5) Read the following text and answer the questions
Devolution
The UK has a devolved system of government, but this is categorically not a system of federal
government such as in the United States or Australia, partly because less than a fifth of the citizens of
the UK are covered the three bodies in question and partly because the three bodies themselves
have different powers from one another. The three devolved administrations are:
The Scottish Parliament
This came into operation in May 1999 and covers the 5M citizens of Scotland. It has 129 members
elected by a system of proportional representation known as the mixed member system. As a result,
73 members represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the 'first past the post'
(FPTP) system, with a further 56 members returned from eight additional member regions, each
electing seven members. All members are elected for four-year terms.
The Scottish Parliament meets in Holyrood, Edinburgh. It has legislative powers over those matters
not reserved to the UK Parliament and it has limited tax-raising powers.
In the election of May 2011, for the first time a single political party gained an overall majority of the
seats in the Scottish Parliament. That party was the Scottish National Party and its victory enabled it
to require the UK Government to permit the holding of a referendum on Scottish independence.
The referendum was held on 18 September 2014 and, on an astonishing turnout of 85%, the 'no' vote
won a decisive victory by 55% to 45%. However, in the final week of the two-year referendum
campaign, the three major parties in the UK Parliament agreed that, if the Scots voted 'no', there
would be an early transfer of substantial extra powers to the Scottish Parliament. This is now the
subject of fierce political debate because of the implications for the other nations in the UK and for
the UK Parliament itself.
Links:
Scottish Parliament: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/index.aspx BBC live broadcasting of Scottish
Parliament proceedings : http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/scotland/
The Welsh Assembly
This came into operation in May 1999 and covers the 3M citizens of Wales. It has 60 members
elected by a system of proportional representation known as the mixed member system. As a result,
40 members represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the 'first past the post'
(FPTP) system, with a further 20 members returned from five additional member regions, each
electing four members. All members are elected for four-year terms.
It meets in the Senedd, Cardiff. When first created, the Assembly had no powers to initiate primary
legislation. However, since 2006, the Assembly has powers to legislate in some areas, though still
subject to the veto of the Westminster Parliament. The Assembly has no tax-varying powers. The
Welsh Assembly, therefore, has less power than either the Scottish Parliament or the Northern
Ireland Assembly because - unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland - Wales does not have a separate
legal system from England.
Links:
Welsh Assembly : http://gov.wales/?skip=1&lang=en BBC live broadcasting of Welsh Assembly
proceedings : http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/wales/
The Northern Ireland Assembly
The present version of the Assembly came into operation in May 2007 and covers the 1.5M citizens
of Northern Ireland. It has 108 members - six from each of the 18 Westminster constituencies elected
by a system of proportional representation known as the single transferable vote (STV).
It meets in the Parliament Building, Belfast. It has legislative powers over those matters not reserved
to the UK Parliament, but it has no tax-raising powers.
A First Minister and a Deputy First Minister are elected to lead the Executive Committee of Ministers.
As a result of the sectarian division in Northern Ireland, the two must stand for election jointly and to
be elected they must have cross-community support by the parallel consent formula, which means
that a majority of both the Members who have designated themselves Nationalists and those who
have designated themselves Unionists and a majority of the whole Assembly, must vote in favour.
The First Minister and Deputy First Minister head the Executive Committee of Ministers and, acting
jointly, determine the total number of Ministers in the Executive.
Links:
Northern Ireland Assembly : http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/ BBC live broadcasting of Northern
Ireland Assembly proceedings : http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/northern_ireland/
A.What are the specificities of the British devolution system when compared to federal systems ?
B. Fill in the following table :
Scotland Wales Northern Ireland
Location of the
Parliament
Voting system
Powers of the local
parliament
Number of MPs
C. What was the impact of the 2011 Scottish referendum on independence ?
