The Smith Commission was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron on 19 September 2014 in the wake of the 'No' vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. The establishment of the commission was part of the process of fulfilling The Vow made by the leaders of the three main unionist parties during the last days of the referendum campaign. The Vow promised the devolution of more powers from the Parliament of the United Kingdom to the Scottish Parliament in the event of a No vote.
Following the No vote, Lord Smith of Kelvin was given the task to "convene cross-party talks and facilitate an inclusive engagement process across Scotland to produce, by 30 November 2014, Heads of Agreement with recommendations for further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament".[1] Ten representatives were nominated by the political parties with elected members in the Scottish Parliament; the Commission started its discussions on 22 October.[2] Agreement was reached and the report published on 27 November 2014.[3][4]
Following the Conservative election victory at the 2015 General Election, the Scotland Bill 2015–16 was proposed in the first Queen's Speech, to put into effect the recommendations of the Smith Commission.
- ^ "About". The Smith Commission. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
discussionswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Haroon Siddique (27 November 2014). "New powers for Scotland: key points from the Smith commission". The Guardian.
- ^ Ben Riley-Smith (28 November 2014). "Everything you need to know about the Smith Commission". The Telegraph.