Devolution

Question 1

What did the Scotland Act 1998 do?

Was it successful?

Answer 1

set out FPTP and AMS systems to be used for elections and legislative process

powers over constitution, foreign affairs, defence, trade remained with Westminster

+accessible parliament with direct petitions led to increased engagement
+agreeable policies e.g. free uni
+easier to hold politicians to account, whereas before Secretary of State was only on Q Time 7x a year
-West Lothian Question
-little done to tackle local issues e.g. crime
-voter-friendly policies at expense of effective ones

Question 2

What did the Calman Commission (2007-9) recommend?

Answer 2

Review of Scotland Act 1998
More power to raise tax and borrow should be given
Barnett formula which calculates funding from Westminster needed replacing
Better dialogue between parliaments
Improved scrutiny of bills

Question 3

What are some failures of initial devolution in Scotland?

Answer 3

• increased nationalism
• local govt. less important than before
• UK no longer unitary
• some policy failures e.g. school students perform worse
• list MSPs generally seen as ineffectual

Question 4

What did the Scotland Act 2012 do?

Answer 4

• gave Scottish Govt. power to change income tax by 10p, set stamp duty and landfill tax, borrow up to 2.2 bn a year and power over drugs, driving and gun law
• Scotland represented in BBC
• created revenue Scotland so tax powers no longer went through HMRC

Question 5

Why did the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum come about?
What was the outcome?

Answer 5

SNP wanted one in 2010 but didn’t introduce until in maj govt.
suggested ‘Devo Max’ as a third option but this was rejected
Edinburgh Agreement 2012 allowed referendum to go ahead (had to be granted by Westminster)
Turnout=85% and 16yo could vote
45% yes, 55% no

Question 6

What were the three main impacts of the 2014 referendum on Scottish Independence?

Answer 6

Increased nationalism led to huge rise in SNP MPs in Westminster after 2015 election
Devo Max agreed by all main parties 3 days before (to try and get a no vote) leading to Scotland Act 2016 and EVEL
Scotland Act 2016 gave control over electoral system, more ability to set taxes, right to receive half of VAT raised in Scotland and greater control over welfare benefits

Question 7

What are the issues around Scottish devolution now?

Answer 7

Scottish parliament voted for second referendum to be held in 2019 but Westminster said they would block it (Conservative and UNIONIST party)
Nicola Sturgeon had to back down when SNP lost seats in 2017

Question 8

What was the outcome of the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum?

Answer 8

50. 2% turnout

50. 3% yes

Question 9

What did the Government of Wales Act 1998 do?

Answer 9

Established Welsh Assembly with a combined executive and legislature
Allowed to make secondary legislation only when authorised by Westminster

Question 10

How successful was early devolution in Wales?

Answer 10

+access to govt.
+inclusive politics
-minority labour admin. struggled to achieve consensus
-rapid turnover of first First Secretary
-led to 2002 resolution to separate executive from legislative powers

Question 11

What did the Richards Commission recommend?

Answer 11

> Welsh assembly should have greater legislative power (inc. tax powers)
distinct and separate executive and legislature
membership should increase
move towards STV

Question 12

What did the Government of Wales Act 2006 do?

Answer 12

> separated executive from legislature
Wales allowed to use Orders of Council to make laws (‘measures’) which would then have to be approved by Assembly, Sec. of State, Westminster and the Queen
Welsh Consolidated Fund meant Wales specified how Westminster funding would be spent

Question 13

What was the outcome of the 2011 Welsh devolution referendum?

Answer 13

turnout = 36%

63.5% yes to Assembly making laws in all areas of devolved power

Question 14

How successful has devolution been in Wales?

Answer 14

\+revivial of Welsh culture
\+some significant economic growth
\+effective laws e.g. plastic bag tax
\+more accessible politics
-duplication of resources
-too much voting leading to apathy
-low turnout in referendums suggests not wanted
-piecemeal changes
-initially more like county council

Question 15

How did COVID-19 impact Welsh devolution?

Answer 15

COVID passports
rise in support for independence and for abolition of Welsh parliament
masks not mandatory in Wales when they were in England

Question 16

What did the Wales Act 2017 do?

Answer 16

Made it more like Scotland and NI:
control over electoral system
power to raise income tax by up to 10p
more borrowing powers (up to 1 billion)
created Welsh Revenue Authority to collect devolved taxes

Question 17

What are some attitudes towards Welsh devolution?

Answer 17

+Opposition fell after 1997, with maj. support now
-Some support for more powers e.g. policing
-Policy impact seen as mediocre e.g. in 2016 60% said no difference to living standards
+Welsh politicians trusted more than those in London

Question 18

What was Bloody Sunday?

