On This Day 1999: Scottish Parliament reconvenes for first time in 292 years

It was so typically canny when Winnie Ewing announced the first meeting of the Scottish Parliament in 292 years.

For the first time since 1707 the Scottish Parliament today reconvened in Edinburgh at its temporary home in the former Assembly Hall on The Mound, Edinburgh. MSPs are pictured standing before the start of the parliament's first business on May 12, 1999. PIC: David Cheskin.

"I want to start with the words that I have always wanted either to say or to hear someone else say - the Scottish Parliament, which adjourned on March 25, 1707, is hereby reconvened."

A breakout of applause and cheering sealed the historic moment at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland building where the new parliament found its first home.

In place on May 12, 1999 were Scotland’s first batch of MSPs, with the 129 members elected just a week before when Labour took 38.77 per cent of the vote and SNP 28.7 per cent.

Outside, pipers played and Scots dressed in 18th Century clothes gathered for the occasion in a long echo of times of Scottish Parliament past.

Some 292 years before Winnie Ewing made her address, fierce debate, unrest and rioting met the agreement of the Treaty of Union in 1707.

Mrs Ewing, who led the famous 1967 SNP victory in the Hamilton by-election and took her place in the new parliament as MSP for Highlands and Islands, referred to those days in her opening statement.

She recalled the words of the Earl of Seafield when signing the Act of Union: "There is ane end to ane auld sang."

Mrs Ewing then added: "We can begin to write the new Scottish song."

The new Scottish Parliament folllowed the September 1997 referendum when Scots were asked if there was support for the creation of a Scottish Parliament with devolved powers, and whether the Parliament should have tax-varying powers.

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