 After boundary changes, he was elected for Islington South and Finsbury at the February 1974 election.Cunningham strongly opposed Scottish devolution.At his prompting, the House of Commons accepted an amendment to the Scotland Act 1978 that a majority voting "yes" in the 1979 referendum on establishing a devolved Assembly would have to constitute at least 40 per cent of the Scottish electorate, without which the proposal could be withdrawn and the Act repealed by statutory instrument.