Challenges to Devolution in England
As Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland gain more power through the process of devolution, the fate of devolution in England remains a question. English devolution seeks to address the issue that Westminster Parliament, with representation from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, has power to create laws regarding exclusively ‘English affairs’ (Cox, 2016). To address this issue, several solutions have been proposed. One proposed solution is devolving some powers to regional legislative bodies and executives representing specific areas of England (Cox, 2016). In addition to solving the ‘English Question’, it is argued that devolution allows for better public policy as policies can be tailored to the needs of a smaller area (Mackinnon, 2013). This post seeks to highlight some challenges with the current system of devolution in England, including how areas are determined as well as the democratic legitimacy of devolution.
The Current State of Devolution in England:
To identify the challenges of devolution within England, the current system must first be examined and explained. The current system of devolution is divided into levels from one to three, with the expected introduction of a fourth level for Greater Manchester and West Midlands (Sandford, 2023). These levels refer to the amount of powers given to local authorities as well as the type of institution charged with managing these authorities. These powers can include transport, land use, economic growth incentives, police and fire, and other additional powers depending on the region. Not all regions have all devolved powers as each region has a specific devolution deal that outlines which powers they will be granted (Sandford, 2023). To determine these specific devolution deals, each local authority negotiates with government to create a ‘devolution deal’ which then must be approved by each council involved (Sandford, 2023). Based on the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016, these deals do not need to be approved by a referendum (Sandford, 2023).
Challenge 1: Defining regions for devolution
One difference between devolution in England compared to Scotland and Wales, is the lack of national or regional identity associated with a devolved area. In Scotland and Wales, the nations have a shared history and culture to provide legitimacy to their desire for autonomy from a centralised government (Richards and Smith, 2016). Within England, the devolved nations do not necessarily have the same level of shared history and culture. Thus, one challenge that may need to be addressed is the criteria of how a devolved region within England is decided. There are currently population criteria (500,000 people) as well as the descriptor that a devolved area must cover “a sensible FEA [functional economic area] and/or a whole county geography” (Sandford, 2023). However, beyond these criteria, little guidance is given. It could be argued that these criteria may lead to areas being excluded from devolved regions for the purpose of political ease or economic strength (Richards and Smith, 2016).
Additionally, at this time not all devolved regions in England have the same level of power and authority. Some regions have significant devolved powers, while in contrast many regions have little to no devolved powers (Sandford, 2023). Therefore, this version of English devolution does not solve the ‘English Question’ as there are still areas who have their policy decided by Westminster while others have regional governments to make those decisions.
Challenge 2: Democratic legitimacy of Devolution
Additionally, because devolution deals in England do not require referendums, it can be questioned whether the process of devolution has democratic legitimacy within England (Richards and Smith, 2016). One of the main arguments for devolution is that it would lead to a more democratic and accountable system (Tomaney, 2016). However, one survey found that, in 2012, only 15% of English respondents wanted local assemblies while over half wanted the UK Parliament to continue to create their laws (Park et al., 2013). If the process of devolution is forced on English voters despite their preference for another system, it may not be truly democratic. Thus, English devolution may not create the more democratic and accountable system it promised (Tomaney, 2016).
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are several challenges that need to be addressed to create a functional system that achieves the goals of devolution in England. This post examined two of the issues including a lack of consistency on how regions are decided and the democratic legitimacy of devolution. These challenges are only two of the issues that will need to be addressed, there are several more potential challenges that will need solutions in order to develop a successful devolved system within England.
