‘Devolution Has Resulted in a Genuine Dispersal of Political Power in Britain.’ Discuss. (25 Marks)
Devolution is the transfer of political power from central government to subnational government and within that is parliamentary sovereignty which is where the parliament is the supreme law making body. The United Kingdom is officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is the largest of the British Isles and consists of three nations: England, Scotland and Wales. British Identity has been built around symbols of the UK state such as the monarchy, the Westminster Parliament and the NHS. However, since devolution, the number of people seeing themselves as primarily Scottish or English, rather than British has increased.
The nations of the UK joined a union with England at different times and in different circumstances. Wales entered a Union with England in 1536 when England completed its conquest of the principality and thereafter governed it from London. But Wales retained elements of its distinctive culture despite Anglicisation. The crowns of England and Scotland were united in 1603 when King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English throne as King James I. Scotland remained an independent state with its own parliament until the Act of Union in 1707 which was an international treaty between Scotland and England whereby Scotland joined the Union. Because of this Scotland maintained its legal, education system and local government. The Scottish Parliament was abolished and Scotland then sent their MPs to Westminster instead.
After centuries of England and Scottish settlement, Ireland joined the union in 1800 through an Act of Union. The union was a trouble one, with the ‘Irish question’ becoming one of the longest running and most difficult issues in UK politics. By the 1880s, Irish Nationalists dominated Ireland’s representation at Westminster. Negotiations between the UK government and Irish republicans led to the government of Ireland where there was a protestant majority which exercised their right to remain part of
The nations of the UK joined a union with England at different times and in different circumstances. Wales entered a Union with England in 1536 when England completed its conquest of the principality and thereafter governed it from London. But Wales retained elements of its distinctive culture despite Anglicisation. The crowns of England and Scotland were united in 1603 when King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English throne as King James I. Scotland remained an independent state with its own parliament until the Act of Union in 1707 which was an international treaty between Scotland and England whereby Scotland joined the Union. Because of this Scotland maintained its legal, education system and local government. The Scottish Parliament was abolished and Scotland then sent their MPs to Westminster instead.
After centuries of England and Scottish settlement, Ireland joined the union in 1800 through an Act of Union. The union was a trouble one, with the ‘Irish question’ becoming one of the longest running and most difficult issues in UK politics. By the 1880s, Irish Nationalists dominated Ireland’s representation at Westminster. Negotiations between the UK government and Irish republicans led to the government of Ireland where there was a protestant majority which exercised their right to remain part of