The Parliament will also have the power to increase or decrease the basic rate of income tax by up to three pence in the pound, subject to the result of the proposed referendum on this issue.

In the devolved areas the Parliament will be able to overturn laws previously passed by the Westminster Parliament.

The legislation setting up the Scottish Parliament will specify those powers which are reserved to the UK Parliament, rather than those devolved to a Scottish parliament. These include:

The Secretary of State for Scotland will work with the new Scottish Parliament and represent its interests within the UK Government.

ii. Relations With Other Bodies

It will be for the Scottish Parliament to determine the details of their relationships with local authorities and funding and taxation arrangements for local government.

It is not envisaged that the Scottish Parliament should take over functions currently carried out by local government.

b) Westminster/Whitehall

The UK Parliament will remain sovereign.

The role of the Secretary of State for Scotland will initially be to support the initial development of the Parliament. Once the Parliament is established then the responsibilities of the Secretary of State will change, the role will then be to promote communication between the Scottish and Westminster parliaments.

In the event of a dispute between the Scottish Executive and the UK Government over the legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament, the matter will be referred to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

There will be a reduction in the number of MPs from Scotland returned to the UK Parliament. The current requirement that a minimum number of parliamentary seats be allocated to Scotland will no longer apply and a Boundary Commission will review the distribution of seats. This will probably lead to a reduction in the number of seats from 72 to around 58.

c) Europe

The Scottish Executive will have to ensure the implementation in Scotland of all European Union obligations concerning devolved matters.

Members of the Scottish Executive will participate in relevant meetings of the Council of Ministers and could speak for the United Kingdom where appropriate.

There will be a Scottish representative office in Brussels.

The Scottish Executive will be responsible for making proposals to the Scottish Parliament on nominations to Scotlandıs representation within the Committee of the Regions.

iii. Composition of the Parliament

iv. Functioning of the Parliament

There will be a First Minister who will appoint other members to the Scottish Executive. They will make legislation with the approval of the Scottish Parliament. It is envisaged that committees will play an important part in carrying out Parliamentary business.

Each Scottish parliament will have a fixed term of four years. It may be dissolved before the four years is up with the agreement of at least two thirds of MSPs or if the Parliament fails to agree on the appointment of a First Minister.

v. Finance

The proposed tax varying powers could raise an additional £450m per annum. Each one pence change would vary revenue by around £150m.

Running costs are estimated to be between £20m and £30 m, or about £5 per person per annum.

vi. Location

The Scottish Parliament will be in Edinburgh but the exact location is not yet decided. It had always been assumed that it would be the Old Royal High School but public accessibility is poor and space limited. This building may be refurbished, or another building may designed from scratch.