Devolution Flashcards
What are the powers of the Northern Ireland Assembly
- Health and social services
- Education
- Environment
- Agriculture
- Unicameral assembly= single chamber
- 90 members
- Proportional representation system: Catholics + Protestant, fairer to Catholics than FPTP
Power sharing: Sinn Fein (Republicans, mainly Catholics), forced to permanently have a coalition government of the 2 most popular parties
What was the Irish population before 1997?
1.9 million
(Mostly Protestant, Catholic minority)
What is the Northern Ireland history?
- Britain was annoyed they lost America so took over Ireland, then only Northern Ireland
- Easter rising
- Around 1921, South of Ireland became independant, Northern Ireland stayed part of Britain
- Home rule, lasted around 50 years
- 1952- the troubles, Unionists (want to remain in the UK, majority protestants) + Republicans (wanted to leave UK, reform with the Republic of Ireland, including IRA, typically Catholic)fought
- 1972: Bloody Sunday, main event of the troubles, let to Parliament being prorogued and dissolved
- Sunningdale agreement: power sharing body between Republicans + Unionists (Unionists didn’t want power sharing), so eventually abolished
- 1974: power sharing executive was established, but it collapsed due to a workers strike
Constitutional convention + Thatcher’s Northern Ireland Assembly-> unsuccessful, but led to
Why does Ireland have the system it has?
But Protestants want a set up they can dominate (their own parliament), Catholics want a different voting system, something that allows them a fair say
What is the history of Welsh Devolution?
- 1997: Labour calls a Welsh Referendum, result is For, with a majority of 6,721 (50.4% said yes, turnout was 50.2%)
- 1998: Government of Wales Act is passed
1999: The National Assembly for Wales meets for the first time (Not a Parliament, less powers, UK government still had sovreignity)
- 1998: Government of Wales Act is passed
Why did New Labour introduce so many constitutional reforms?
- Ensure support of constant reform fanatics Lib Dems, in case they don’t get an overall majority in the 1997 election
- Distinguish New Labour from Old Labour, who had been interested in working class rights, not individual rights
- Democratise, earn kudos, and make the UK look more modern
- Give more rights, Thatcher had taken rights to protest away in Criminal Justice Act 84, and from trade unions
Decentralise because it’s democratic and because Scots etc want it (and tend to vote for labour)
What was the result of the 1997 Welsh Devolution referendum?
- 51% voted for
- 49% voted against
- Turnout of about 50% (therefore only around 1/4 of the population voted for devolution)
What does the low turnout of the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum mean ?
Therefore fewer powers were devolved to Wales than to Scotland (due to a smaller demand)
What did the 1998 Government of Wales Act do?
- Set up elected Welsh National Assembly + Welsh Executive to be chosen from largest party in the assembly + headed by First Minister
- Assembly- no powers to make or pass primary laws, given no financial control-> Welsh government could run a number of services but couldn’t pass laws relating to those services
- Did have power to decide how to allocate funds it received from central government
What were the main areas of Welsh devolved government?
Main areas of devolved government to Wales included Health, Education, Local authority services, Public transport, Agriculture
Lack of means of raising finance from the Welsh Government, they relied on an annual grant from the UK government
What did the Government of Wales Act 2006 do?
- Small increase in devolved powers
- Offered further referendum to allow to people of Wales to approve further devolution
What led to the 2011 referendum?
Government of Wales Act 2006
What was the results for the 2011 referendum?
- 64% for further devolution
- 36% against
What is the Government of Wales Act 2014?
- Nationalist sentiment didn’t grow after the first stage of devolution
- Demands started to increase after 2010-> Lib Dem coalition government, keen on further decentralisation of power
- Fears that further devolution in Scotland would create too wide a gap between the devolved powers in Wales and Scotland
What did the Government of Wales 2014 lead to?
- Decided to hold a referendum in Wales to decide whether the government of Wales should have partial control of income tax
- Welsh government was granted control over various taxes including business taxes, stamp duty charged on property sales, landfill tax
- Government of Wales would have limited powers to borrow money on open markets to enable it to invest in major projects and housing
What did the Government of Wales Act 2017?
- Gave greater power to Welsh Government
- More autonomy in ‘governing competency’
- Removal of the provisions from Government of Wales Act 2014, to require devolution of taxation to be decided by referendum
- Confirmation of fiscal measures passed to the Welsh Assembly, including ability to vary income tax by 10p to the pound
- Greater freedom in borrowing
- Transfer of administrative and legislative responsability, including energy efficiency, onshore oil electricity production
- Creation of the Welsh Revenue Authority to collect Welsh-based taxes
Allowed Assembly to be further known as Welsh Parliament, came into force in 2020
How are powers distributed through devolutions in Unitary systems like the UK?
- The constitution rests on the Sovereignty of the Westminster Parliament
- Westminster can grant a devolved assembly or parliament to Scotland etc, but it can also repeal that Act
What is Devolution?
The transfer by the centre of powers to subordinate authorities (whether a ‘nation’ like Scotland, or region like London), whilst retaining sovereignty.
What was the Parliament in Scotland like before 1707?
Scotland had some ties with England but had its own parliament
What happened in 1707 between the Scottish Parliament and Westminster?
In 1707 Westminster persuaded the Scottish parliament to abolish itself and passed an Act of Union formalising that Scotland was now only a region of the United Kingdom, allocating Scots a certain number of seats in the Westminster parliament.
Why was the SNP (Scottish Nationalist Party) set up?
A feeling among some Scots that decisions were often taken without much regard for them and Scotland would be better off as a fully Independant country
How did the SNP get so strong in support?
The SNP got stronger from the 1970s partly because the discovery of North Sea Oil made them think Scotland could survive economically.
In the 1970s, Why did Scotland end up staying part of the UK + how did they balance the lack of control with more Powers to Scotland?
Westminster government gave Scotland quite generous grants through the ‘Barnett formula’ and most Scots thought Scotland would be better off staying in the UK. However they wanted their own parliament so they could have control of some issues like education and transport.
What happened between 1976-9?
A small group of Scottish MPs at Westminster persuaded the Labour government 1976-9, which had a very small majority, to pass a Bill promising Scotland devolution but only if in a majority more than 40% of the total Scottish electorate voted for it. The Yes side in the referendum did not reach that threshold and no Scottish Parliament was set up.
