devolution

what is devolution?

• the transfer of policy-making powers (political power) from the central government (Westminster) to subordinate subnational institutions

• the state-wide legislature retains ultimate authority

• devolution in the UK is asymmetric. each devolved institution has different powers and distinctive features

scottish parliament

• most powerful. has primary legislative powers

• law-making in devolved matters and has tax-raising powers

welsh assembly

• initially had only executive powers, determining how Westminster legislation was implemented in Wales

• after 2001 referendum, it gained primary legislative powers in devolved matters and tax raising powers

northern ireland assembly

• primary legislative powers but only limited over tax

origins of devolution

• devolved institutions weren’t established in Scotland and Wales until 1999 but pressure for devolution had been building since the 1970s

• the SNP and Plaid Cymru (scottish parties) made electoral breakthroughs at Westminster

• Labour government (Callaghan 1976-1979) held referendums on creation of legislative assemblies in Scotland and Wales

the Kilbrandon Commission

• established to consider the allocation of executive and legislative power within the UK

• recommended the creation of directly elected assemblies for Scotland and Wales and devolution of certain powers from Westminster to these assemblies

• No recommendations for English devolution

• Led to the 1979 devolution referendums in Scotland and Wales

strengths of devolution

• seen as widely democratic, allows people to express their regional identities and have a say on the development on their particular region

• provides a ‘legitimate’ government. the electoral system includes a strong element of proportionality, thus is seen by supporters to provide a more representative government

• provides a socially representative chamber. the AMS electoral system helps those disadvantaged by FPTP, such as minority parties, women and ethnics

• devolution could preserve the UK as a political entity. people claim the four nations are ‘worth more’ as a whole rather than as distinct powers. it’s claimed that the size of Britain requires independence

weaknesses of devolution

• undermines parl-sov

SCOTTISH devolution

the West Lothian Question

• why should Scottish MPs be able to vote on specifically English issues in the HoC

• where the majority of English MPs vote against a measure, but it’s still passed w/ the support of MPs representing constituents who are not themselves affected (e.g introduction of tuition fees)

• the number of Scottish MPs in Westminster was reduced from 72 to currently 57

how is it made up

• Scottish national party (SNP) is dominant party in Scotland, winning the last three Scottish Parliament elections and 56/59 Scottish constituencies at the 2015 general election

Scottish Parliament has 129 MSP (members of Scottish parliament)

• 73 MSPs are elected in single-member constituency using the FPTP system

• 56 MSPs are 'additional members' chosen from party lists

• They are elected in eight multi-member regions, each of which elects seven members using the regional list system of proportional representation.

• These seats are allocated to parties on a corrective basis so that the distribution of seats reflects more accurately the share of the vote won by the parties

Elections initially held every 4 years but this was extended to every 5 years after the 2011 election

• The Scottish government draws up policy proposals and implements legislation

• The first minister, usually the leader of the largest party, heads the government and appoints the cabinet

what powers does it have

Has primary legislative powers, the most powerful of the devolved nations in the UK:

• Can make laws in devolved matters

• Can raise taxes

the Scotland Act 1998

• Gave the Scottish Parliament primary legislative powers in a range of policy areas, including law and order, health, transport, education, the environment and economic development

• Westminster no longer makes law for Scotland on these matters

Gave Scottish Parliament tax-varying powers:

• Could raise/lower the rate of income tax by up to 3%

2014 Scottish Independence Referendum

• The referendum was calling the Yes Scotland campaign which was fronted by the SNP. They argued that the people of Scotland were best placed to make decisions that affect Scotland, and highlighted economic and social policies that an SNP government would pursue

• Scotland would have its own written constitution + full responsibility for welfare, foreign and defence policy 

• The  Pro-Union campaign, Better Together, was supported by Labour, Conservatives and LibDems

• Argued that Scotland enjoyed the best of both worlds in the UK

• Argued that independence would damage Scotland's economy and the UK treasury insisted that there would be no currency union with an independent Scotland

• European Commission also warned that an independent Scotland would not automatically become a member of the EU

WELSH devolution

Welsh assembly and parliament

• a 1979 referendum failed by 79%, while a 1997 referendum narrowly won w/ only a 50% turnout

• laws were passed to establish the National Assembly for Wales and grant it secondary legislative powers over areas such as agriculture, education and housing

• in 2020 the assembly was renamed to Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament to better reflect its expanded legislative powers

who is in power?

