Evaluate the view that the case for further english devolution is overdue. PARA 1 - P1 - metro
mayors. There are 9 metro mayors and a 1 additional combined authorities without mayors and one
Cornwall 'unitary authority with devolution'. A metro mayor oversees a combined authority, that is
many c...
UK government essay plans RATED A+
Evaluate the view that the case for further english devolution is overdue. PARA 1 - ✔✔✔P1 - metro
mayors. There are 9 metro mayors and a 1 additional combined authorities without mayors and one
Cornwall 'unitary authority with devolution'. A metro mayor oversees a combined authority, that is
many councils come under this mayor such as the West of England and is given more powers. Including
Greater London, 41% of England's population (representing 43% of economic output but just 14% of
land area) now live in areas with some form of mayoral devolution deal. asymmetric devolution. London
Mayor who has enormous powers over transport and planning and also has a London Assembly to help
him. These mayors all have budgets and varying degrees of powers over transport, housing, further
education and infrastructure. For example Greater Manchester's mayor, Andy Burnham doubles up as a
police crime commissioner and has control over local transport. Andy Burnham is calling for 'deep
devolution' - argues this will allow areas to flourish. Greater Manchester does have power over
transport, but not the West of England for example. This is because it follows the principle of
subsidiarity and is in line with many western liberal democracies like Germany. • Subsidiarity is the
principle that the best decisions are the ones that are made locally. The analysis is that this is the only
way to 'level up' - the criticism of Burnham is that the current agenda relies on Westminster and the
Whitehall civil service, that does not understand the north. • Mayors bring energy into an area, like
Steve Rotherham and Andy Burnham.
CA - The counter is that if metro mayors are meant to increase participation and build greater buy-in
then why is turnout so low? WM 2021 - 31% Liverpool city reigon 30%. And the more you send powers
to local areas the more you decrease democratic accountability at the centre - people will no longer
account
Evaluate the view that the case for further english devolution is overdue. PARA 2 - ✔✔✔P2 - Another
reason why further English devolution is a must is the resentment devolution to the regions has caused
in England. This is illustrated by the west Lothian question. Most simply put, it asks why Scottish, Welsh
or indeed Northern Irish MPs have the same right to vote at Westminster as any English MP now that
large areas of policy are devolved to national parliaments and assemblies in areas such as health,
housing, schools and policing. It questions why such MPs can vote on english matters when english MPs
cannot vote on scottish or welsh matters. There were two incidents when loyal Scottish and Welsh
Labour MPs were needed to vote through Labour government policies because so many of their English
colleagues rebelled. In a vote to set up foundation trusts in the English NHS, Blair's majority was cut to
35 because many English Labour MPs rebelled or failed to vote; Blair needed 67 Scottish and Welsh MPs
to push the trusts through. • Blair needed similar levels of loyalty in January 2004 to introduce tuition
fees, a policy firmly rejected in Scotland by Labour MPs who held the policy of free education for Scots
and not for the English. John Reid, then MP for Hamilton and North Bellshill, was appointed Blair's
health secretary in 2003 when Holyrood had control over nearly all health policy in Scotland, Iain
,Duncan Smith called it a "democratic monstrosity". • More-so that more tax payers money is given to
Scotland per head than to England. • Recently the SNP sought to vote down 3 English only bills,
grammar schools, Sunday opening hours and repealing fox hunting - yet these are devolved. This creates
resentment in England. So need more powers.
CA - There has already been attempts to deal with this through English Votes for English Laws (EVEL).
