Evaluation and impact of Devolution

Proposed solutions to the English Question

• English Parliament

• "English Votes for English Laws" at Westminster

• Elected regional assemblies

What would an English Parliament do?

• England is the only part of UK not to have own devolved parliament

• Eng Parl would have legislative powers over domestic Eng issues

• English exec / gov could also be created to implement policy

• Little support for Eng parl within major political parties but is favoured by UKIP

• could sit in Westminster or outside lodon

Arguments FOR English Parliament

• Would complete devolution within UK + resolve "English Question"

• Would create more coherent system of devolution, with federal UK Parl + gov responsible for UK-wide issues, rather than combined with English issues

• Would give political + institutional expression to English identity and interests

Arguments AGAINST English Parliament

• Would create additional layer of gov - create tensions between UK gov + English parl

• "Devolution all round" wouldn't create coherent + equitable system because England= much bigger than other UK nations

• Only limited support in Englandfor English parliament

what is the West Lothian Q?

Why should Scottish MPs be able to vote on English matters at Westminster when English MPs cannot vote on matters devolved to the Scottish parliamen?

proposed by Tom Dalyell, MP for West Lothian in 1970

"English Votes for English Laws" at Westminster

• MPs no longer make laws on devolved matters

• West Lothian Question: why Scottish MPs can vote on England matters when English MPs can't vote on Scot Parliament matters?

• 2003-4: legislation on uni tuition fees in Eng wouldn't have passed without votes from Scot Labour MPs - argued that changes to public spending in Eng would affect Scot spending

• Tories have argued for EVEL since devolution - would intro special procedures in HoC for dealing with legislation that affects only England

what would EVEL introduce?

• in Oct 2015, MPs voted to introduce a ‘double veto’

  • Bills certified by the speaker as England-only are considered in a Legislative Grand Committee

    • additional stage of legislative process where English MPs can veto them

problems with EVEL

• would create 2 classes of MPs

• decisions like made on public spending in England may still affect funding in the rest of the UK

• would make it more difficult for govt with small maj to deliver manifesto commitments

  • only 6/19 govts since 1945 have had enough MPs from England to give them an overall parl maj

McKay Commission

• Established by Tory-Lib Dem coalition

• 2013: recommended that parliamentary procedures be adapted so that majority of English MPs is needed to pass legislation affecting only England

• Oct 2015

  • MPs voted to intro EVEL. Bills certified by speaker as England -only considered in additional legislative stage where English MPs can veto them.

  • Will still require maj support in HoC + devolved MPs can vote on them

• Jan 2016:

  • new procedures used for 1st time for parts of Housing and Planning Bill

• EVEL opponents claim that it creates diff classes of MPs + would make it more diff for gov with small parl maj to deliver manifesto commitments

Elected regional assemblies

• Blair gov planned to create directly elected assemblies

• Plans scrapped after 78% of voters were "no" in 2004 referendum

Arguments FOR elected regional assemblies

• Would bring decision making closer to the people + address differing interests of Eng regions

• Would create more balanced devolution settlement within UK because Eng is too large to have its own parliament

• Would enhance democracy as regional assemblies would take over functions of unelected quango (an NGO)

• Certain areas (Cornwall, Yorkshire) have strong sense of regional identitY

• Regional assemblies could be catalyst for econ + cultural regeneration

Arguments AGAINST elected regional assemblies

• Few areas of Eng have strong sense of regional identity

• Would break up Eng + fail to provide expression for English interests

• Would cause tensions between regional + local gov

• Regional assemblies dominated by urban rather than rural interests

• Little public support for creating regional layer of gov in Eng

Local government in England

• Local authorities = lowest gov level in UK.

• The Only elected branch below central gov in England

• Greater London Authority has responsibility for econ development - consists of directly elected mayor + London Assembly.

  • Mayor sets budget + determines policy for authority.

    • Current London Mayor is Labour's Sadiq Khan

• 2016: only 16 local authorities outside London had directly elected mayors

• Local authorities responsible for day-to-day services - eg. education ,housing, social services, road and tranport

  • LAs organise + regulate provision via housing associations + academy schools

what are combined authorities

• consists of adjoining local councils

• granted additional funcing and policy making powers such as transports, health, economic devel, policing but do not have law making powers

• e.g. Greater Manny combined authority was created in 2011 and a further 10 agreed by 2016

struture of local govt in 2016

• 55 unitary authorities

• 27 county councils

• 201 district councils

• 36 metropolitan borughs

How has devolution created a new relationship between UK nations?

