Devolution
The Smith Commission; COSLA Convention Item 3
Author / Creator: COSLA
Media type: Report
Date published: 2014
The COSLA review of the implications of the Smith Commission report for local government.
Report of the Smith Commission for further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament
Author / Creator: Smith Commission
Media type: Report
Date published: 2014
Text of the Smith Commission report
Further Devolution Won’t Fix Scotland’s Democratic Malaise
Author / Creator: David Jamieson
Media type: Discussion Paper
Date published: 2022
further devolution is not a meaningful response to Scotland’s democratic impasse.
Worth the wait? Reforming Intergovernmental Relations
Author / Creator: Nicola McEwen
Media type: Review
Date published:
The Joint Ministerial Committee system of devolution is no more, replaced by a three-tier system of intergovernmental forums.
Respect and Co-operation: Building a Stronger Union for the 21st century
Author / Creator: Select Committee on the Constitution
Media type: Report
Date published:
Strengthening the Union requires a sensitivity to the pluralism of the the UK. Intergovernmental structures are inadequate to ensure devolution and the Union can be maintained.
Worth the wait? Reforming Intergovernmental Relations
Author / Creator: Nicola McEwen
Media type: Article
Date published:
Intergovernmental relations (IGR) have long been the weak link in the UK’s system of devolution. Overall, the reforms carry the potential for significant improvements to the system.
Brexit and Devolution: A New UK Settlement or the Break-Up of Britain?
Author / Creator: David Gow
Media type: Review
Date published: May 2018
An analysis of the constitutional conflict between Westminster and the devolved administrations in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast...concludes that the UK faces a stark choice between a new political/constitutional settlement or the break-up of Britain.
State and Nation in the United Kingdom: The Fractured Union
Author / Creator: Michael Keating
Date published: 2021
The United Kingdom has often been seen as a unitary nation-state. This book argues that it should be understood as a multi national union in which the key elements of people, state, values and sovereignty are contested.
The Union Connectivity Review and Unionism
Author / Creator: Daniel Wincott
Media type: Article
Date published:
The Irish Sea Bridge is not the only example of the UK government being tempted to intervene unilaterally in devolved infrastructure plans.
The State of Scotland
Author / Creator: Neal Ascherson
Media type: Book
Date published: 2020
There can be no going back from devolution. But going forward from it could make the United Kingdom unrecognizable and project the old ‘British’ nations into a more modern and flexible relationship.
Devolution
Author / Creator: Malcolm Harvey
Media type: Book
Date published: 2020
Devolution has caused a de facto decentralisation of the UK, although such arrangements as the Sewel Convention can be over turned by the Westminster government.
Political Behaviour in Scotland
Author / Creator: Ailsa Henderson
Date published: 2020
Are Scottish voters more engaged with politics since the Referendum. Do they view Scottish Parliament elections as primary or Westminster ones?
Twin Tracks: Cultural and Political Nationalism after 1967
Author / Creator: Scott Hames
Media type: Book
Date published: 2020
The idea of Devolution arriving on a wave of artistic Renaissance and rising national ‘confidence’ is too simplistic, and obscures important disparities between the ‘twin tracks’ of cultural and political nationalism.
Scottish devolution at 20: some hits, some misses and that eternal maybe
Author / Creator: Christopher A Whatley
Media type: News Media
Date published:
Many hoped devolution would kill nationalism stone dead. Labour colleagues failed to grasp Scots’ powerful sense of nationhood. Although a Labour man argued that devolution could lead to independence. Alex Salmond asserted that independence was “rendered inevitable when the Scottish parliament was established”.
A Sign on the Road
Author / Creator: John S Warren
Media type: News Media
Date published:
A critique of "Strength in Union: The Case for the United Kingdom", and especially Alister Jack's view of Scotland in the Union.
The UK’s Brexit mismanagement, Open Minds on Independence #11
Author / Creator: Believe in Scotland
Media type: News Media
Date published: 2021
There were a number of mistakes made in negotiating a Brexit arrangement.
This was imposed on Scotland against its will. It has turned out to be a disaster for key industries.
1. Ignoring the wishes of Scotland and the other devolved nations
2. Sticking so rigidly to “getting Brexit done” that it made an acceptable trade deal impossible. It was immediately apparent there were serious problems.
3. Underestimating just how big a problem taking Northern Ireland out of the EU would be.
Scotland, Brexit and Broken Promise of Democracy
Author / Creator: Klaus Stolz
Date published:
The perception of a democratic deficit began in the Thatcher premiership, long before Brexit. Scottish self government came to be positively linked with European intergation.
Minimizing the Cost of Union: Fiscal Autonomy and the Case of Scotland
Author / Creator: Paul Hallwood
Media type: Academic Paper
Date published: 2020
Argues for federalism in public funding where taxation is devolved. This would improve the link between public finance and democracy.
Barnett formula
Author / Creator: Wikipedia
Media type: Wikipedia
Date published: 2021
The Barnett formula is a mechanism used by the Treasury in the UK to automatically adjust the amounts of public expenditure allocated to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to reflect changes in spending levels allocated to public services in England. The formula applies to a large proportion, but not the