8 Devolution – transfer of powers

Figure 8 Map of the United Kingdom

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This is a map of the United Kingdom. It shows Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales and their capital cities.

Figure 8 Map of the United Kingdom

Figure 8 is a map of the United Kingdom, which identifies the four different countries that constitute it. In this part of the course you will explore the concept of devolved power from the Westminster Parliament to the recognised bodies of the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.

Devolution is the transference of power from central government to local government. Since 1999 the decentralisation of power from the Westminster government has taken place. Certain matters that were once dealt with in London are now distributed to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since devolution has taken place we now have the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff, the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast and the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

Watch this short film, which provides some additional information on devolution and outlines some of the powers that have been transferred to different parts of the UK.

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Transcript: Devolution – transfer of powers

BRIAN TAYLOR:

Scotland was always distinct. But devolution has amplified that difference. Big domestic issues, such as hospitals, schools, universities, and policing are handled here at Holyrood, not at Westminster. But that definitely doesn’t mean the UK general election is less important in Scotland. Far from it.

For Scotland, Westminster controls overall public spending, the broad economy, social security, defence, and foreign affairs. Big issues, big choice. Plus, of course, those devolved issues will tend to be stirred into the mix as voters here in Scotland form an overall impression of the candidates and the parties. Then politics, like the truth, is seldom pure and never simple.

BETSAN POWYS:

‘For Wales, see England?’ Not anymore. A decade of devolution has put paid to that. People in Wales are at ease with the fact, switched on to the fact, that the education their children get, the care their parents get, are decisions taken here in the assembly. But every penny of the public money that goes into running those services comes from the Treasury. So there’s just as much at stake for voters in Wales as in England, when parties talk about cutting or not cutting public spending.

Not devolved, foreign affairs, defence, policing. But then voters in Wales want to make their clean cut decision how to vote in this election based on a clean cut understanding of the devolution settlement. It doesn't work like that. Which candidate they like the look of, which party leader has made an impression. That will count over here just as much as it does over there.

MARK DEVENPORT:

Here in Northern Ireland, some people, especially unionists, still find it hard to stomach Irish Republicans, who once advocated violence, wielding power. But for many others, that’s the whole point of devolution. It’s better than what went before. There is still, of course, some dissident Republican violence. But for many young people, the troubles have receded into history. They want an administration that will work for them in the here and now, whatever happened in the past.

On that score, Stormont has had a patchy record. On the upside, local politicians have leveraged extra money for the justice system. They’ve also delayed water charges, held down the rates, and unemployment is well below the UK average. However, the system here has a tendency towards deadlock. And for all the talk of entering a new era of prosperity, Northern Ireland remains heavily dependent on a subsidised public sector. So better than what went before, but the devolved government here will increasingly be judged not on its past, but on how it delivers for the future.

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Devolution – transfer of powers

As this course is discussing the law that governs England and Wales, the focus will be on devolution in Wales.