Answer 18

30 January 1972 British troops shot 28 unarmed civilians during protest march
Stormont was prorogued as a result and UK govt. ruled

Question 19

What was the Sunningdale Agreement?

Did it work?

Answer 19

> attempt to establish a power-sharing Assembly in and Executive in NI
-brought down by Ulster Workers’ Council Strike 1974 –> unionists felt too much power had been given to nationalists

Question 20

How does the system of devolution in NI work?

Answer 20

• Assembly elected using STV
• Largest unionist party nominates First Minister and largest nationalist party nominates Deputy First Minister -> BOTH ARE EQUAL
• d’hont method used to choose positions in Assembly (more votes = more positions in executive to appoint and choose which you want earlier)
• most measures passed by simple majority but some need cross-community consent

Question 21

What was the Good Friday Agreement?

Answer 21

> signed 1998
3 strands:
strand 1 -> set out framework for creation of an Assembly of 108 members to be elected using PR and an NI executive
strand 2-> North-South issues (cross-border cooperation)
strand 3 ->institutions like British-Irish council to promote cooperation between Parliaments/Assemblies
paramilitary groups also supposed to decommission weapons

Question 22

What are some ongoing tensions in NI?

Answer 22

• yet to bring in Irish Language Act which would mean Irish had equal status to English -> supported by nationalists, opposed by unionists; Britain promised it in St Andrews agreement
• no ‘truth and reconciliation’ over past
• Lyra McKee was a journalist who was murdered by Republicans -> violence still happens e.g. Real IRA

Question 23

How much support is there for devolution in NI?

Answer 23

~50% support devolution

direct rule and united Ireland support 15-20% each

Question 24

What was the St Andrews Agreement?

Answer 24

> signed 2006
full acceptance of PSNI by Sinn Féin
DUP commitment to power-sharing
re-establishment of NI Assembly and executive
envisioned devolution of policing within 2 years

Question 25

What forms of devolution exist in England?

What impact do they have?

Answer 25

> mayors -> London mayor sets budget and policies for Greater London authority (power over economic development, transport, planning and policing) e.g. congestion charge 2003
local authorities :
55 unitary authorities (full range) 27 county councils, 201 district councils (both some local stuff), 36 metropolitan borough councils (everything local)
education, social services, housing, roads and public transport, planning, environment and leisure services

Question 26

What is EVEL? How does it work?

Answer 26

> English Votes for English Laws
introduced in 2015
bills deemed by speaker to be England-only/England and Wales only are considered in a Legislative Grand Committee where MPs for Eng./Eng. and Wales can veto the whole bill or particular clauses
when considering HoL amendments that only affect Eng./Eng. and Wales, bill must secure a double majority -> maj. of HoC but also of Eng/Eng and Welsh MPs

Question 27

What are the arguments for and against an English Parliament?

Answer 27

+complete devolution and resolve the English Question
+more coherent with federal UK parliament responsible for UK-wide issues
+political and institutional expression to English identity and interests
-additional layer of govt. and tensions between English parliament and UK govt.
-not coherent or equitable as England is bigger
-only limited support for it ->50% in 2015

Question 28

What are regional assemblies?

What are the arguments in favour of/against them?

Answer 28

> Blair govt. proposed directly elected regional assemblies (like London Assembly) in the 8 regions outside london
plan was rejected after referendum on northeast assembly returned no vote of 78% in 2004

+bring decision-making closer to people and serve different regional interests
+more balanced devolution since Eng. too large to have own Parliament
+benefit democracy as they would do the work of unelected quangos (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation; responsible for funding/regulation of area of public policy)
+areas like Cornwall and Yorkshire have strong regional identities e.g. cornish language
-few areas have such a strong sense of identity
-break up England so harder to express English interests
-tensions between regional and local govt.
-dominated by urban interests
-little support

Question 29

What are some of the positive and negative impacts of EVEL?

Answer 29

+has prevented controversial laws being passed e.g. increase in tuition fees in Eng. 2004which relied on whipped votes of Scottish MPs

• not well understood by MPs
• a lot of admin. work and has disrupted commons proceedings
• hasn’t made a difference to legislation yet ->out of 43 votes under EVEL none saw English MPs vote differently to UK-wide MPs
• concern over knock-on effect ->e.g. Scottish MPs unable to vote on ‘Barnett consequentials’ (Barnett formula calculates public expenditure allocated to devolved govts. based on changes to amount in England)
• creates different classes of MPs
• only 6 of 19 govts since 1945 have had enough of English MPs to have a majority