Les élections de mai 2016 au Parlement écossais : les enjeux constitutionnels

• Main Author: Edwige Camp-Pietrain
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centre de Recherche et d'Etudes en Civilisation Britannique 2017-10-01
• Series: Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique
• Subjects: Scotland; devolution; independence; European Union
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/1575

The May 2016 election to the Scottish Parliament was dominated by constitutional issues which were supposed to have been settled earlier as independence had been turned down in 2014 while devolution had been extended thanks to the Scotland Act passed in March 2016. There was a polarization of the debate between pro-independence parties -the SNP being clearly ahead of all others- and unionist parties -with the Conservatives gaining ground at the expense of Labour. Britain's continuing membership of the EU, at stake in the referendum to be held on June 23rd, provided an additional constitutional dimension closely intertwined with Scotland's constitutional issues.