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Politics Paper 2 – Revision
THE CONSTITUTION
Textbook notes
Devolution in England
o London had a single authority- the Greater London Council- from 1965, and six other
metropolitan councils followed for England's main urban areas the West Midlands, South
Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester and Merseyside).
o These authorities gained a reputation for high spending and were abolished by the Thatcher
government in 1986 one of the objectives of the Blair government was to recreate a
democratically elected strategic authority for the capital.
o This led to the establishment of two new institutions from 2000 –an elected mayor with
executive powers (an idea inspired by large US cities), supported by the Greater London
Assembly. They share oversight of policy areas such as policing, transport and economic
development. the first mayor, Ken Livingstone, introduced a congestion charge for drivers
entering central London in response to increased traffic and air pollution. By 2015 a further
16 urban areas, including Bristol, Liverpool and Greater Manchester, had decided to adopt the
elected mayor model.
The Blair government tried to extend regional decision-making by setting up unelected Regional
Development Agencies. Their purpose was to promote economic development on behalf of central
government. An attempt to go further by creating elected regional assemblies failed to win support.
The government slimmed down its plans for referendums on regional assemblies to proposals for just
three in the North-East, North-West and Yorkshire and the Humber. These were considered to be the
areas where the sense of regional identity was strongest, but in the end only one referendum was held,
in the North-East. Even here the idea was heavily defeated when put to the test, with a78 per cent 'no'
vote in 2004. People were not persuaded that they needed a possibly expensive layer of additional
bureaucracy, with few powers to make a real difference to regional regeneration.
The coalition abolished Labour's Regional Development Agencies but tried to breathe life into the
concept of regionalism by combining local authorities in so-called 'city regions. Each would be led by
a directly elected 'metro mayor". Some of these new bodies are located in the north of England and
are intended to develop what former Chancellor George Osborne called the northern powerhouse.
This was a plan to drive regional growth through improved transport links and investment in science
and innovation.
Devolution in Scotland, Wales, and Northen Ireland
Devolution in these parts of the UK involved the transfer of powers over certain policy areas to new
sub-national bodies. In each case Westminster retained control of what are known as ‘reserved
powers’ which include defence, foreign policy etc. These are the main powers that indicate a fully-
fledged independent state. Not granted to the devolved bodies as the purpose of devolution as to keep
the four nations within the United Kingdom.
⇒ Scottish parliament and government
Set up in Edinburgh 1999. consists of 129 MPs, elected every 4 years using AMS. Sometimes referred
to as Holyrood. The Scottish government devises and implements policy on matters devolved to
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Scotland and proposes annual budget to the parliament. Since 2014, the first minister has been Nicola
Sturgeon.
The Scottish government was also allowed to vary income tax by 3p above or below the UK rate,
although this power was never used. However, it did make use of other devolved powers to develop a
distinctive position for Scotland on social policy. For example, Scottish students do not pay university
tuition fees and there is free nursing care for the elderly. In 2016 there was another break with the
general direction of UK policy, when the Scottish government ended the right of council tenants to
buy their own homes - something that had been started across the UK by Margaret Thatcher's
government in 1980. The Calman Commission, set up under Gordon Brown's government, led in
2012 to the granting of additional powers including:
o taxation powers, including the right to set a Scottish income tax rate and control of stamp
duty
o and landfill tax
o borrowing powers
o regulation of air weapons
o drink driving alcohol limits'
⇒ Welsh Assembly and government
Like the Scottish parliament, the National Assembly for Wales based in Cardiff, dates to 1999.
Assembly Members (AMs) are elected by the Additional Member System. Their role is to represent
the Welsh people, to make laws on the areas devolved to Wales and hold the Welsh government to
account. However, with only 60 members the Assembly is much smaller than its Scottish counterpart.
The Welsh government was originally located within the Assembly but the two were formally
separated in 2006. The government is headed by a first minister, a post held by Carwyn Jones, leader
of a minority Labour administration, from 2009.
⇒ Northern Ireland Assembly executive
Devolution in Northern Ireland was established following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which
sought to bring the two main communities in the province together. These are the unionists, who want
to keep Northern Ireland within the UK, and the nationalists and republicans, who wish to see a
united, independent Ireland. These political divisions broadly correlate to the differing religious
identities of the two communities - unionists are historically linked to Protestantism, and nationalists
to Catholicism. The creation of a power-sharing executive, in which both sides were to be
represented, was the most important feature of devolution in Northern Ireland. The process of
devolution has been more uneven than in Scotland and Wales, with the Northern Ireland Assembly
being suspended by the UK government in London on more than one occasion following a breakdown
of trust between the Unionist and republican groups. This included a period of suspension that lasted
for almost 5 years, from 2002-07.