Bibliography
Cox, E. (2016). ‘Devolution in England– Is the Genie out of the Lamp?’ The Political Quarterly,
87 (4), pp. 565-571, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12290
Mackinnon, D. (2013). ‘Devolution, State Reconstruction and Policy Divergence in the UK.’ The
Geographical Journal, 181 (1), pp. 47-56, https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12057
Park, A., Bryson, C., Clery, E., Curtice, J. and Phillips, M. (eds.) (2013). ‘Devolution: Identities
and constitutional preferences across the UK.’ British Social Attitudes: the 30th Report, London: NatCen Social Research, www.bsa-30.natcen.ac.uk
Richards, D. and Smith, M. ‘Devolution in England, the British Political Tradition and Absence
of Consultation, Consensus and Consideration.’ The Journal of Representative Democracy, 51 (4), pp. 385-401, https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2016.1165505
Sandford, M. (2023) ‘Devolution to Local Government in England.’ House of Commons Library,
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN07029/SN07029.pdf
Tomaney, J. (2016). ‘Limits of Devolution: Localism, Economics, and Post Democracy.’ The
Political Quarterly, 87 (4), pp. 546-552, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12280
This blog post provides a well-outlined explanation of the challenges that come with devolution in England. The claim that England has a lack of regional identities, however, stuck out to me. While the regions of England do not have the same depth of distinct identity as that of Scotland or Wales, there is an economic, political, and social divide between the North and South of England. The North has historically been poorer and more industrial than the South. As England recovered from the recession caused by World War II, government schemes to increase economic development mostly benefited the South. There are discrepancies in spending, as despite public complaints about the public transportation in the North, 86% of the government’s spending on big transportation projects is put into London alone, according to the Economist. While not as strong as those in Scotland and Wales, there are calls for regional devolved powers in England as the power to create and implement policy would allow different regions, particularly those in the North of England, to address the needs and priorities of those specific areas. While the logistics of defining regions is still an impediment to devolution in England, it is worth noting that there are legitimate differences between the North and South of England.
https://www.economist.com/britain/2012/09/15/the-great-divide
I like how this author has explored the possibility of regional devolution in England, I find this particularly interesting as there is less of a broad discussion on this topic within the subject of devolution. I agree that there should be a push towards increasing local autonomy over local governing issues, this is because much of rural northern England experiences limited, poorly managed public transport and little funding for infrastructure. However, the author makes a claim that England has a lack of regional identity this is something that I would contest, the North-South divide has been huge within English identity for decades now. Those in Northern England have a distinct identity due to the disparities caused by the British government having allocated most transport, infrastructure, and economic developments towards London and the South. Most notably, many old industrial towns in the North are still feeling the aftershock effects from Thatcher’s austerity measures, therefore saying that there is no distinct identity would be false. It would be interesting if this blog could take into account some more recent statistics on public opinion of local English assemblies, this would help to strengthen the argument and understand if public opinions have changed in the last decade.
The following blog engages well with secondary readings, and evidently conveys the different devolved governments across the UK. However, the blog argues that across England there “is the lack of national or regional identity associated with a devolved area.”. Personally, I do not agree with this statement as historically there is a divide between the North and South regions of England. Traditionally, this is because of de-industrialisation, as manufacturing industries located in the North of England have closed, and through industrial decline, in the North, the divide between North and South has grown. Ultimately, this would be important for the author to further consider when addressing devolution across England, as the divide between the North and South impacts people’s political and economic standings. Moreover, the use of graphs or other images would have been successful in conveying the devolved regions and the challenges England faces.
This blog post was extremely insightful and interesting and looks a devolution from a unique perspective, with a focus on England. The blog is split into defined sections which focus on the separate challenges involving devolution in England, which makes it a more engaging read and makes it easier to understand the challenges analysed. However, to add to the piece to create more cohesion the use of pictures or data could help. The use of pictures can be a visual aid and further help make it more engaging. Furthermore. The use of data in the form of a graph or table can help add legitimacy to the argument made. Even without this, the blog post is extremely interesting take, structured well.
This is a very compelling blog post on the challenges of devolution in England. The post displays the current state of devolution in the country as well as the challenges it presents. Devolution in England still faces certain issues as the country lacks a cohesive devolution framework; this disparity causes concerns about equal and impartial governing throughout England. The devolution provisions in England are frequently broken and unclear. Unlike Scotland and Wales, which have more structured devolved governments, England’s devolution is characterised by fragmented arrangements with various levels of authority for different areas. The absence of coherence can lead to inefficiency and misunderstanding in policymaking. The author also discusses the centralised nature of power in England that also has a profound impact on devolution, with the north of England receiving less funding for infrastructure, etc for extended periods.
Overall, this is an interesting blog post and holds some excellent points on devolution in England, I believe the post could have benefited from the use of some statistics on opinions on devolution and more discussion on what can be done to address these challenges in England.