• Provided institutional recognition of distinctiveness of these nations while reflecting their membership of Union

Impact of devolution on UK politics

• Quasi-federal UK

• Policy divergence

• Funding

• Britishness

Impact of devolution on UK politics - quasi-federal UK

UK is quasi-federal state :

• Limited parliamentary sovereignty:

  • Westminster legally sovereign as it can overrule / abolish devolved bodies

  • In practice, no longer sovereign over domestic matters in devolved regions

  • 2016 Scotland Act established that Westminster can't legislate on devolved matters without consent

  • SA constrains parliamentary sovereignty by saying that devolution can only be overturned via referendum - popular sovereignty

• Quasi-federal parliament:
  Westminster operates as Eng parliament - makes domestic law in Eng but is federal parl for devolved regions because it retains reserved powers on UK-wide issues

• Joint Ministerial Committee: UK ministers + devolved counterparts meet to consider non-devolved matters + resolve disputes

• Supreme Court: resolves disputes over competences by determining if devolved bodies acted within their powers

What does Quasi-federal mean?

• the central government of a unitary state devolved some of its powers to sub-national govt

• has some features of a unitary state and some of a federal state

Should the UK become a federal state? - YES

• Would provide coherent constitutional settlement for UK + its nations, establishing clearer relationship between UK gov + devolved govts of England, Scotland ,Wales and ni

• Establishing federal state would resolve some anomalies (Eg. West Lothian Q) that have arisen under current devolution approach

• Creating English parl + gov as part of federal UK would answer "English Question"

• Status of Westminster would be clarified - federal parl dealing with issues such as border control, defence and foreign affaris

• Lords could be reformed

  • chamber representing devolved nations or abolished

Should the UK become a federal state? - NO

• Federalism works best in states with no dominant nation unsuitable for UK as England is much bigger

• English Parl would rival Westminster Parl

  • especially if diff parties were in gov in Eng + UK

  • English MPs could still be a maj at Westminster

• Measures to reduce dominance of Eng would be problematic + unpopular

• Disputes over funding would occur

• Little public support for federal UK - devolution is preferred constitutional choice for devolved voters

Impact of devolution on UK politics - policy divergence

- Devolved govs have introduced policies which differ from Eng
- Scot Parl's power on tax raise prospect of further divergence
- Policy diffs can be good - devolved institutions respond to electorate's concerns
- BUT divergence may undermine principle of equal rights for UK citizens - eg. Eng is only part of UK to have prescription charges

Impact of devolution on UK politics - funding

• Devolved administrations funded by block grants from UK Treasury

• Barnett formula translates changes in public spending in Eng into equivalent changes in block grants for devolved nations

• Scot, Wales + NI receive more public spending per head of pop than Eng

• Critics say that this is Eng subsidy of rest of UK BUT Scot + Wales have tight public spending - Barnett formula doesn't take into account relative needs (eg. living standards)

Impact of devolution on UK politics - Britishness

• Umbrella identity that provides common bond between UK while maintaining distinctive national identities

• Devolution increased no of people identify as Scot / Welsh / Eng

Has devolution undermined the Union? - YES

• Piecemeal approach to devolution has meant that problems (eg. West Lothian Q) haven't been addressed

• Insufficient attention to benefits of Union in post-devolution U

• Rules on policy coordination + dispute resolution aren't clear enough

• Policy divergence undermined common welfare rights in UK

• SNP is dominant party in Scot - support for Scot independence increased

• Devolution settlement seen as unfair

Has devolution undermined the Union? - NO

• Devolution answered Scot / Welsh / NI demands for greater autonomy - decision making brought closer to the people

• Devolution proceeded relatively smoothly - no major disputes between UK gov + devolved bodies

• Policy divergence reflects diff interests of UK nations - successful initiatives in 1 nation can be copied

• Preferred constitutional position for voters in Scot / Wales / NI

• Delivered peace + power sharing in NI after 30 years of instability

Why did 2016 Brexit referendum cause further problems about devolution?

• Maj of voters in Scot + NI voted "remain"

• Maj of voters in Eng + Wales voted "leave"

• Then-leader of SNP Sturgeon argued that Scot shouldn't be forced out of EU against its will. Called for 2nd referendum on Scot independence