Skip to main content

Devolution in the UK

Arjun Dhillon (U6G)

What is Devolution?: 

Devolution is the delegation of power from the UK parliament in Westminster to assemblies in Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland. In 1997 the Labour Party held a referendum in Scotland & Wales over devolution and 74% of Scottish voters and 50% of Welsh voters voted in favour of devolution. By 1998 the Good Friday Agreement had led to a ceasefire and paved the way for a Northern Ireland Assembly too. 

In the Scottish Parliament, there are 129 members and it is currently led by Humza Yousaf. It uses the AMS voting system and has key powers, particularly in Policing, Transport, Health, and Education. 

In the Welsh Senedd, there are 60 members; it is currently led by Vaughan Gething. It uses the AMS voting system and has key powers, particularly in the Fire & Rescue services, Transport, Agriculture, and the Environment. 

In the Northern Ireland Assembly, there were 90 members; it is currently vacant. It used the STV voting system and had key powers, particularly in Trade, Transport & Health. 

Has Devolution worked?: 

Devolution can be said to have strengthened the union- for example, Scotland voted to remain in the UK in the 2014 referendum. This referendum had a higher turnout than several others at 84%. Some critics argue that this referendum was marginal, with 45% still having voted to Leave. What critics may have been concerned about is the sovereignty of the English Parliament being able to infringe on Scottish matters, which was evident in 2024 when Rishi Sunak rejected a bill from Scotland to extend transgender rights by lowering the age to change your gender identity. This was the first time since powers were devolved to Scotland in 1999 that a bill was rejected which led to many LGBTQ+ campaigners feeling that their rights to equality and opportunity which are protected under the Equality Act 2010 had been violated. 

Conclusion: 

Whilst the possibility of a government putting their party's own beliefs before the request of a devolved body is in theory possible due to the sovereignty concentrated in Westminster. It is important to acknowledge the numerous successes of devolution; such as the 2012 Scotland Act which devolved income tax-raising power to the Scottish parliament as well as allowing it to borrow up to £2 billion a year and the 2017 Wales Act which allowed the renaming of the Welsh Assembly to Senedd Cymru. In Northern Ireland politicians from Westminster have attended reconciliation meetings since 2018 regarding the suspended parliament, which shows how its sovereignty over the devolved bodies can be useful.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A CALL TO CREATIVITY

Hello and welcome to The Looking Glass, WBGS' very own Academic Blog.  This year we are planning to breathe new life into this amazing blog as the Academic Head Boy team for 2025- 2026! However, at the Looking Glass we need your help to catapult this blog into it's GOLDEN AGE.  We need your articles, your essays, your opinions and your finest work to MAKE THE LOOKING GLASS GREAT AGAIN! If you have read something interesting or watched something that sparked a thought on social media -  WRITE ABOUT IT! If you entered a competition, however big or small - WRITE ABOUT IT! If you are interested in a specific field, issue or period - WRITE ABOUT IT! If you have produced artwork, a piece of music or creative writing - WE WILL PUBLISH IT! Your creative skills have been called to action - now we must muster to create, discover and explore.  You are the creative minds of the future. The Plato's, the Newtons, the Angelo's, the Nietzsche's. This is your calling.  This is Y...
1 comment
Read more

Clair de Lune: The history of the world’s most overplayed piano piece

CHAMOD SAMARASINGHE Classical music is an unusual art. It is dominated by a few pieces which are far more popular than everything else which has been composed within the past few centuries. When compared to Beethoven’s fifth symphony, Bach’s toccata in d minor, Handel’s messiah and fur Elise (and a few others), everything else is a comparative blur to most. Scholars could argue that this is due to their memorable nature and overall simplicity (for the listener, not the composer), but there is one notable exception to this rule: Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy. While the opening melody is certainly ear-catching and repetitive, everything else seems deliberately ambiguous, perfectly melancholy, and at times downright unusual. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Complexity for complexity’s sake? The Ars subtilior repertory

MR B. F. EASTLEY, MATHEMATICS TEACHER This essay provides a brief overview of a fascinating period of musical development during the latter half of the fourteenth century, during which some of the most sophisticated music ever written was composed and performed. The ‘Ars subtilior’ or ‘subtler art’ (a 20th century musicologist’s title) is a repertory of several hundred songs by French, Italian, Flemish, and Spanish musicians. This music is quite distinct from other contemporary compositions due to its dazzling complexity in all aspects – particularly rhythmic – but also harmonic, textual, and sometimes visual.
Post a Comment
Read more