Federalism in the United Kingdom
Federalism in the United Kingdom refers to the distribution of power between countries and regions of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom, despite being composed of four countries, three of which have their own cabinet, legislature and First Minister, has traditionally been a unitary state, governed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Westminster. Instead of adopting a federal model, such as that of the United States, the United Kingdom continues to employ a system of devolution, in which political power is gradually decentralised. Devolution differs from federalism in that authority ultimately remains with the British Government, and as such the United Kingdom remains a de jure unitary state, where an Act of Parliament could theoretically remove these powers. Devolution has only been extended to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Greater London, and London remains the only region of England to have significantly devolved power.
The Government of Ireland Act 1914 is regarded as the beginning of devolution in the United Kingdom, granting Ireland home rule as a constituent country of the United Kingdom. After the partition of Ireland in 1921, Northern Ireland retained the Parliament of Northern Ireland, however, Northern Ireland was later put under direct rule and the Parliament was suspended during the period of The Troubles
Key events, and modern examples, concerning devolution include the Scottish devolution referendum of 1997, Welsh devolution referendum of 1997 and Belfast Agreement. All of these events have ensured that three of four constituent countries now, to a certain extent, have autonomy. However, there is still the question of England, which, unlike Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, does not have its own legislative body, but is governed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This has caused for critics to bring up the English question, which concerns whether non-English Members of Parliament, sitting in the House of Commons, should be able to decide matters concerning only England.
A federal government was, in 1912, proposed by Winston Churchill, Member of Parliament for Dundee, with the idea that English regions should be governed by regional parliament, with power to devolve areas such as Lancashire, Yorkshire, the Midlands and London.
Context
Union of the crowns
Whilst English monarchs had had varying degrees of control around the Isles from the Norman Era, for example conquering Wales and parts of Ireland, and Wars in Scotland, the kingdoms remained separate entities, with the exception of the Principality of Wales being annexed into England in the 16th century. However, in 1603 Queen Elizabeth I of England died childless, meaning that the crown of England passed to James VI of Scotland, her first cousin twice removed, who became James I of England. This did not unify the two countries politically, however, and whilst England and Scotland remained in a personal union with the same head of state, their parliaments and institutions remained separate and independent of each other. England and Scotland, after the War of the Three Kingdoms, were briefly united during the Interregnum under the Commonwealth, but after the restoration of Charles II this was repealed. The 1707 Acts of Union, however, was passed by both the Parliaments of England and of Scotland putting the Treaty of Union into effect, and unified the two kingdoms into the Kingdom of Great Britain, with a single parliament, albeit with differing legal system. The further Acts of Union 1800 thereby unified the Kingdoms of Great Britain and of Ireland into the single United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a newly unified parliament..20th Century
At the beginning of the 20th century, the issue of Irish home rule remained an important; After the First and Second Home Rule Bills failed to pass towards the end of the 19th Century, two subsequent bills were introduced at the beginning of the 20th Century. The Third Home Rule Bill was introduced in 1912 by Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, intended to provide home-rule in Ireland, and with some proposals for further home rule in Scotland, Wales, and areas of England. The implementation of the Bill was, however, delayed, until the Fourth Home Rule Bill, which divided Ireland into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, each with its own parliament and judiciary. Whilst the Southern Parliament only met once, the Northern Ireland Parliament remained until 1972, when it was abolished due to increasing conflict in the Troubles.The 1966-1969 Redcliffe-Maud Report recommended the abolition of all existing two-tier councils and council areas in England, and replacing them with 58 new unitary authorities alongside three metropolitan areas. This would have been grouped into eight provinces with a provincial council each. Whilst the report was initially accepted "in principle" by the government, after the 1970 General Election the plan was largely abandoned, although some proposals such as moving Slough into Berkshire and Bournemouth into Dorset were implemented in the 1974 local government reorganisation, and unitary authorities have become more commonplace since. In 1994, England was for statistical purposed divided into nine regions, which were broadly similar to the proposed provinces of Redcliffe-Maud, but with the notable addition of Greater London as a region of its own separate from South East England, and many counties being reassigned. As well as acting as European Parliamentary Constituencies, between 1994 and 2011 these regions officially held devolved functions, for example in the case of regional chambers.
