ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the relationship of both Scotland and Northern Ireland to the theme of devolution and constitutional change to assess the way of Irish-Scottish relations more broadly have been reformulated in the new political circumstances. Northern Ireland and a Scotland on the march to independence had increased autonomy within the Union. The vexed topic of religious sectarianism in view of its spectacular emergence over recent years in Scotland is an issue of vigorous public debate and soul-searching. Affirmation of the value of comparative study of historically intimate places such as Scotland and Ireland, and of the insights is fashioned. By the mid-1950s the campaign for a Scottish parliament had come unstuck as the welfare state bedded down. The Conservatives, returned to power in 1951, conceded a Royal Commission on Scottish Affairs, but it advocated only tinkering with the administrative devolution arrangements Scotland possessed.
