Devolution of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales

a presentation by Annika Gräwe

Contents

Devolution – what's that?
England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom?

What's the difference?
How come there are four nations in the United Kingdom?

Why is there a need for devolution?

(or: from the Iron Age to the Act of Union)
How Britain is governed in general – and the origins of some more problems.
Devolution – finally

5.1) Devolution of Scotland

5.2) Devolution of Wales

5.3) Devolution of Northern Ireland

5.4) Why is there no devolution of England?
Conclusion

Devolution – what's that?

Devolution is the term used to describe the transfer of powers from a central government to a government on a regional or even local level.

This power may only be temporary and can be withdrawn by the central government at any time. The consequence is that the state itself remains unitary, opposed to a federal state as for example the Federal Republic of Germany.

In other words: If you regard evolution as a slow development of one manifestation of power to another one, and revolution as a sudden and often violently forced change of the manifestation, devolution is the opposite of both of them.

England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom?

What's the difference?

The United Kingdom is the term used for al the above mentioned regions, which are governed by one authority.

England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the names given to specific regions in the United Kingdom.

How come there are four nations in the United Kingdom?

Why is there a need for devolution?

(or: from the Iron Age to the Act of Union)

3000 – 2000 BC	Iron Age, increasing population that starts to organise itself in tribes that live by farming. Defence is becoming an issue, earthworks in southern England and defensive towers in Wales and Scotland are built.
500 BC	The Celts invade the British Isles and settle among the population. Thereby they support the development of new stronger tribes, the Scotti (Ireland), the Picts (in Scotland) and the Cantiaci (Southern England) are among the most important ones.
55 BC – 410 AD	Roman invasion on the British Isles. The Roman overrule is generally accepted and partly appreciated by the population as it offers political stability.
122 AD	Building of Hadrian's Wall to separate the “safe” part of the Roman Empire from the rebellious Picts. Hadrian's Wall starts in Carlisle and ends in Newcastle, which is to become a line very close to the Scottish border.
after 410	Anglo-Saxons invade the British Isles, under their influence among others new monarchies arise. The tribes on the borders of the islands get involved into several battles among each other and band together creating some ideas of nationhood. The Picts in Scotland for example formed a monarchy and a nationhood which later mixed with the Scotti (Ireland), who planned to take over Scotland but then rather married and stayed. Scotland still bears their name today.
around 700	An Anglo-Saxon king named Offa draws a border around his empire separating today's Wales, which has a monarchy of its own, from England.
850	Viking invasions caused a war between Anglo-Saxon and Viking troops. In consequence they supported the rise of the English national identity, as the English had to fight at the side of the Anglo-Saxons to save their country.
886	Alfred the Great is the first person to be called “the King of the English”
8^th and 9^th century	Wales suffers from Viking invasions as well as from Anglo-Saxon attacks. Both speed up the unification process of the tribes that already lasted some centuries. Finally a Welsh kings is crowned and a set of Welsh laws is set up. Unfortunately this wasn't to last very long as the Welsh had to recognise the Anglo-Saxon king as overlord to gain protection against the Vikings.
1066	William the Conqueror took power in Great Britain and decided to release Wales into independence.
1270s	Once more Wales has to join the English kingdom, the English king's son becomes the first Prince of Wales – a title we're still familiar with today. Meanwhile attempts to conquer Scotland fail.
16^th and 17^th century	The “virgin queen” Elisabeth reigns Great Britain, while her rebellious cousin Mary Stewart bears the title “Queen of Scots”. After Elisabeth's death there is due to her virginity no heir, which is why Mary's son, by that time King of Scots, becomes King of England as well. This can be regarded as the first union of the two countries.
1707	Queen Anne passes the Act of Union and brings an end to the Scottish Parliament that so far has acted rather successfully as a Scottish institution. The Act of Unions unites England, Wales and Scotland under the name “United Kingdom”.
1171 – 1800	During all this time English forces tried more or less successfully to gain ground in Ireland and finally succeeded when in the year 1800 the 2^nd Act of Union was passed declaring Ireland to be a part of the United Kingdom.

How Britain is governed in general – and the origins of some more problems

Constitutional monarchy
Executive power is exercised in the name of the Queen by the Prime Minister
The legislative power is the Parliament located in the Palace of Westminster in London
The Parliament is divided into two Chambers:

1.) The House of Commons or lower house. The members of the House of Commons are elected by the people and it is the more powerful of the two houses.

2.) The House of Lords or upper house. The members of this House are appointed and it consists of members of noble families and members of the Church of England.
The United Kingdom has a central government, meaning that all decisions are made in London.
The majority of British citizens live in England (about 50 million of a total of 60 million), the minority is spread out across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and some other regions not discussed here.

Devolution – finally

Note: In the course of history, national identities have developed in England, Wales, Scotland and of course in Ireland too. Nevertheless all four countries have been united into one in the Act of Union ignoring merely the different needs and wishes of the Welsh, the Scottish and the Irish people.

Up to (nearly) today all these people had to accept the rule of a mainly English government.

5.1 Devolution of Scotland

Historical events:

	Since the Act of Union the Scottish people wished for a re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament
20^th century	Suggestions and claims for a devolved Scottish Parliament become louder.
1979	A first attempt to establish a Scottish Parliament fails.
1980s and 90s	The demands for a regional government get more intense due to the conservative government of the Tory Party. The Labour Party uses this circumstance to make devolution a platform of their election campaigns.
1997	Labour wins the general elections and Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister. As promised in their campaigns a referendum is held to clear the way for Scottish devolution.
May 1999	The voters elect the members of the Scottish Parliament.
July 1999	Power is devolved to the Scottish Parliament with its seat in Edinburgh.

