Devolution-from union to government in the nations

The UK is a ‘representative democracy’—that is, a state, the power of
which is exercised through democratically elected representatives (in the
UK’s case, MPs in the Commons). Broadly speaking, there are two main
types of democracy: federal and unitary. In federal democracies, countries
are divided into separate political units, each of which has a large degree
of autonomy over its own affairs. The USA is a good example of a federal
democracy: major foreign and domestic policy decisions are taken by the
national government—president and Congress—but many day-to-day matters
are decided by individual federal administrations on a state-by-state
basis. The most oft-cited example of federalism in action relates to the manner
in which different states punish felons convicted of serious crimes such
as murder and rape: while 14 of the states that make up the USA favour custodial
sentences, such as life imprisonment, the remaining 36 still practise
the death penalty.
Britain, in contrast to the USA, is a unitary democracy. This means that
the bulk of power remains in the hand of central government and the Westminster
Parliament. But while the constitutional story of Britain since the
late medieval period has, for the most part, been one of the gradual consolidation
of a single UK run from the centre, in recent years, this has been
compromised by moves towards a more decentralized form of government,
taking power closer to the people from whom it derives.
The story of the emergence of local government—that is, elected local authorities,
funded by local taxpayers, which run services in individual areas
of the . But, at a higher
level than the strictly ‘local’, there now exists in Scotland, Wales, and Northern
Ireland a further tier of government to which signifi cant powers have
recently been devolved by Westminster, taking decision-making closer to
the inhabitants of those countries. This statutory transfer of power from
central government to the constituent nations that, alongside England, make
up the UK is known as ‘devolution’.
Before proceeding further, however, it is necessary to underline the important
distinction between ‘devolution’ and ‘independence’. Although the
parties that most enthusiastically embraced devolution in Scotland, Wales,
and Northern Ireland tend to be ‘nationalist’ ones—that is, those that would
ultimately like to break away from the UK and become independent states—
the policy does not amount to any form of independence in itself; neither
does it inevitably follow that, having gained devolution, a country will one
day become independent. Indeed, one of the principal arguments used by
Labour to justify devolution was that, in granting it, they were trying to safeguard
the union of Britain, by permitting a limited degree of autonomy that
made practical sense and would answer many of the frustrations expressed
by dissatisfi ed, but otherwise loyal, British subjects in those countries. Conversely,
those in favour of independence have argued that, in the long term,
it makes little sense for a national parliament in Scotland or Wales that takes
most of its own day-to-day decisions without needing formal permission
from Westminster to remain its vassals and that full self-government is the
logical next step. Although an Act of Parliament would have to be passed at
Westminster to pave the way for independence in practice, the clamour for
a breakaway government has become even more acute since Alex Salmond,
leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, was elected First Minister in May
2007, eradicating Labour’s majority share of the vote in Scotland for the fi rst
time in fi fty years.
Mr Salmond has pledged to hold a referendum on the question within the
next four years, although he has as yet failed to set a date—inviting speculation
in some quarters that he might ultimately cry shy. In an apparent
attempt to call his bluff, the former Scottish Labour Party leader, Wendy
Alexander, incurred the wrath of Gordon Brown in May 2008 by publicly announcing
that she favoured holding a referendum immediately to ‘settle the
issue’—and claiming that she had spoken to the prime minister on the phone
before making her statement and that he had said he agreed with her.