Scottish Parliament Part of Decentralization Plan

Scotland would get its first parliament in nearly 300 years under sweeping decentralization plans unveiled by the British government Thursday.

But government ministers insisted that the tax-raising parliament in Edinburgh would not be a step on the road to independence.

“Scotland will remain firmly part of the United Kingdom,” Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar wrote in a foreword to a policy white paper that gave details of the parliament, which would have wide-ranging powers and start sitting in 2000.

The establishment of subsidiary parliaments for Scotland and Wales was a key part of the Labor Party’s plans to reform Britain’s centralized constitution, plans that helped it to sweep to power in the general election May 1.

The new Scottish body would be the first legislative authority north of the border since the 1707 act that united the kingdoms of Scotland and England.

The new parliament must be approved by Scotland’s 5 million people in a referendum Sept. 11.

The new, 129-member assembly--to be elected, unlike its London equivalent, by a system of proportional representation--would make laws in many areas and administer education, health care, environment, agriculture and arts policies.

Foreign and defense policy, the economic and monetary system, employment legislation, social security and certain sensitive areas such as abortion, broadcasting and gambling would continue to be dealt with by the London government.

The white paper was published two days after a document proposing a similar, but much less powerful, assembly for Wales.