The Scottish Parliament and its government have executive and legislative powers in subjects of education, health, agriculture, justice and partly in tax raising.
The responsibility for foreign policy and several rights of intervention are reserved for the Parliament in Westminster
Unlike the Westminster Parliament the Scottish Parliament only has once chamber

Criticism:

One of the biggest matters is the 430 million pound bill for the new Parliament building in Edinburgh
Unionists (persons who oppose devolution and prefer the United Kingdom to be ruled centrally) claim devolution gave way to Nationalists who aim for an independent Scotland.
Polls say the Scottish people had hoped for more relevant changes in Scottish policy after devolution, but still a vast majority would vote for Scottish devolution again.
Improvements made by the Scottish Parliament have to be financed by the rest of the British taxpayers.

Improvements:

The Scottish Parliament for example abandoned hunting with dogs without further problems (remember the Fox-hunt issue in England), put a stop to smoking in enclosed public spaces and improved old age care.

5.2 Devolution of Wales

Demand for a Welsh devolution were more silent, probably because Wales had been part of the United Kingdom for roughly two centuries longer than Ireland and Scotland. For that reason steps toward devolution have been made a bit more hesitatingly.

A wee after the Scottish referendum the Welsh referendum was held, the decision for devolution was made by a majority of only 0,5%.
1998 the Government of Wales Act was passed establishing the “National Assembly of Wales” seated in Cardiff.
The National Assembly of Wales isn't marked out as a proper Parliament and shows no official signs of a divisions between legislative and executive powers.
Its powers are much weaker than the powers of the Scottish Parliament, it is not able to pass bills of its own, it only has the possibility to vary the bills made in Westminster.

Criticism:

The National Assembly hasn't any real power, a bill giving more powers to the Assembly is under discussion.
Critics remark that the Act of Union was broken by devolution (which is also true for Scotland and Ireland).
English taxpayers claim that they paid for the Welsh Assembly.
Nationalists wish for further devolution of the government to get closer to independence.
All in all the media and most people in Great Britain haven't really paid a lot attention to the Welsh devolution.

Improvements:

The education system has been changed in favour of Welsh students.
The health system differs slightly from the one in other parts of the United Kingdom.

5.3 Devolution of Northern Ireland

Historical events:

19^th + 20^th century	Irish demands for home rule (or devolution) become louder, several home rule bills created by the Irish Parliamentary Party in the British Parliament are defeated, first groups form using the names IRA (Irish Republican Army) and UVA (Ulster Volunteer Force). The IRA and the UVA are the nadir of a conflict running high since protestant Scottish and English people were settled in the catholic Northern Ireland region of Ulster.
1920	The Government of Ireland Act passes both Houses of the British Parliament. It intends to devolve power to a Southern Irish and a Northern Irish government. Southern Ireland, meaning nearly all of Ireland but Ulster, with its catholic majority aims at independence and the members of Parliament simply refuse to assemble. The wish for independence results in the War of Independence
1921	The Parliament of Northern Ireland is realized, against the resistance of the unionists who prefer the central government in London and against the resistance of the nationalists who demand Northern Ireland become part of the Republic of Ireland.
1922	The Anglo-Irish treaty puts an end to the war and creates the independent Republic of Ireland leaving Northern Ireland under the power of the UK
1968	Beginning of "the Troubles", open violence erupts after initially peaceful civil rights marches. For the next 30 years the newly founded IRA, UVA, the police forces and also the British Army fight a guerrilla war with bombings, terrorist attacks, burned houses and bloodshed all across Northern Ireland and also in Ireland and England. The devolved government collapses and Northern Ireland is ruled by the Parliament and partly the British Army.
1998	After a long and complicated peace process the Belfast Agreement (also known as The Good Friday Agreement) is signed and ends the fighting. It contains new plans for a devolved government, the Northern Ireland Assembly is elected.
December 1999	Power is devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Northern Ireland Assembly consists of one chamber.
It's based on power-sharing between the unionists and the nationalists to enable a stable government.
Most legislative powers haven been devolved, similar to the system in Scotland.

Criticism:

Since 1999 the Assembly has been suspended four times and currently is still under suspension since October 2002. The current suspension is a consequence of police investigations among the members of the nationalist party accusing them of supporting the IRA. At the moment there is speculation whether the accusations were plotted by the British secret service to force suspension. Earlier suspensions have been due to the protests of unionist politicians accusing the IRA of not acting in the way that was agreed on in the Belfast Agreement.
Due to the suspensions the Northern Ireland Assembly hasn't yet made any improvements that could be mentioned.

5.4 Why is there no devolution in England?

A devolution of England was under discussion but never got to a stage of proper realisation. Though some powers of the London parliament have been passed on to a more regionally orientated department, a devolved English government is unlikely ever to be realized.

The vast majority of British citizens living in England might be a reason for this – as they elect the British Parliament in Westminster anyway, the decisions made there are just as good as the ones made by a more regionally orientated government.

Still the English claim that they have to support the improvements in social sectors made by the Scottish and Welsh governments financially without seeing any benefit from them.

Conclusion

The Scottish devolution has worked out well. Though there are disputes about individual problems like the new parliament building and the above mentioned dispute over improvements financed by all British taxpayers, the majority of the Scottish people approve the Scottish Parliament and feel encouraged in their national feelings.

The Welsh devolution passed more or less unnoticed and provides fewer powers for the Welsh people to govern their country. However only few people seem to take offence and attempts to improve the bills regulating the devolution often lack support.

The devolution of Northern Ireland has failed so far. In fact the government of Northern Ireland is still seated in Westminster and it doesn't look like there will be a working government in Northern Ireland in the near future. Regarding the recent speculations concerning the British secret service it isn't clear either whether such a government is supported by the United Kingdom at all.