Devolution in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, devolution is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's statutory granting of a greater level of self-government to parts of the United Kingdom, such as to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and parts of England, specifically to London and the combined authorities.
Statutory powers have been awarded to the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd, and the Northern Ireland Assembly, with authority exercised by their associated executive bodies: the Scottish Government, Welsh Government, and Northern Ireland Executive respectively. In England, oversight powers and general responsibility have also been given to the London Assembly, which oversees the Greater London Authority and Mayor of London; and, since 2011, various mayoral combined authorities throughout England. There have been further proposals for devolution in England, including national devolution, regional devolution or failed proposals for regional assemblies.
Devolution differs from federalism in that the devolved powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government, thus the state remains, de jure, a unitary state. Legislation creating devolved parliaments or assemblies can be repealed or amended by parliament in the same way as any statute, although the parliaments and assemblies in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London, as well as some mayors in England, were supported via public referendums. Laws such as the Scotland Act 2016 and Wales Act 2017 affirmed the permanence of their devolved institutions, and any abolishment of such must be voted for in a referendum.
Legislation passed following the EU membership referendum, including the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, undermines and restricts the authority of the devolved legislatures in both Scotland and Wales.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland was the first constituent of the UK to have a devolved administration. Home Rule came into effect for Northern Ireland in 1921, under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The Parliament of Northern Ireland established under that act was prorogued on 30 March 1972 owing to the destabilisation of Northern Ireland upon the onset of the Troubles in late 1960s. This followed escalating violence by state and paramilitary organisations following the suppression of civil rights demands by Northern Ireland Catholics.The Northern Ireland Parliament was abolished by the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973, which received royal assent on 19 July 1973. A Northern Ireland Assembly was elected on 28 June 1973 and following the Sunningdale Agreement, a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive was formed on 1 January 1974. This collapsed on 28 May 1974, due to the Ulster Workers' Council strike.
The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention and second Northern Ireland Assembly were unsuccessful at restoring devolution. In the absence of devolution and power-sharing, the UK Government and Irish Government formally agreed to co-operate on security, justice and political progress in the Anglo-Irish Agreement, signed on 15 November 1985. More progress was made after the ceasefires by the Provisional IRA in 1994 and 1997.
The 1998 Belfast Agreement, resulted in the creation of a new Northern Ireland Assembly, intended to bring together the two communities to govern Northern Ireland. Additionally, renewed devolution in Northern Ireland was conditional on co-operation between the newly established Northern Ireland Executive and the Government of Ireland through a new all-Ireland body, the North/South Ministerial Council. A British–Irish Council covering the whole British Isles and a British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference were also established.
From 15 October 2002, the Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended due to a breakdown in the Northern Ireland peace process but, on 13 October 2006, the British and Irish governments announced the St Andrews Agreement, a 'road map' to restore devolution to Northern Ireland. On 26 March 2007, Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley met Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams for the first time and together announced that a devolved government would be returning to Northern Ireland. The Executive was restored on 8 May 2007. Several policing and justice powers were transferred to the Assembly on 12 April 2010.
The 2007–2011 Assembly was dissolved on 24 March 2011 in preparation for an election to be held on Thursday 5 May 2011, this being the first Assembly since the Good Friday Agreement to complete a full term. The fifth Assembly convened in May 2016. That assembly dissolved on 26 January 2017, and an election for a reduced Assembly was held on 2 March 2017 but this did not lead to formation of a new Executive due to the collapse of power-sharing. Power-sharing collapsed in Northern Ireland due to the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal. On 11 January 2020, after having been suspended for almost three years, the parties reconvened on the basis of an agreement proposed by the Irish and UK governments. Elections were held for a seventh assembly in May 2022. Sinn Féin emerged as the largest party, followed by the Democratic Unionist Party. The newly elected assembly met for the first time on 13 May 2022 and again on 30 May. However, at both these meetings, the DUP refused to assent to the election of a speaker as part of a protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol, which meant that the assembly could not continue other business, including the appointment of a new Executive. On 3 February 2024, a new executive was formed marking the return of devolved government to Northern Ireland.
