Campaign for a Scottish Assembly - Definition and Overview

The Campaign for a Scottish Assembly (CSA) was formed in the aftermath of the 1979 referendum that failed to establish a devolved Scottish Assembly.

Headed by Jim Boyack (father of current MSP Sarah Boyack) the CSA contained of individuals committed to some form of Home Rule for Scotland. Most were members of the Labour Party, but many Scottish National Party members took part too.

The CSA kept up the pressure for devolution in the early years of the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher which was totally opposed to any form of Home Rule. Eventually the CSA came to the stance that the cause of Scottish devolution would be best served by a convention with more democratic legitimacy invested in it.

The CSA organised the committee that published the Claim of Right for Scotland which held that it was the Scottish people's right to choose the form of government that best suited them, and which also recommended the establishment of a convention to discuss this.

The Scottish Constitutional Convention was established in 1989 and it superseded the role of the CSA publishing its recommendations for devolution in 1995, many of which went towards the founding principles of the Scottish Parliament, established in 1999.