• labour has been in power, either alone or in coalition since the first election in 1999

  • labour-LibDem coalition 1999-2003

  • labour 2003-2007 (no majority)

  • labour - Plaid Cymru coalition 2007-2011

  • labour(29) - LibDem(1) - Indep(1) coalition 2016

  • labour w/ Plaid Cymru 2021

• Eluned Morgan (welsh labour) is the current First Minister of Wales and the first ever female FM

Brexit and Wales

• a significant portion of wales voted to leave in 2016

• wales lost £375m a year in EU economic aid because of brexit

• the UK gov has confirmed Wales will recieve £585m through the Shared Prosperity Fund, between 2021-2025

how is welsh assembly made up?

Welsh Assembly has 60 members elected by the additional member system (AMS):

• 40 members elected in a single-member constituency using FPTP

• 20 members elected in 5 multi-member regions using the regional list system of proportional representation

what powers does it have

Moved to a system of reserved powers similar to Scotland

• Primary legislative powers

• Wales act 2017 moved Wales to a system of reserved powers similar to Scotland

• Initially, the assembly had only executive and secondary legislative powers -> Welsh could decide how they would implement Westminster legislation.

• Government of Wales Act 2006 enabled assembly to gain primary legislative powers if approved by referendum. The 2011 referendum resulted to 64% yes vote. 

 

Government of Wales Act 1998

• Set up an elected Welsh National Assembly, and a Welsh executive to be drawn from the largest party in the Assembly and headed by a first minister 

• Assembly had no powers to make/pass primary laws and the country was given no financial control

• Had the power to decide how to allocate the funds it received from central government between the various services it oversaw:

  • Health

  • Education

  • Local authority services

  • Public transport

  • Agriculture

Government of Wales Act 2014

• Elections initially held every 4 years but extended to every 5

• There would be a referendum in Wales to decide whether the government of Wales should have partial control over income tax

• Welsh government was granted control over various taxes including business taxes, stamp duty charged on property sales, and landfill tax

• The government of Wales would have limited powers to borrow money on open markets to enable it to invest in major projects and housing

Government of Wales Act 2017

• Moved to a system of reserved powers similar to Scotland

• Initially the assembly had only executive and secondary legislative powers.

• Created a Welsh rate of income tax by giving the assembly control over a portion (10p in the pound) of income tax

• Newly devolved matters now include assembly and local government elections, fracking, rail franchising and road speed limits

• Welsh government wanted policing and justice to be devolved but the UK government did not agree

• 2017 Act established the assembly and Welsh government as a permanent feature of the UK constitution

further devolution or independence?

Independence:

• Would give Wales greater control over its economy and other affairs

• National identity 

Further devolution:

• Can continue to benefit from NHS

• Continue receiving money from Westminster

• If Wales has more representatives : constituents have more opportunity to have their opinions heard.

• Power on more localised level, better for devolution

NORTHERN IRELAND devolution

NI conflicts

• unionists (protestant) want NI to remain part of the UK

• nationalists (catholic) favour a united Ireland and for them to separate from the UK

• elections are contested between unionist and nationalist partis

• NI has been governed differently from the rest of the UK

• between 1922 and 1972 is had its own Parliament

• devolution in NI is distinctive as its designed for both unionists and nationalists to share power

how is the gov made up

• Local councils, Northern Ireland Assembly.

  • Public elect 90 members of legislative assembly (MLAs)

  • There are 5 MLAs elected to each of the 18 constituents across NI

what powers does it have

• It has the power to make laws in a wide range of areas, including housing, employment, education, health, agriculture and the environment.

• Raise and lower council taxes (legislative powers)

• Can not make decisions on national tax

Good Friday Agreement 1998

• Peace treaty signed on 10th April. Brought an end to the troubles - happening for 3 decades. United nationalists and unionists

• the Troubles

  • Brutal conflict between nationalists (catholics) and unionists (protestants

  • IRA and UVF

  • 3542 civilians died

• 71% of people voted yes. 94% voted for constitutional amendments. DUP opposed it.