Scotland
The Acts of Union 1707 merged the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England into a single Parliament of Great Britain. Ever since, individuals and organisations advocated the return of a Scottish Parliament. The drive for home rule for Scotland first took concrete shape in the 19th century, as demands for home rule in Ireland were met with similar demands in Scotland. The National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights was established in 1853, a body close to the Scottish Unionist Party and motivated by a desire to secure more focus on Scottish problems in response to what they felt was undue attention being focused on Ireland by the then Liberal government. In 1871, William Ewart Gladstone stated at a meeting held in Aberdeen that if Ireland was to be granted home rule, then the same should apply to Scotland. A Scottish home rule bill was presented to the Westminster Parliament in 1913 but the legislative process was interrupted by the First World War.The demands for political change in the way in which Scotland was run changed dramatically in the 1920s when Scottish nationalists started to form various organisations. The Scots National League was formed in 1920 in favour of Scottish independence, and this movement was superseded in 1928 by the formation of the National Party of Scotland, which became the Scottish National Party in 1934. At first the SNP sought only the establishment of a devolved Scottish assembly, but in 1942 they changed this to support all-out independence. This caused the resignation of John MacCormick from the SNP and he formed the Scottish Covenant Association. This body proved to be the biggest mover in favour of the formation of a Scottish assembly, collecting over two million signatures in the late 1940s and early 1950s and attracting support from across the political spectrum. However, without formal links to any of the political parties it withered, and devolution and the establishment of an assembly were put on the political back burner.
Harold Wilson's Labour government set up a Royal Commission on the Constitution in 1969, which reported in 1973 to Edward Heath's Conservative government. The Commission recommended the formation of a devolved Scottish assembly, but this was not implemented. Support for the SNP reached 30% in the October 1974 general election, with 11 SNP MPs being elected. In 1978 the Labour government passed the Scotland Act which legislated for the establishment of a Scottish Assembly, provided the Scots voted for such in a referendum. However, the Labour Party was bitterly divided on the subject of devolution. An amendment to the Scotland Act that had been proposed by Labour MP George Cunningham, who shortly afterwards defected to the newly formed Social Democratic Party, required 40% of the total electorate to vote in favour of an assembly. Despite officially favouring it, considerable numbers of Labour members opposed the establishment of an assembly. This division contributed to only a narrow 'Yes' majority being obtained, and the failure to reach Cunningham's 40% threshold. The 18 years of Conservative government, under Margaret Thatcher and then John Major, saw strong resistance to any proposal for devolution for Scotland, and for Wales.
In response to Conservative dominance, in 1989 the Scottish Constitutional Convention was formed encompassing the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Green Party, local authorities, and sections of "civic Scotland" like Scottish Trades Union Congress, the Small Business Federation and Church of Scotland and the other major churches in Scotland. Its purpose was to devise a scheme for the formation of a devolution settlement for Scotland. The SNP decided to withdraw, as independence was not a constitutional option countenanced by the convention. The convention produced its final report in 1995. In May 1997, the Labour government of Tony Blair was elected with a promise of creating devolved institutions in Scotland. In late 1997, a referendum was held which resulted in a "yes" vote.
The newly created Scottish Parliament has powers to make primary legislation in all areas of policy which are not expressly 'reserved' for the UK Government and parliament such as national defence and international affairs. 76% of Scotland's revenue and 36% of its spending are 'reserved'. Devolution for Scotland was justified on the basis that it would make government more representative of the people of Scotland. It was argued that the population of Scotland felt detached from the Westminster government. Critics however point out that the Scottish Parliament's power is on most measures surpassed by the parliaments of regions or provinces within federations, where regional and national parliaments are each sovereign within their spheres of jurisdiction.
A referendum on Scottish independence was held on 18 September 2014, with the referendum being defeated 55.3% to 44.7%. In the 2015 general election the SNP won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats with 50% of all Scottish votes. This saw the SNP replace the Liberal Democrats as the third largest in the UK Parliament. In the 2016 Scottish Parliament election the SNP fell two seats short of an overall majority with 63 seats but remained in government for a third term. The proportional electoral system used for Holyrood elections makes it very difficult for any party to gain a majority. The Scottish Conservatives won 31 seats and became the second largest party for the first time. Scottish Labour, down to 24 seats from 38, fell to third place. The Scottish Greens took 6 seats and overtook the Liberal Democrats who remained flat at 5 seats. Following the 2016 referendum on EU membership, where Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to Remain and England and Wales voted to Leave, the Scottish Parliament voted for a second independence referendum to be held once conditions of the UK's EU exit are known.
The SNP had advocated for another independence referendum to be held in 2020. The SNP were widely expected to include a second independence referendum in their manifesto for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Senior SNP figures have said that a second independence referendum would be inevitable, should an SNP majority be elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2021 and some claimed this was going to happen by the end of 2021, though that hasn't been the case.
The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 restricts and undermines the authority of the Scottish Parliament. Its primary purpose is to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy. It restricts the ability of the Scottish government to make different economic or social choices from those made in Westminster.