Devolution Flashcards
What is devolution?
The process by which central government gives power to the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Why is there asymmetry in the devolution process?
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have all been given extensive powers to legislate in matters involving their unique countries yet England doesn’t have a comparison-the introduction of elected mayors has gone a little way to rectifying this but England is still lacking similar powers. (London arguable has more power than other cities in England)As such, UK has a dual process of legislating for England but also the uk as well.
What are the important elements of the Scottish devolution process?
Labour Party initiated devolved process that resulted in the creation of the Scotland act 1998.
Has a reserved power model, meaning that anything that isn’t reserved for uk is free for Scotland to legislate on.( theoretically. Westminster upholds superior law making govt.)
With the popularity of the Scottish national party winning a majority in 2012 there was vocalism of wanting to become an independent country.
What is the Edinburgh agreement 2012?
Was an agreement between the gifts of Westminster and Scotland to determine the process and question raised for a referendum vote.
Scottish parliament passed the Scottish independence referendum act 2013. S1 (2) question “should Scotland be an independent country?’
What was the vow?
The three main policital Westminster parties feared that a yes vote may damage the U.K. stability. They promised Scotland substantial powers if the answer was no. This included the permanence if Scottish Parliament.
What was the importance of the Scotland act 2016?
Following the no vote to independence the smith commission published plans of substantial increased powers to the Scottish Parliament.
The enactment of the Scotland act 2016, highlighted the permanence of the Scottish Parliament and govt which couldn’t be abolished without a decision of the Scottish people through a referendum,(part 1 s1)
They also placed the Sewel convention into statute entrenching the convention that highlights that the “U.K.” will not normally legislate on devolved matters.
Has the devolution of Scotland undermined parliamentary sovereignty?
Theoretically Westminster is still sovereign law maker and could legislate without consent of the devolved nations. However, this would cause distrust and a possible further referendum for independence of Scotland.
However, the orthodox notion of parliamentary sovereignty means that Parliament cannot bind future successors and as such the Parliament could repeal the Scotland act and parliament if it chose to. This is even applied if the Scotland act was seen as a constitutional statute could be expressly repealed .
The Sewel convention, although recognised is not enforceable and could be repealed.(legal sovereignty)
But political sovereignty would cause further conflict if provisions were devolved.
Did the government of Wales act 1998 have the same powers given to them as Scotland?
No, Wales was originally given powers through a conferred powers model. However, the coalition govt acknowledged that there needed to be a fairer balance of distributed powers and proposed that Wales should have a reserved powers model.
What changes were enacted in the Wales act 2017?
S1 states the permanence of the welsh assembly and govt into statutory provision.
S2 acknowledges the Sewel convention and that U.K. will not normally pass leg on welsh devolved matters.
What problems were faced with the European Union (withdrawal) bill 2018?
The act is the process by which the U.K. will leave the eu.
However, when the bill was passed it received Wales consent following further debated but didn’t receive Scotland’s consent.
The U.K. still went ahead with the bill despite Scotland not consenting showing that Scotland can only delay a bill or veto it. But it undermines the Sewel convention as Westminster continued without consent.
