Prime Minister and Heads of Devolved Governments Council


The Prime Minister and Heads of Devolved Governments Council is an intergovernmental body in the United Kingdom that consists of the UK prime minister and the heads of the three national devolved governments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

History

In 1999, devolved administrations were created in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland by the United Kingdom parliament. Initially a Joint Ministerial Committee system was created in 1999 by Tony Blair's Labour UK government to coordinate relationships between the three new governments and the UK government.
In 2022, following a review into intergovernmental relations in the UK, the present tiered system of governance was put in place. The tiered structure includes a Prime Minister and Heads of Devolved Governments Council as a top tier, portfolio-specific interministerial standing committees as a middle tier, and topic-based intergovernmental groups as the lower tier.

Responsibilities

The council is responsible for:
  • Discussing UK-level policies that require cooperation.
  • Overseeing the other government organisations and mechanisms within the tiers of intergovernmental relations.
  • Acting as final arbiter for the UK dispute resolution mechanism.

Membership

The members of the council are the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the First Minister of Scotland, the First Minister of Wales and the First and deputy First Ministers of Northern Ireland. Additionally, other ministers from the UK government may participate in meetings of the council, in particular the Minister for Intergovernmental Relations who commonly attends with the Prime Minister. In the absence of a Northern Ireland Executive, officials from the Northern Ireland Civil Service have participated in an observer capacity.

Meetings

The council met for the first time in November 2022 chaired by Rishi Sunak. No further meetings were held until after the 2024 United Kingdom general election when newly elected prime minister Keir Starmer convened a meeting in October 2024. Starmer stated that the council would meet again in Spring 2025.

Complementary bodies

The Council of the Nations and Regions was established in October 2024 by Keir Starmer. This forum is intended to complement rather than replace the existing system of intergovernmental relations between the UK's four governments.