Evaluate The View That Devolution Reforms Havenʼt Gone Far Enough.

Question 1

P1: English Parliament Agree

Answer 1

1. Power is asymmetrical. English devolution would make a more coherent system of devolution. Federal Parliament for UK-wide issues like defence and macroeconomic policy and devolved for health, education.
2. UK and Scottish Parliament has been able to represent this in policies such as free tuition fees and higher income tax.
3. West Lothian Question, which questions why Scottish MPs should be able to vote on English matters in the UK Parliament that donʼt affect their constituents, when English MPs canʼt do the same in the Scottish Parliament.
4. 2024, when 29 Scottish MPs voted in favour of the highly significant Terminally Ill Adults End of Life) Bill and 17 voted against, despite the bill only affecting England and Wales.
5. Give interests effective political and institutional expression in a way that greater use of regional assemblies wouldn’t.

Question 2

P1: Disagree English Parliament

Answer 2

1. Would create another layer of government and would create tensions between the English parliament and government and the UK-wide government, with the former challenging the latter.
2. These tensions would be greater and the relationship more fraught than the current
   relationship between the UK Parliament and devolved bodies, as around 85% of the UKʼs
   population is in England, which would lead to the English Parliament being very powerful.
3. Federalism arguably works best when there is no dominant state or region, such as in the
   US. There is little support for an English Parliament within England.
   4.Brexit, for example, was opposed by both Northern Ireland and Scotland, yet was pursued strongly by the UK Parliament in order to represent the majority of England which supported it

Question 3

P2: Agree More Regional Devolution England

Answer 3

1. Would deliver greater representation of local interests, whilst not disrupting the UK
   Parliament.This would bring decision making closer to the people and address the differing interests of each English region.
2. The Greater Manchester City Region, mayor Andy Burnham,has been effective in gaining significant administrative control, including over healthcare. This has been been linked to
   modest increases in life expectancy, partly because the region put an emphasis on
   prioritising mental health care.
3. In March 2023, the UK government introduced two Trailblazer Devolution Deals for Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.Didnʼt grant legislative control, but did give the regions substantial administrative control and funding autonomy over important areas of policy. Control over post-19 skills education, affordable housing programs, and
   infrastructure investment, significant control over regional economic development.
4. Starmerʼs government was elected, 8 new devolution agreements in areas of
   England have been signed. experiment with different policies ,a number of policies introduced in Scotland have been adopted in the whole of the UK, ban on smoking in public
   place

Question 4

P2: Disagree More Regional Devolution

Answer 4

1. Greater use of city regions/regional assemblies would break up England and fail to provide expression/a platform for English interests and identity.
2. A 2012 referendum on whether Birmingham should have an elected mayor received a 58% no vote on just a 27.67% turnout. 2004 referendum on whether to introduce a regional assembly for the North East of England received a 78% no vote on a 47% turnout.
3. North East regional assembly was introduced in the 2023 Autumn
   statement, with control over areas including transportation, economic development,
   skills funding, and affordable housing.
   This can be seen as undemocratic and not supported by the electorate
4. Devolved bodies including combined authorities and directly elected metro mayors now cover 64% of the English population and over 90% of the population in the North. None of these devolved bodies have primary legislative control, but they do have significant administrative control and, increasingly, also financial autonomy, with a specific focus on transport and regional economic growth

Question 5

P3: Agree Further Powers to S,W,NI

Answer 5

1. Existing devolved bodies have shown they can run public services and decide policy
   effectively, including during the COVID crisis. Giving them greater power would increase their ability to reflect local opinion and address local issues.
2. Scotland, could be granted further powers over transport, welfare policy and tax policy to get closer towards ‘Devomaxʼ. Reflect the more left wing views of the Scottish population in policy.The SNP, supports the devolution of immigration policy to Scotland.
3. Brexit allows a lot of policy areas that used to be governed by the EU to be given to devolved bodies,already devolved areas agriculture and energy.Though Wales is smaller than Scotland, there is no reason why Cardiff shouldn’t gain many of the powers Holyrood already enjoys.Gain greater control is to justice and policing
4. Give them even more autonomy and
   potentially discourage either of them from voting for independence in the future.

Question 6

P3: More Powers to S,NI,W Disagree

Answer 6

1. Risks leading to greater disparities
   in the public services offered to people and the laws that govern people in the UK, further undermining equal citizenship.
2. In some devolved bodies, there is little interest in the devolved bodies and little support for further devolution. 2021 WP elections received just 46.6% support.
   In NI, further devolution is strongly opposed by the DUP and other unionists.
3. National policies better protect people and limit the burden on businesses. August 2023, the Guardian reported that the devolved bodies had fallen behind England
   in some key measures of NHS performance, despite them having significantly higher per
   capita spending on health than England.
4. You are x2 likely to be on a year-plus waiting list in S or NI than in E whilst it is even worse in W, with 1 in 20 people on NHS waiting lists for more than a year.
5. Differences in educational attainment Scotland and Wales have fallen behind England in the PISA ranking (international rankings that measure educational performance).
6. The NIP is frequently suspended due to tensions and a lack of compromise between Sinn Fein and the DUP. It therefore makes little sense to grant further powers to a Parliament which rarely functions