AYESHA ZUHAIR, DAILY MAIL, 2007 - Although the current devolved institutions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have only been in place or legislated for about nine years, the United Kingdom has over 120 years of experience with devolution and the complex political and institutional issues it presents. This long accumulated experience started when William Gladstone tried to deal with the political problems in Ireland by introducing a devolution measure referred to by Gladstone as a Home Rule Bill in 1886. . .
The United Kingdom's first experience of the working of a devolved legislature was in Northern Ireland over a fifty-year period. The Government of Ireland Act 1920 gave Ireland Home Rule, but partitioned Ireland. There were to be two parliaments one for the 26 counties of the Catholic south and another for the six Protestant counties in the north. The Ulster Protestants did not want home rule, but were forced to accept it as the price for being excluded from the Catholic nationalist south. . .
Devolution in Northern Ireland illustrated how difficult it is to make devolved institutions with full taxing and spending powers financially independent and accountable, when they have a limited tax base. In principle, the Northern Ireland parliament had tax raising powers and was expected to finance its own public services and make an 'Imperial Contribution' to the cost of things such as the armed services. . .
Legislation for a devolved assembly with an executive and legislative power was agreed as part of the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998. While the Protestant Unionists in 1921 had not wanted a parliament during the fifty years of the Stormont regime, they became accustomed to a high degree of autonomy, which they came to appreciate and enjoy. The people of Northern Ireland had no practical means of influencing the government at Westminster, because the political parties in mainland Britain had taken no effective part in Northern Irish affairs since 1921.
The condition for devolution that the United Kingdom Government insists on is a framework of power sharing that enables both community in Northern Ireland to participate in the devolved administration and that the aspiration of the nationalist communities, for an Irish dimension, is also taken into account. For large parts of the Unionist majority such arrangements are unacceptable. Reaching agreement on stable power sharing arrangements is therefore difficult.
Scotland has a full parliament. It has all powers devolved to it that were once exercised by the Westminster Parliament, apart from a list of specific powers scheduled as reserve powers. The principal reserved items relate to the Crown and constitution, foreign affairs and defense, immigration and economic, monetary and financial matters. Oddly enough, abortion is specifically identified as a reserved United Kingdom matter. . .
Wales has an elected assembly, not a parliament that appoints an executive headed by a First Minister. . .
The United Kingdom's experience of devolution has had two dimensions to it so far. The first has been the consequences of the processes that have led to devolved institutions; and the second is the working of the devolved arrangements themselves. The process of devolution has had a powerful impact on the United Kingdom party system breaking and rearranging party majorities. Both the process of making decisions about devolution and the institutions created by it have resulted in novel constitutional practices: referendums, special majorities, changes in parliamentary procedure, a new relationship between the Crown and a legislature and the creation of a Presiding Officer whose function is more politically engaged than that of the traditional role of the Speaker.
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The United Kingdom's first experience of the working of a devolved legislature was in Northern Ireland over a fifty-year period. The Government of Ireland Act 1920 gave Ireland Home Rule, but partitioned Ireland. There were to be two parliaments one for the 26 counties of the Catholic south and another for the six Protestant counties in the north. The Ulster Protestants did not want home rule, but were forced to accept it as the price for being excluded from the Catholic nationalist south. . .
Devolution in Northern Ireland illustrated how difficult it is to make devolved institutions with full taxing and spending powers financially independent and accountable, when they have a limited tax base. In principle, the Northern Ireland parliament had tax raising powers and was expected to finance its own public services and make an 'Imperial Contribution' to the cost of things such as the armed services. . .
Legislation for a devolved assembly with an executive and legislative power was agreed as part of the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998. While the Protestant Unionists in 1921 had not wanted a parliament during the fifty years of the Stormont regime, they became accustomed to a high degree of autonomy, which they came to appreciate and enjoy. The people of Northern Ireland had no practical means of influencing the government at Westminster, because the political parties in mainland Britain had taken no effective part in Northern Irish affairs since 1921.
The condition for devolution that the United Kingdom Government insists on is a framework of power sharing that enables both community in Northern Ireland to participate in the devolved administration and that the aspiration of the nationalist communities, for an Irish dimension, is also taken into account. For large parts of the Unionist majority such arrangements are unacceptable. Reaching agreement on stable power sharing arrangements is therefore difficult.
Scotland has a full parliament. It has all powers devolved to it that were once exercised by the Westminster Parliament, apart from a list of specific powers scheduled as reserve powers. The principal reserved items relate to the Crown and constitution, foreign affairs and defense, immigration and economic, monetary and financial matters. Oddly enough, abortion is specifically identified as a reserved United Kingdom matter. . .
Wales has an elected assembly, not a parliament that appoints an executive headed by a First Minister. . .
The United Kingdom's experience of devolution has had two dimensions to it so far. The first has been the consequences of the processes that have led to devolved institutions; and the second is the working of the devolved arrangements themselves. The process of devolution has had a powerful impact on the United Kingdom party system breaking and rearranging party majorities. Both the process of making decisions about devolution and the institutions created by it have resulted in novel constitutional practices: referendums, special majorities, changes in parliamentary procedure, a new relationship between the Crown and a legislature and the creation of a Presiding Officer whose function is more politically engaged than that of the traditional role of the Speaker.
MORE ON DEVOLUTION
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