Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Now or Never!: A History of the First Scottish Devolution Referendum

Now or Never!: A History of the First Scottish Devolution Referendum

Chidwick, Tom

Hardcover

General Political Science

PREORDER - Expected ship date November 12, 2026

ISBN10: 135050081X
ISBN13: 9781350500815
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: Nov 12 2026
Pages: 232
Weight: 1.00
Height: 1.00 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

On 1 March 1979, voters went to the polls in Scotland's first national referendum to decide whether to establish a Scottish Assembly, nearly three centuries after the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament in 1707. Held just two months before the general election that brought Margaret Thatcher to power, the referendum was Scotland's first opportunity to determine the constitutional question that had dogged its politics for nearly a century and, as in 1997 and 2014, it shaped the country's public life for a generation.

With both 'Yes' and 'No' campaigners believing that it was Now or Never, the referendum forged extraordinary and fleeting compacts between politicians and activists from different political parties. Musicians, sportsmen and celebrities joined the campaign trail, as did poets, clergymen, women's groups and City financiers. Campaigners dressed as William Wallace and 'Major Block' staged mock duels in major cities, while others organised dances and Burns Suppers and encouraged students to Rock against Devolution.

In this first modern history of the referendum, Tom Chidwick reveals the full story of the referendum held in the dying days of James Callaghan's Labour government and asks what contemporary policymakers and politicians can learn from Scotland's failure to secure an Assembly in 1979.

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