1. The Constitution
1.3: The role and powers of devolved bodies:
Evaluate the view that the devolution process has successfully enhanced democracy in the UK.
Intro:
Devolution has enhanced local decision making as it has resulted in devolved bodies now possessing a wide-
range of administrative, financial and legislative powers. City Hall (Mayor of London) has an annual budget larger
than 80 countries and decisions such as the implementation of a congestion charge also shows the powers the
Mayor Of London has. However, in practice, the UK has asymmetrical devolution which is to say that it has not
been uniform in its extent across the UK. There is little devolution to English regional bodies as they do not have
the same fiscal powers as the London Assembly or Scottish Parliament for example e.g. only the Scottish
Parliament has power over income tax.
Decision → Participation in elections to the new arenas has been a disappointment. e.g. Cornwall
making/ elections 2005.
Participation → Covid dimension: the different approaches taken by the four governments of the UK (i.e.
the ‘UK government’ covering England, the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales,
and Northern Ireland) are heaping confusion on the public with different measures to control
the virus. Pandemic has highlighted the uneasy and unequal nature of the UK’s devolution
settlement. e.g. mask mandate, lockdowns etc.
→ devolution in general moves power to the people, giving them more ‘authority to propose
local solutions’.
Pluralism/ → The new legislatures act as policy laboratories - e.g. the Scottish first smoking ban.
Governance
→The use of proportional electoral systems in the new assemblies has resulted in
UK politics becoming much more pluralistic. e.g.
→ The raft of different policy measures that have emanated from the devolved assemblies in
Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have been made possible simply as the result of the
unequal distribution of public funds within the UK as allocated by the complex Barnett
formula.
Representation → Democracy has been enhanced within the UK since the government is much more region
sensitive:, e.g. the congestion charge in London.
, → The electorates within the devolved regions accept devolution and express the
view that it is the preferred system of government. e.g.
→ Despite increases in support for the nationalists in Scotland, support for independence
has never been a sustained majority.
→ Devolution has boosted the representation of women in comparison with
Westminster.
→ West Lothian Question: answered under ‘English votes for English Law’, states
that if a measure concerns only England, then can only pass through a grand
Committee containing members of that country.
→ Strong regional identity in various un-devolved parts of the UK such as Yorkshire or
Cornwall, as well as some city regions such as Manchester and Birmingham
→ BUT: lack of demand, partly based on the relative weakness of regional
identities in many areas of England shown in the ‘rejection’ of regional
devolution, for example, in the North East
→ BUT: push for independence reignited by pandemic + Brexit, Coronavirus Act 2020
conferred new powers on devolved ministries e.g. act empowered devolved nations to
provide indemnity to medical stay for criminal negligence cases & to temporarily close
educational establishments. + Scotland additional leg as Coronavirus Scotland Act.
Evaluate the view that the need for further English devolution is now overdue
INTRO:
Devolution is the process of delegating powers away from Westminster and to the regions and cities of the UK.
Ever since the devolution settlements enacted by the Blair government to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland,
many have questioned the unequal sharing of powers, particularly to England. In recent years a number of metro
mayors have been introduced to resolve this issue, however these only cover a fraction of England and they have
considerably weaker powers than the regions. It will be argued, after evaluating the power of the metro mayors,
the west lothian question and whether an English Parliament needs to come about that indeed the need for a
radical further devolution to England. This is by increasing the powers and scope of the metro mayors.
Three sections:
1) the power of the metro mayors are too little, 2) the west lothian question and the discontentment it creates. 3)
whether an English Parliament is needed
Metro Mayors
→ These mayors should be given broad powers on the same level as London and possibly
,even more than that.
→ Andy Burnham is calling for ‘deep devolution’ - argues this will allow areas to
flourish. 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.
→ Piecemeal. Have ‘soft power’: not formal powers, but able to get things done
through personal leadership e.g. Andy Burnham + COVID Greater Manchester does have
power over transport, but not the West of England for example.
→ Also there should be wider devolution to encompass all parts of England. 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 more local communities are given powers the more they will
reconnect with democracy and feel a part of decision making.
→ 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. So
further devolution is important.
→ Cornwall does not have a metro mayor, largely came about under Cameron,
following Tony Blair.
BUT:
→ Bristol has voted against a metro mayor in 2022, showing that some cities don’t
need it.
→ The counter is that if metro mayors are meant to increase participation and build greater
buy-in then why is turnout so low? e.g. Greater Manchester turnout 34% in May 2021
→ And the more you send powers to local areas the more you decrease
democratic accountability at the centre - people will no longer account central
government.
→ Maybe the argument is that what is currently in place is enough - so there is not
need for ‘further’ devolution.
→ The evolutionary nature of the uk constitution is that power is given when
required and only incrementally. It's working fine as it is.
→ England is not that large – can you really have Scotland level devolution?
→ Covid showed us that having different rules in a geographical space thats fairly
close to one another is confusing. E.g. different tiers for different areas.
, Interim judgement: the need for English devolution in the form of more powers to the metro
mayors is required as it helps bring energy into local areas.
West Lothian
Question → 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.
→ 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 taxpayers 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 it needs more power.
BUT:
→ 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 overcomplicated.
→ And it was abandoned recently by the Tories (who brought it in) because it was
seen to be unfair and not needed.
→ Do people really care about this uneven devolution or is it an obsession of
certain media and politicians. Most opinion polls don’t talk about resentment
towards the regions as a major thing.
→ At any rate, the SNP usually stays away from English-only issues in parliament