• Northern Irish assembly

  • Elected every 5 years - led by cabinet

  • Democratic and peaceful methods of deciding political issues

• North/ south ministerial council

• British-irish governmental conference

• Prisoner exchanges

• Britian agreed to incorporate the ECHR (European convention of human rights) into the law of Northern Ireland  -> ECHR checks to see if these are being upheld (not to do with EU)

  • e.g. rwanda bill went against ECHR

  • If we removed ourselves from ECHR, it would undermine Good Friday Agreement and then conflict could break out in Ireland again

    • UK has given up some sovereignty to ECHR

    • Kemi Badenoch (conservative party leader candidate) wants to leave the ECHR

      • Based off issue of sovereignty.

the Northern Ireland Act 1998

• An act of the parliament which allowed Westminster to devolve power to Northern Ireland, after decades of direct rule. -> the only devolution act

• Renamed New Northern Ireland Assembly to the Northern Ireland Assembly

• Allows for a devolved Northern Ireland Assembly of 108 members

• NI remains a part of the UK until or unless a majority vote in a referendum determines otherwise.

• Secretary of state for NI holds power to call for a referendum if it appears likely to them that a majority of the voters would express their desire to become part of a United Ireland.

• Assembly has the power of modifying any act of the British Parliament as far as it 'is part of the law of Northern Ireland'.

• Secretary of state for NI is selected by Westminster

Gridlock

• Institutions collapsed in January 2017 when the two largest parties - the DUP and Sinn Fein - clashed over a green energy scandal

• NI assembly has been suspended since and attempts to restore it have failed

• DUP also walked out in Feb 2022 in a dispute over post-Brexit trade rules.

• Main gridlock

  2020-2023 -> political processes halted

  Sinn Fein and DUP could not make decisions.

  Major political instability

ENGLISH devolution

devolution in England

• there is no ‘formal’ devolution in England, but there are different levels of power devolved from Westminster

• 57 unitary councils responsible for education, social care and public services eg Portsmouth and Derby

• 36 metropolitan boroughs usually in heavily urbanised reas in the North or in Midlands eg. Barnsley

• 25 county councils that oversee education and social services eg. Suffolk

• 188 district, borough or city councils responsible for more localised services like refuse collection e.g New Forest District Council

• combined authorities where two or more councils collab. there are currently 10 in the UK eg. Greater Manchester

the greater london assembly

• the GLA has 25 elected members and a directly-elected Mayor of London (the most powerful directly-elected politician in the UK)

• current mayor is Sadiq Khan of LABOUR party

• members elected using AMS system

• structure was approved following a referendum in 1998, with only 34.1% turnout

• mayor of london responsible for the GLA group budget of £18.4b which is used to run transport, police and fire services

city mayors

• the Local Government Act 2000 allowed any local council in England to hold a referendum on the introduction of a directly elected mayor, either by citizen petition or council decision

• they are no allowed to introduce the system w/o a referendum

• under the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016, ‘metro mayors’ were elected for the first time in 2017 to lead several combined authorities (CAs)

• by 2020 there were 15 directly elected city mayors and 8 metro mayors. eg former labour health minister Andy Burnham was elected as Manchester’s mayor in 2017

• not all regions have been enthusiastic. Torbay and Hartlepool both held successful referendums to abolish their Mayors

local power

• local government has been frequently reorganised, showing how little power and self determination they really have, in contrast to devolved nations

• the revenue raising powers of councils are extremely restricted and they mostly rely for their funding on a block-grant from central government. they gain additional revenue from council tax, but Westminster controls how much this can be increased by

should england have its own parliament?

YES

• it would complete devolution and remove the current asymmetry

• it would enable English culture and identity to flourish

• resolve the West Lothian Q

• enable power to be decentralised away from london

• devolution has worked well elsewhere in the UK

NO

• england differs because of its size and its economy

• england lacks its own national identity - culture is much more regional

• considerable expense involved and it would weaken the Westminster Parliament

• no evidence of strong support for it

what has been the impact of devolution

• devolution has significantly impacted the British constitution. it has changed from a unitary framework to one that has been turned ‘quasi'-federal’

• the UK remains unitary since ultimate sovereignty still lies w/ Westminster. in theory the UK parliament could repeal all the Devolution Acts and abolish the regional assemblies. yet, the UK has strong elements of a federal state, since policy in many key domestic areas are now decided in the devolved bodies

• parl sov has been significantly reduced outside of England

• the Scotland Act 2016 established that Westminster cannot legislate in devolved matters w/o consent, therefore effectively acknowledging that devolved institutions are permanent political fixtures