Question: Consider whether devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland has strengthened or weakened the Union of four nations. (Chapter 3)
The constitutions in modern-day may be classified into unitary constitutions or
federal constitutions. The United Kingdom has a unitary structure of government,
meaning that the Constitution only recognizes a single set of institutions that govern
the State – on the other hand, a federal system of government is where there are
multiple layers of government; each having its distinct powers.
The United Kingdom is comprised of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern
Ireland. England and Wales became a single country in 1535. England gained
control over Wales via military conquest through the thirteenth century. The Act of
union 1536, did not include Welsh parliament, as it did not exist. Furthermore, the
UK merged with Scotland and joined via the union in 1707 through the Acts of Union
(1707). Through this, the United Kingdom of Great Britain was formed. Great Britain
joined together with Ireland in 1800 to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland. The Catholic majority portion of Ireland became an independent country in
1929, leaving only Northern Ireland a part of the UK.
In addition to this, while the UK has one government and a single parliament, there
were many problems in this case. Even in the terms of population, 84% of the UK
population lived in England, while only 16% population lived in other parts of Great
Britain. This meant the UK had the most representation in the parliament. As there
existed many cultural and social differences within the UK, this brought in the need
for self-governance for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There were many
attempts by each of the states for self-governance however only some of them were
successful.
In terms of Scotland, the Scot law itself was a product of an independent country, as
it developed separately from the English common law. It was more based on the
European approach, which essentially came from Roman law. In 1978, the UK
government had an agenda of creating devolved assemblies for Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland. It was decided that before implementing devolution, a
referendum must be conducted to seek public opinion. When devolution of some
powers was offered to Scotland in 1979, only a small majority voted in favour.
Hence, the referendum was unsuccessful as there was not enough voter turnout.
Therefore, the idea of devolution was shelved. Furthermore, in 1998, another
referendum was conducted for opinions on devolution. The voter turnout this time
around exceeded the minimum threshold as majority of the public voted in favour of
devolution. After the successful referendum, Scotland was given some
independence via the enactment of the Scottish Act 1998, which further established
the Scottish parliament and Scottish government. These powers were further
increased in 2012, including powers to impose certain taxes etc. This increase in
powers and independence made people change their stance. Now, there were
people in Scotland who fully considered that Scotland should now be completely
independent of the UK. Consequently, another referendum was conducted in 2014.
But it also resulted in the majority voting to remain part of the UK. Additionally, more
powers were further given to Scotland via the Scotland Act 2016 which allowed even
further independence. This Act states that the powers are given to Scottish
Parliament and the devolution arrangement, cannot be changed unless approved by
referendum – this illustrates a practical limitation on Parliamentary Supremacy.
, Additionally, Constitutional authors believe that the restriction on the UK Parliament
is merely conventional, and not legal.
If we discuss the devolution in terms of Wales, the first attempt for devolution was in
1978. Where a rather limited devolution scheme was offered to the people of Wales.
However, it was a failure since only 12 % of the voters, voted in favour. Then the
further developments in devolution happened via the developments in Scotland. In
1998 the attempt at devolution was successful although by a very thin margin. This
resulted in the government of Wales Act 1998, which established the Welsh
assembly. Furthermore, the Government of Wales Act 2006, enhanced the powers of
the Welsh assembly and created a separate Welsh government.
In addition to this, there have been various differences between Ireland and England.
The history between the two is grand. The reason behind this is the indifferences
caused via the religion- as England turned majorly protestant while Ireland stayed
largely catholic, and the large scale of immigration of non-Catholics. There was a
political group called Unionists who wished for N.I to stay with the UK. The unionists
also had an armed wing called the ulster volunteer force. The act of union 1800 was
a failure in resolving the problems between Great Britain and Ireland. A resolution of
sorts was provided by the government of Ireland act 1920 and the Anglo-Irish treaty
1922 which involved, the partition of the island and the self-governing status of the
Irish free state. Additionally, the 1998 attempt at devolution in Ireland was successful,
achieved between the UK unionists and Irish nationals, also called the Good Friday
Agreement. This agreement was later approved through a referendum which was
later enacted in the Northern Ireland Act (1998), which established the N.I
government and N.I parliament. As per the agreement, the Northern Ireland
government will be headed by the first minister, and deputy minister, who will always
be of two opposing political groups.
Furthermore, regarding England, there was no devolution attempt. However, a
concern was raised that there should be a separate English Parliament for English
laws. This led to a
Convention in the Parliament of EVEL (English Votes for English Laws), wherein
non-English MPs would not vote for laws that are only being implemented in
England. This Convention, however, was suspended in 2020, due to COVID-19, and
completely set aside in July 2021. Hence, the EVEL procedure no longer applies.
This taking back of the EVEL procedure leaves the English question unanswered.
The devolution has not weakened the union as now they all have individual powers
to exercise.
DEVOLUTION
Devolution in the UK is frequently described as a ‘process not an event’. The current
system of devolution in the UK was introduced by the Blair Government in the late
1990s. It involved the creation of new legislative and executive institutions in
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the conferral upon them of law-making
and administrative powers. A key purpose of devolution is to enable parts of the
country that possess distinct political and cultural identities to remain part of the
Union without subjugating those individual identities. The hypothesis upon which
devolution was built is that it can strengthen the Union by equipping it to
accommodate diversity, a flexible structure being stronger than a brittle one. That