The 1998 Belfast Agreement established the creation of the Northern Ireland Assembly, based on power-sharing between the nationalist and unionist communities. Around the same time, the newly-elected Labour Government under Prime Minister Tony Blair held referenda in Scotland, Wales, and Greater London on devolved institutions, which all passed, and lead to the creation of the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, and Greater London Authority.
21st Century
A further development in devolution was the 2004 North East England Devolution Referendum, which failed by a large margin. The original proposal was alongside planned referenda in North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber, but these were cancelled after the referendum in the North East failed. The proposal, as well as facilitating an elected assembly, would have also reorganised local government in the area. After the failure of this proposal, the concept of city regions was later pursued. The 2009 Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act provided the means for the creation of combined authorities based upon city regions, a system providing cooperation between authorities and a single directly elected mayor. The first such, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, was established in 2011, followed by four in 2014, two in 2016, two in 2017, and one in 2018, with further proposals for other conurbations.Proposals
With the lack of a single English parliament or assembly, one proposal has been to create a single devolved English parliament, alongside the existing institutions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, England is by far the largest single unit in the United Kingdom by both population and Area, which some argue would dominate the system, as well as not effectively solve the issue of devolving power to smaller units. This had therefore lead to many proposals for the system to be based on smaller units. The pre-existent regions of England, created for statistical purposes, constitutes one suggestion, as seen with the 2004 North East England Devolution Referendum, and with the existing Greater London Authority. Another suggestion has been for cultural regions based on the ancient Heptarchy, for example with the regions of Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, and East Anglia. This could leave 7 equally sized state governments alongside Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. If this were to follow the current model, each state government would have its own First Minister and Assembly.Regions which have had support for devolution include Yorkshire and Cornwall. The Yorkshire Party is a registered political party which promotes Yorkshire as a self-governing unit, and stood 28 candidates in the 2019 General Election and received 50,000 votes in the Yorkshire and the Humber constituency during the 2019 European Union Parliamentary Election, and which has representation through local councillors. This idea has also been supported by the cross-party One Yorkshire group of 18 local authorities in Yorkshire, which has sought the creation of a directly elected mayor of Yorkshire, decision-making devolved from London to Yorkshire, and give the county access to funding and benefits similar to combined authorities. Various proposals differ between establishing this federal unit in Yorkshire and the Humber, the county of Yorkshire as a whole, or simply parts of Yorkshire with Sheffield and Rotherham each opting for a South Yorkshire Deal. This has been criticized by proponents of the One Yorkshire solution, who have described it as a Balkalnisation of Yorkshire and a waste of resources. Cornwall, which at the moment is part of Cornwall Council, which replaced the former Cornwall County Council in 2009, has also been discussed as a potential area for further devolution and therefore a federal unit, particularly promoted by Mebyon Kernow. Cornwall has a distinct language and the Cornish have been recognised as a national minority within the United Kingdom, a status shared with Scots, Welsh and Irish. The Wessex Regionalist Party has also promoted Wessex as a cultural region, but unlike the Yorkshire Party and Mebyon Kernow has not enjoyed any electoral success.
Support and Opposition
British Federalism has had a varied history, with many different supporters of it. The Federal Union is a pressure group which supports a codified federal constitution in the United Kingdom, arguing that it remains too centralised, and that existing devolution remains administrative rather than political. Various politicians from across parties have also proposed Federalism.Some have argued that the UK's decision to leave the European Union, which was widely supported in England and Wales, but not in Scotland and Northern Ireland, has increased the Scottish independence movement, and affects the Good Friday Agreement. As such, some have proposed federalism as a away of ensuring the Union continues.