This was a weak piece of legislation but became overcomplica
Evaluate the view that the case for further english devolution is overdue. PARA 3 - ✔✔✔P3 - Possibly
what England needs is a fully fledged English parliament like that of Scotland and Wales. • It would
equalise the powers across the regions and cover all of England. • Would make Britain more look like a
federal system. • An English parliament then would look at uniquely English issues - this parliament can
consists of mayors from across the country. • It will resolve the asymmetrical devolution
CA - the problem with an English parliament is that it will take power away from local people and place
it in a centralised authority. • What would be the position of Westminster mps? It would be redundant
and the whole idea would be very costly • Westminster is already dominated by English MPs •
Sovereignty would then lie in many places - and the Westminster parliament would be no more than
symbolic. • Turnout would decline even more. Voter fatigue. • England is too small to have devolution -
it will confuse matters because people live and work in multiple cities. • Interim Judgement - having
devolution through metro mayors makes more sense than having a parliament that is distanced from
the people.
Evaluate the view that there are more advantages to having a codified constitution than remaining with
an uncodified constitution INTRO - ✔✔✔In the UK we have an uncodified constitution meaning
ultimate sovereignty lies in parliament and they can override any decisions. This can be seen as
beneficial due to the flexibility, ability to meet current demands and accountability of MPs but it can
also be seen as damaging as it means the government has the power to make decisions which could
harm our rights. Ultimately there is not a massive demand to have a codified constitution and an
uncodified constitution fundamentally gives the government flexibility which is in the interests of the
public.
Three sections: 1 a codified constitution protects rights 2 it would place powers in the hands of an
impartial judiciary 3 it would clarify the roles and powers of the PM and executive and remove
unwritten conventions
, Evaluate the view that there are more advantages to having a codified constitution than remaining with
an uncodified constitution PARA 1 - ✔✔✔A codified constitution would entrench rights - such as the
bill of rights in the US. • At the moment parliamentary sovereignty means that rights are subject to the
will of parliament. • A majority can overturn rights. • Dominic Raab, The Justice Secretary is looking to
repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 - it was in the Queens Speech and so will come to the Commons this
coming year. • The right to family life, under Article 8 of the ECHR will not be able to reach court as
much as often, with 70 percent of foreign criminals who lodge deportation appeals currently doing so
under the terms of the clause. • The Government is proposing to add a 'permission stage' at the start of
human rights legal cases. • This plan will mean that before a case can get off the ground, the person
whose rights have been violated will have to show they have faced a "significant disadvantage" caused
by the abuse of their rights. • Under government plans, the meaning of a right in the Bill of Rights won't
be the same as its meaning in the European Convention on Human Rights and UK judges won't even
have to take European judgments into account (which they currently have to do) • A 'British Bill of
Rights' means that foreign citizens or migrants may not have the same protections. • This Bill of Rights
would be harder to interpret as they will be more specifically phrased.
The Nationality and Borders Act is one such piece of legislation it allows the government to do the
following: • To process asylum claims in Rwanda and for these refugees to not have a right to stay in the
UK • The ability to deprive British people of their citizenship without notice (previously they had to give
notice but could still do so - eg Shabina Begum) • Asylum seekers that come to the Uk without a visa will
be breaking the law and can go to prison.
Evaluate the view that there are more advantages to having a codified constitution than remaining with
an uncodified constitution PARA 2 - ✔✔✔P2 - The last few years has demonstrated that elected
politicians can abuse their positions or undermine the constitution in return for populism. • The
government's attempts to prorogue parliament in 2019, and obvious attempt to shut down scrutiny was
successfully challenged in courts. • Judges have security of tenure and independence (CRA 2006) that
enables them to make more rational and independent decisions. • Politicians are always looking to win
elections. • In the US, judges of the supreme court act as guardians of the constitution. • If a future
government decided to radically change the UK, there are currently very few safeguards. • Most modern
liberal democracies - the supreme court acts as a check on the other branches. Because judges are
impartial and independent. • Analysis: you can link the judiciary being guardians of the constitution to
liberalism - it allows for a separation of the branches, preventing the tyranny of an overbearing
government (synoptic link) • Judges are impartial and that means they believe in the rule of law, recent
events have shown that we cannot trust politicians to uphold the rule of law (Iraq and Partygate).
CA
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