Editing 1979 Scottish devolution referendum (section)

===Previous Legislation===
After returning to power with a minority government in [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974 election]], [[Harold Wilson]]'s Labour government published a [[white paper]] entitled ''Democracy and Devolution: Proposals for Scotland and Wales'', published in September 1974. The party gained a narrow majority of three seats in the [[October 1974 United Kingdom general election|election in October]].

By 1976, the Labour government, now led by [[James Callaghan]], had lost its parliamentary majority entirely following a series of adverse [[by-election]] results. To provide a stable majority in the House of Commons, the government made an agreement with the [[Scottish National Party]] and [[Plaid Cymru]] whereby, in return for their support in Commons votes, the government would instigate legislation to devolve political powers from Westminster to Scotland and Wales.<ref name="bbc79ref">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/devolution/scotland/briefing/79referendums.shtml|title=Scottish Referendums|website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

The ''Scotland and Wales Bill'' was subsequently introduced in November 1976, but the government struggled to get the legislation through parliament. The Conservative opposition opposed its second reading, and on the first day of [[Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom#Committee stage|committee]] 350 amendments were put down. Progress slowed to a crawl. In February 1977, the Bill's cabinet sponsor [[Michael Foot]] tabled a [[Cloture|guillotine motion]] to attempt to halt the delays. The motion was rejected and the government was forced to withdraw the Bill.<ref name="bbc79ref" />