Tag: Devolution
The UK needs a devolved government for London
London is the UK’s undiscovered country and it is time we recognised it as the UK’s fifth constituent part by granting it the devolved political powers it deserves. As Tim Oliver argues, London’s size, unique population, economy, politics, identity, society, place in the UK, Europe and the world all add up to make it stand […]
The best of Democratic Audit’s 2015 Devolution coverage
In the wake of the Scottish referendum, the debate around devolution in the UK, and in England more narrowly, has intensified. This post features some of Democratic Audit’s best 2015 analysis of national, regional and sub-regional devolution. Similar PostsEngland’s local elections 2018: the unusual case of Sheffield City Region’s mayoral contestThe current talks in Northern Ireland exemplify […]
Will devolution bring an economic and democratic dividend?
Devolution – particularly to city regions in the North of England – is currently all the rage, with much of the discourse surrounding this policy area suggesting an inherent link between shifting policymaking power down a level and economic performance. However, Matt Wood and Daniel Bailey suggest here that such a relationship cannot at all be […]
As Scotland and Wales demand greater devolution Northern Ireland is handing power back to Westminster
Social security has long occupied an ambiguous place in Northern Ireland’s devolution settlement. Mark Simpson of Ulster University discusses the implications of last month’s decision to temporarily hand legislative competence to Westminster. Similar PostsThe current talks in Northern Ireland exemplify the mistrust that has attended devolution from the outsetThe Northern Ireland Secretary’s suggestion that Stormont’s […]
Barnett and beyond: time for a new system for funding devolution?
Last Wednesday’s Autumn Statement and Spending Review set out spending limits for the rest of the parliament, not only for UK government departments but also for the separate Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments. Akash Paun explains how this works, and how it’s growing more complicated. Similar PostsScottish devolution will now have a bigger fiscal […]
Politicians are more likely to forward constituent inquiries to the appropriate level if they are of the same party as the recipient
The UK has enjoyed a significant degree of multi-tiered governance since the introduction of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, with recent events suggesting this dynamic will intensify further. Here, Audrey André, Jonathan Bradbury, and Sam Depauw look at constituent correspondence patterns, and find that politicians are much more likely to forward correspondence to the appropriate […]
Democratic revival can come from devolved democracy
The British state is being dramatically restructured by the ongoing wave of devolution deals but the focus so far has been on devolving economic powers and the delivery of public services. The next step should be to devolve decisions about how local democracy is organised to the cities, regions and local authorities, to help reinvigorate […]
The current talks in Northern Ireland exemplify the mistrust that has attended devolution from the outset
Following an independent report assessing paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland last week, Rick Wilford reviews the current crisis and assesses prospects for institutional reform. He writes that while there are grounds to believe that progress is being made, the scope and scale of reform may fall prey to the temper of DUP-Sinn Féin relations which […]
The Northern Ireland Secretary’s suggestion that Stormont’s impasse could be solved by the return of London rule is dangerous and wrong
Northern Ireland’s politics are in the midst of a crisis fuelled by the UK government’s austerity programme, and continued tensions over the presence of paramilitary forces linked to Sinn Fein. The Conservative Government’s Theresa Villiers has suggested that the reimposition of direct rule from Westminster could be a way out of the impasse. Sean Swan […]
More radical thinking than we are currently seeing will be needed to secure the devolved powers that London needs
London is the United Kingdom’s pre-eminent city, with enormous global economic clout. Here, Richard Brown argues that in order to thrive, more radical thinking than we have seen recently will be needed to ensure that the Capital’s governance structures and range of powers is appropriate for the modern age. Similar PostsAssessing England’s metro-mayors: a mixed […]
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