Devolution

When looking at the UK from the outside someone could be forgiven for thinking that it is a single

unitary state governed solely by the parliament in London but in truth, this is not the case, take a

closer look and it can be seen that there are numerous “devolved institutions” across the UK from

the Scottish parliament to the northern Irish and welsh assembly’s. Devolution in the UK is a complex

and varied topic and the various devolved institutions were not all created equal with some having

significantly more power and influence over the areas of land they govern even to this day.

One area which has have a very unique experience with devolution and a good example of how

devolution can struggle to deal with the issues a region faces is norther Ireland, while there had

been various forms of devolution in Ireland since the 1920s before being suspended in 1973 due to

serious political conflicts then in 1998 a referendum was held in accordance with the good Friday

agreement which redesigned devolution in northern Ireland in order to prevent the serious political

instabilities that the region had dealt with in the past. This new assembly did not seek to create a

majority government rather to create a cross party government with parties from both sides of the

Irish conflict and to put in place mechanics to allow for consensus based decision making though

even after this re-design there were still major issues with the new norther Irish assembly. IN an

interview Mark Durkan the former deputy first minister for Northern Ireland talked about how even

after the assembly was set up and its members elected they had serious issues, due to the specific

wording of the Good Friday agreement the Ulster Unionist Party was effectively blocking all

ministerial appointments until the issue over decommissioning was solved

(www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk, n.d.). This then lead to a prolonged standoff between the two

main parties of Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionist Party. While this particular issue

was eventually dealt with the dynamic of the two main parties being reluctant or at times totally

unwilling to negotiate with one and other leading to long standoffs would characterise the Norther
Irish assembly for much of its existence leading to it being suspended repeatedly over its lifetime

with the most recent suspension only having ended in early 2020. The Irish assembly has numerous

powers devolved to it including powers over welfare though it lacks meaningful taxation powers,

another power that was recently devolved was home affairs which had control over policing and

other sensitive areas of northern Irish politics, this issue threatened to create more conflicts

between the two main parties over which of them would fill this position, the solution was to invite a

member if the alliance party to fill it so neither of the main parties could be accused of abusing the

power it gave them preventing potential conflicts, this is an example of how despite the many

challenges and issues faced by the Norther Irish assembly peaceful solutions are achievable

Devolution was a chance for the UK to remain united while still recognising the individual needs of

its distinct regions however devolution in Ireland has been stretched to it limits by the historical and

cultural issues faced by the region.

Another area of the UK that has introduced a devolved system of government is Scotland. Of all the

devolved institutions on the UK the Scottish Parliament is arguable the most evolved and the most

successful. Having been established in 1999 it initially had powers over education, health, areas of

local government and many other things, one area that the Scottish government did not have much

meaningful power of was finance and taxation and this was something that the first Scottish

government was keep to change. In an interview, Jack McConnell who was Scotland’s first finance

minister and would go on to become first minister claimed that one of the biggest challenges after

devolution was to use the provisions of the first Scotland act that created the Scottish parliament to

find the right balance of powers that should be devolved and reserved adjusting this balance where

necessary, he goes on to give the example of renewable energy, there was a strong initiative in

Scotland surrounding the integration of renewable energy that was instigated by the devolution of

powers surrounding energy. McConnell then discusses how in the second decade of the Scottish
government and of devolution many ministers of the Scottish government were keen to have more

economic and taxation powers devolved to them which he believes in principle was a good thing

but, he also describes that process having been done in a “piecemeal way” meaning that these

devolutions of powers have been done for political compromise rather than a genuine belief that

these powers are better suited to be devolved powers rather than reserved

(www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk, n.d.). This is something of a trend with Scottish devolution

with the vast majority of devolutions of power being motivated by political changes in Scotland. For

example in 2007 and 2011 when the Scottish National party won a majority in the Scottish

parliament triggering more devolved powers to be granted to the Scottish parliament as the SNP

pressured the government or in 2015 with the smith commission after the narrow victory of the No

campaign in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum where more devolved powers were

promised to the Scotland by the UK government if the people delivered a no vote on the day of the

day of the referendum. Devolutions in Scotland is a story of success when compared to that of other

areas of the UK and is a powerful example of the positive aspects of the devolution system.

In conclusion devolution in the UK is a varied and complex system that operates in a very different

manner depending on the area of the UK it has been implemented in, in Ireland it was largely

characterised by struggle and strife finding it difficult to function under the weight of the cultural

issues faced by the region though despite this reality there is still hope that devolution will provide a

new solution so these issues while in Scotland Devolution has been largely successful providing a

functional and stable government for the region allowing the people of Scotland a higher degree of

personal autonomy and self-determination.

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