1997 in Scotland

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Secretary of State for Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal – Michael Forsyth until 2 May; then Donald Dewar

  Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Lord Mackay of Drumadoon; then Lord Hardie
• Solicitor General for Scotland – Paul Cullen; then Colin Boyd

  Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Ross, then Lord Cullen
• Chairman of the Scottish Land Court – Lord McGhie

  Events

• 22 February – Scientists at the Roslin Institute announce the birth of a cloned sheep named Dolly seven months after the fact.
• 31 March – train operating company ScotRail begins operation of its passenger service franchise in Scotland as part of the privatisation of British Rail, the last company to be sold.
• April–October – in the Outer Hebrides, the Northern Lighthouse Board constructs a new light on Haskeir with minor lights on Gasker and on Shillay, Monach Islands.
• 1 May – UK General Election results in all Conservative MPs in Scotland losing their seats. Edinburgh-born Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Mohammad Sarwar, elected for Labour in Glasgow Govan, becomes the UK's first ever Muslim MP.
• 12 June – Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust acquires the island.
• 5 August – James Reid is jailed for life for the murder of four-year-old James Ward, whose skull was struck by so many blows with a slater's hammer that it was smashed into fragments, like a jigsaw.
• 7 September – Clyde Auditorium opened in Glasgow.
• 8 September – the football clubs in the Premier Division decide to split from the Scottish Football League and form the Scottish Premier League from next season.
• 11 September – referendum in Scotland on the creation of a national Parliament with devolved powers takes place. Voters back the plans for a national Parliament with limited tax raising powers.
• October – the Grand Theft Auto video game, developed by DMA Design in Dundee, is launched.
• 6 November – Labour holds the Paisley South by-election despite a swing of 11.3% to the Scottish National Party.
• 18 December – the bill to establish the Scottish Parliament unveiled by Secretary of State for Scotland Donald Dewar.
• December – Valhalla Brewery, the most northerly in Britain, opened on Unst.
• The Island of Stroma is completely depopulated when its lighthouse is automated and its keepers and their families depart.
• Equality Network established to campaign for LGBT rights in Scotland.

  Births

• 11 August – Sarah Clelland, footballer

  Deaths

• 22 January – Billy Mackenzie, singer, by suicide
• 4 September – Belle Stewart, traditional singer
• Angus McPhee, outsider artist

  The arts

• Wigtown and Dalmellington become book towns.
• Anne MacLeod publishes her first poetry collection, Standing by Thistles.