The Northern Ireland Assembly, located in Belfast, consists of 90 (originally 108) Members of the
Legislative Assembly (MLAs), elected by Single Transferable Vote. The use of STV, a highly
proportional voting system, ensures the representation of both sides rather than the dominance of the
larger grouping, and thus leads to the adoption of a power-sharing system of government. The
executive is headed by a first minister and a deputy first minister, who until January 2017 were Arlene
Foster and the late Martin McGuinness
Podcast – devolution in England
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further devolution particularly to England and there are two options we shall be assessing that of an
English parliament and regional English assemblies
let's talk about the idea of an English parliament now English laws prodoomentally passed in
Westminster which is officially the UK parliament is where Scottish MPs take their seats English
MPs Welsh MPs Northern Irish MPs et cetera
West Lothian Question
so the idea would be to come to create a completely different institution that would either sit in the
same location or would be in a completely different geographical location let's save arguments say
Nottingham now those who support this idea say that England is the only nation in the UK not to have
its own parliament you have the Scottish Parliament you have the Welsh Assembly you have the
Northern Irish assembly the powers that it could enjoy could be similar to those enjoyed by the
Scottish Parliament it can sit outside of London reducing that cities political dominance remember we
have a unitary system where the main institutions of state are located in one place ie Westminster we
have the Supreme Court in Westminster we have Prime Minister we have the government department
predominantly and cause we have the UK parliament so having a very important institution outside of
Westminster to represent the English could well help bridge the north South divide
however it would not prevent tensions arising between the English and national UK parliament it
would raise the issue in fact of weather UK parliament is actually needed and us perhaps haste in the
breakup of the UK if the English have their own parliament and Scotland has its own parliament the
Scots might feel that there's even less of a reason to hold on to sticking with union, partly because that
UK parliament would be rather redundant the English parliament would be incredibly powerful
remember England in terms of population such is absolutely dwarfs the Scots that the Welsh the
Northern Irish and so it's likely that there would be a push for even greater powers for the English
department English parliament than there currently is for the Scottish Parliament as well as this if they
would not give any more autonomy to the different regions in the UK the people of Cornwall for
example are as likely to feel as distant from an English parliament in Nottingham as they currently are
to the UK parliament in Westminster would it not simply centralise power just in a different location
rather than spreading power out
now those who support an English parliament would say it would permanently resolve the West
Lothian question what is the West Lothian question is sometimes called the English question that's the
question of what to do with non-English MPs who sit in Westminster in the UK parliament and have a
right to vote on matters that are predominantly English in nature as Scotland takes more of his own
decisions on things like education for example then isn't it right with the English take decisions on
English only matters this is the question what do you do when you've got Scottish MPs in
Westminster who can vote on those English only matters because that is where English only matters
are currently discussed and resolved in the UK parliament but if you had an English parliament that
would resolve the question it would also clarify what is meant by English only issues and leave the
Westminster parliament to focus on truly national issues such as defence treaties with foreign
countries
so on now the English votes for English law measure that have there's been addressed in previous
podcast that was introduced in 2015 and that barred Scottish MPs from voting in the early stages of a
bill that was considered English only in nature but those who support English parliament say that the
evil the English votes for English laws didn't go far enough because non English MPs could still vote
on the final reading of the bill they could still say yay or nay and we saw that when Scottish MPs
voted on a bill on extending Sunday trading laws in English Law shut it down again and they voted
against it and In short that measure an yet those laws would have just applied to England only and so
you can argue that the measures in place to ensure the only English MPs in Westminster in the
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national parliament to be the ones to cover English only matters do not go far enough and so
therefore you need an English parliament to resolve this issue
however the so called English question or West Lothian question has arguably been largely addressed
by EVEL it isn't particularly controversial arguably as well if you create and new institution it would
create too much democracy an additional layer of government that England don't want they don't want
this they don't want their tax taxes to be going towards funding more politicians more support for
politicians they want more support for NHS and more support for teachers when under 20% of the
public believe in creating an English parliament according to opinion polls and polls also suggest that
most English voters say that they wish to be governed from the Westminster parliament and not from
a newly created parliament that has no historical underpinning
Why create a centralised power in another place and city = does not itself bring more power to the
people. If the desired goal of devolution is to bring power closer to people, why create a more distant
institution
Preserving English identity
let's go to another set of arguments the idea that an English parliament would promote and preserve
English identity and culture which has been under threat from immigration and multiculturalism and
this idea predominantly comes from right wing parties Brexit party UKIP they will support an English
parliament perhaps Brexit came about you could as many felt behind and wanted to quote take back
control is to create a parliament for the English and once the institution empowering the English
perhaps the idea that English culture is under threat would subside leading to a more open and
engaged settlement. However, opinions polls suggest people sense of Britishness stronger than the
sense of Englishness and given that it was supported by UKIP and the Brexit part, an English
parliament would reflect little Englander identity and perhaps been even more anti-immigrants and an
even more reactive one that is to free from the progressive attitudes of the Celtic fringes and avoid of
the multicultural emphasis of Britishness other so there are those who were in fact in fact it would be
a grievance parliament it would be apartments set up in the environment of thinking about what
Englanders are against rather than what Englanders are for.
Regional assemblies
let's consider option to them the idea that every region in England should have a regional assembly
similar to the Welsh Assembly for example and would have similar powers arguably this would better
reflect regional identity then say in English parliament despite devolution in parts of the UK it still
remains a very centralised country in which local councils enjoy few meaningful powers George
Osborne's proposed pasty tax some years ago demonstrated Westminster's tin ear to the concerns of
the West Country and to regional sensitivity and identity this is the idea that if you want to raise
revenue you just charge such large attack Cornish pasty's as of course people in the West Country
would say we like how Cornish pasty's they make us money why you trying to tax food that we make
and why are you trying to get in our livelihood so perhaps if you have to measure haps regular steps if
you just reasonably taxes were perhaps if you and better suit the local conditions and understand the
businesses in those areas perhaps that example shows that regional authorities are best placed to take
decisions on tax and other matters that best suit the regional climate it would bring power closer to the
people connecting to the ideas of democracy and participation perhaps more so than yet another
distant institution.
However, only a few assemblies have a strong regional identity = Yorkshire. Do the SE have a strong
regional identity do they want a regional parliament to reflect regional concerns. Having regions in
