- QUASI-FEDERAL UK
- Limited parliamentary sovereignty.
- Westminster remains sovereign because it can overrule or abolish the devolved bodies. However, Westminster is no longer sovereign over domestic matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — it does not have unlimited power. Westminster has accepted that it will not impose legislation in devolved areas.
- The Scotland Act 2016 established in statute that Westminster cannot legislate in devolved areas without consent and recognised that the devolved institutions are permanent features of the UK’s constitutional landscape. It further constrains parliamentary sovereignty by stating that devolution can only be overturned by a referendum (i.e. through popular sovereignty).
- Quasi-federal parliament – Westminster operates as an English parliament in the sense that it makes domestic law in England but is a federal parliament for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland because it retains reserved powers on major UK-wide matters. MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have few constituency responsibilities and deal mainly with economic and foreign affairs issues in the House of Commons.
- Joint Ministerial Committee. UK ministers and their counterparts from the devolved administrations meet here to consider non-devolved matters which impinge on devolved issues (e.g. Brexit) and resolve disputes.
- Supreme Court. The UK Supreme Court resolves disputes over competences by determining if the devolved bodies have acted within their powers.
- POLICY DIVERGENCE
- The devolved institutions of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have introduced policies which differ from those pursued by the UK government for England.
- Policy differences may be regarded as positive because the devolved institutions have responded to the concerns of their electorate. Policies such as the ban on smoking in public places in Scotland and charges for using plastic shopping bags in Wales were taken up subsequently by other governments. However, divergence may also undermine the principle of equal rights for UK citizens e.g. Same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland has only been legal since January 2020.
- Examples: Scotland, Wales and NI have all abolished prescription charges whereas they are £9.15 per item in England (2020). England has tuition fees whereas Scotland have none, Wales have grants and NI have much lower fees.
- FUNDING
- The devolved administrations are funded by block grants from the UK Treasury, the size of which is settled by the Barnett formula – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland receive more public spending per head of population than England.
- The Barnett formula does not take account of relative needs (e.g. the health, living standards and age of the population in each nation). The formula is not set out in statute law, but the UK government remains committed to it and has been reluctant to undertake major revisions in how the block grants are calculated.
In 2016, the block grant for Scotland was £28 million, for Wales £14 million and for Northern Ireland £10 million.