The Industrial Politics of Devolution: Scotland in the 1960s and 1970s

The Industrial Politics of Devolution explains devolution's central phenomenon in Scottish and British political life since the 1960s in terms of economic developments and industrial struggles. It was advanced by business leaders keen to isolate Scotland from the perceived advance of socialism and supported by Scottish trade unionists to protect employment and improve working class living standards. The book shows how devolution was shaped by car manufacturing at Linwood, unofficial strikes and the struggles over industrial relations reform, the grand "Oceanspan" design for industrial and social regeneration, the famous UCS work-in, the miners' strikes, and the impact of North Sea Oil. The book challenges received wisdoms about the 1979 devolution referendum and places the devolutionary politics of the 1980s and 1990s in this longer, industrial perspective.