suspended or not) for a period of not less than three months without the option of a fine and a period of less than five years has elapsed since the date of that conviction.
(2) A person who holds office as lord-lieutenant or lieutenant for any region, islands area or district in Scotland is disqualified for membership of the Assembly for any Assembly constituency comprising the whole or part of that area or district or of the part of that region in which he discharges his functions.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1)(e ) above the ordinary date on which the period allowed for appealing against a conviction expires or, if an appeal against a conviction is made, the date on which the appeal is finally disposed of or abandoned, shall be deemed to be the date of the conviction.
(4) Subsection (2) of this section applies with the necessary modifications to membership of the Assembly before an election to which an Order in Council under Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act applies.
(5) No recommendation shall be made to Her Majesty in Council to make an Order under this section unless a draft of the Order has been laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament, but this does not apply to an Order made by virtue of section 79(2) of this Act if the Assembly has resolved that the Secretary of State be requested to recommend the making of the Order.
9 Exceptions and power to grant relief fromdisqualification.
(1) A person is not disqualified for membership of the Assembly by reason only—
(a ) that he is a peer, whether of the United...
To continue reading
Request your trial