A privately-funded ballot on the repeal of Section 28 has shown an overwhelming majority in favour of keeping the clause, which restricts what teachers can say about homosexuality to pupils. The Scottish government has dismissed the vote as a trumped-up opinion poll and says it will scrap the legislation.
Ballot papers were sent out to 3.9 million Scottish voters in what is thought to be the first private referendum in recent British political history. A third were returned, with over a million votes cast in favour of keeping Section 28. Under 200,000 votes were in favour of repeal.
The poll was organised by the Keep the Clause Campaign, which is funded by the millionaire businessman, Mr Brian Souter. Mr Souter, a Christian fundamentalist, said: "This is a tremendous result. It really demonstrates the determination of the people to defy the government and register a protest vote. A denial of this vote would be a denial of democracy. If this is a listening government, listen to this."
The Scottish government is determined to press ahead with plans for repeal. The Communities Minister, Ms Wendy Alexander, who first announced plans to scrap the section last year, said: "I think what is significant about today's ballot is that two out of three voters rejected, or binned or simply ignored this glorified opinion poll."
The polling organisation in charge of the vote said the official electoral register was used but there were numerous cases of people receiving multiple papers or none at all. Many people chose not to respond as they claimed Mr Souter was trying to influence the democratic process through his wealth. Mr Tim Hopkins, of the Scrap the Section campaign, said the result was not unexpected in what had been one of the most "unbalanced, misinformed ballots in Scottish history". Mr Hopkins said the fact that three-quarters of the electorate did not take part in the poll showed their "Bin the Ballot" campaign had worked and Clause 28 should be repealed.
Ms Rozanne Foyer, assistant secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, said the ballot was "nothing more than a cynical attempt to undermine our democratic processes". Ms Foyer claimed Mr Souter's campaign had been "killed off" by the low turnout.
One of the chief arguments in favour of devolution over the last two decades was that Scotland was a more left-wing and tolerant society than England. The Labour Party, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats were all opposed to Section 28, introduced by the Conservatives in 1988. The vocal and strong campaign against the government's plans have revealed Scotland to be a more conservative society than many politicians thought.
Scottish Tories' leader, Mr David McLetchie, said the people had sent a clear message to the government that they wanted Section 28 retained. "It is now beyond any reasonable doubt that the overwhelming majority of mainstream public opinion in Scotland is opposed to the Scottish Executive's madcap plan to repeal Section 28," Mr McLetchie said.
The issue also reveals that Labour, overwhelmingly the largest party in Scotland for decades, is losing its grip on both the electorate and the media.
The Keep the Clause campaign has been supported by Scotland's biggest tabloid, the Daily Record, once loyal to the Labour Party. The paper boasted yesterday that more people had voted to keep Section 28 than for Labour at the last general election in Scotland.