against them. Devolution On 11 September 1997 (the seven-hundredth anniversary of the Scottish victory over the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge) a referendum was held on devolving substantial power to a Scottish Parliament. Voters overwhelmingly voted to establish a Scottish parliament and grant it limited taxation powers. Two weeks later, a referendum on establishing a Welsh Assembly was also approved, by a narrow majority. The first elections were held, and these bodies began to operate, in 1999. Devolution was reintroduced to Northern Ireland at a similar time via the Good Friday agreement. The creation of these bodies widened geographic differences, especially in areas such as healthcare. New Labour also began a programme of devolution in England creating a London Mayorship and Assembly via referendums in 1998 and passing the Local Government Act 2000 which allowed English and Welsh local government's to hold referendums on introducing directly elected mayors in their areas. Though the Conservatives had historically been considered more critical of devolution than their Labour counterparts, this process continued after their return to government in 2010. References Further reading excerpt and text search excerpt and text search online review excerpt and text search Davie, Grace. Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without belonging (Blackwell, 1994) 310 pp. 200+ short scholarly essays; covers 20th century Gilley, Sheridan, and W. J. Sheils. A History of Religion in Britain: Practice and Belief from Pre-Roman Times to the Present (1994) 608pp Hastings, Adrian. A History of English Christianity: 1920-1985 (1986) 720pp; a major scholarly survey Hilton, Matthew. Smoking in British Popular Culture 1800-2000: Perfect Pleasures (Manchester UP, 2000). Leventhal, F.M. Twentieth-Century Britain: An Encyclopedia (2nd ed. 2002) 640pp; short articles by scholars history of political ideas Panton, Kenneth J. and Keith A. Cowlard, eds. Historical Dictionary of the Contemporary United Kingdom (2008) 640 pp; biographies of people active 1979–2007 Polley, Martin. Moving the Goalposts: A History of Sport and Society since 1945 (1998) online Savage Mike. Identities and Social Change in Britain since 1940: The Politics of Method (Oxford UP, 2010) essays by scholars excerpt and text search Popular social history Beckett, Andy. When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies (2009) excerpt and text search. Booker, Christopher. The Seventies: The Decade That Changed the Future (1980) Garnett, Mark. From Anger to Apathy: The Story of Politics, Society and Popular Culture in Britain since 1975(2008) excerpt Marr, Andrew. A History of