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The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which, by legislation and convention, operates as a unitary parliamentary democracy. A hereditary monarch, currently King Charles III, serves as head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, currently Sir Keir Starmer since 2024, serves as the elected head of government.
The United Kingdom has three distinctly different legal systems, each of which derives from a particular geographical area for a variety of historical reasons: English law, Scots law, Northern Ireland law, and, since 2007, calls for a fourth type, that of purely Welsh law as a result of Welsh devolution, with further calls for a Welsh justice system.
The West Lothian question, also known as the English question, is a political issue in the United Kingdom. It concerns the question of whether members of Parliament (MPs) from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales who sit in the House of Commons should be able to vote on matters that affect only England, while neither they nor MPs from England are able to vote on matters that have been devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd. The term West Lothian question was coined by Enoch Powell MP in 1977 after Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP for the Scottish constituency of West Lothian, raised the matter repeatedly in House of Commons debates on devolution.
A legislative consent motion is a motion passed by either the Scottish Parliament, Senedd, or Northern Ireland Assembly, in which it consents that the Parliament of the United Kingdom may pass legislation on a devolved issue over which the devolved government has regular legislative authority.
The politics of Scotland operate within the constitution of the United Kingdom, of which Scotland is a country. Scotland is a democracy, being represented in both the Scottish Parliament and the Parliament of the United Kingdom since the Scotland Act 1998. Most executive power is exercised by the Scottish Government, led by the first minister of Scotland, the head of government in a multi-party system. The judiciary of Scotland, dealing with Scots law, is independent of the legislature and the Scottish Government, and is headed by the Lord Advocate who is the principal legal adviser to the Scottish Government. Scots law is primarily determined by the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government shares limited executive powers, notably over reserved matters, with the Scotland Office, a British government department led by the Secretary of State for Scotland.
The Commonwealth of Britain Bill was a bill first introduced in the House of Commons in 1991 by Tony Benn, then a Labour Member of Parliament (MP). It was seconded by the future Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn.
Politics of England forms the major part of the wider politics of the United Kingdom, with England being more populous than all the other countries of the United Kingdom put together. As England is also by far the largest in terms of area and GDP, its relationship to the UK is somewhat different from that of Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. The English capital London is also the capital of the UK, and English is the dominant language of the UK. Dicey and Morris (p26) list the separate states in the British Islands. "England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark.... is a separate country in the sense of the conflict of laws, though not one of them is a State known to public international law." But this may be varied by statute.
Unionism in Scotland is a political movement which favours the continuation of the political union between Scotland and the other countries of the United Kingdom, and hence is opposed to Scottish independence. Scotland is one of four countries of the United Kingdom which has its own devolved government and Scottish Parliament, as well as representation in the UK Parliament. There are many strands of political Unionism in Scotland, some of which have ties to Unionism and Loyalism in Northern Ireland. The two main political parties in the UK — the Conservatives and Labour — both support Scotland remaining part of the UK.
A devolved English parliament is a proposed institution that would give separate decision-making powers to representatives for voters in England, similar to the representation given by the Senedd, the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly. A devolved English parliament is an issue in the politics of the United Kingdom.
English independence is a political stance advocating secession of England from the United Kingdom. Support for secession of England has been influenced by the increasing devolution of political powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where independence from the United Kingdom is a prominent subject of political debate.
Welsh independence is the political movement advocating for Wales to become a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom.
In the United Kingdom, unionism is a political stance favouring the continued unity of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as one sovereign state, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Those who support the union are referred to as Unionists. Though not all unionists are nationalists, UK or British unionism is associated with British nationalism, which asserts that the British are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of the Britons, which may include people of English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Cornish, Jersey, Manx and Guernsey descent.
Full fiscal autonomy (FFA) – also known as devolution max, devo-max, or fiscal federalism – is a particular form of far-reaching devolution proposed for Scotland and for Wales. The term has come to describe a constitutional arrangement in which instead of receiving a block grant from His Majesty's Treasury as at present, the Scottish Parliament or the Senedd would receive all taxation levied in Scotland or Wales; it would be responsible for most spending in Scotland or Wales but make payments to the UK government to cover Scotland or Wales's share of the cost of providing certain UK-wide services, largely defence and foreign relations. Scottish/Welsh fiscal autonomy – stopping short of full political independence – is usually promoted by advocates of a federal United Kingdom.
Scottish devolution is the process of the UK Parliament granting powers to the devolved Scottish Parliament. Prior to the advent of devolution, some had argued for a Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom – while others have since advocated for complete independence. The people of Scotland first got the opportunity to vote in a referendum on proposals for devolution in 1979 and, although a majority of those voting voted 'Yes', the referendum legislation also required 40% of the electorate to vote 'Yes' for the plans to be enacted and this was not achieved. A second referendum opportunity in 1997, this time on a strong proposal, resulted in an overwhelming 'Yes' victory, leading to the Scotland Act 1998 being passed and the Scottish Parliament being established in 1999.
In the United Kingdom, devolution is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's statutory granting of a greater level of self-government to the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the London Assembly and to their associated executive bodies: the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and in England, the Greater London Authority and combined authorities.
Unionism in Wales is the political view that supports a political union between Wales and the other countries of the United Kingdom. As well as the current state of the UK, unionism may also include support for Federalism in the United Kingdom and a United Kingdom Confederation.
In the United Kingdom, intergovernmental relations refers to the relationship, cooperation, and engagement between the UK Government and the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive.
Federalism in the United Kingdom aims at constitutional reform to achieve a federal UK or a British federation, where there is a division of legislative powers between two or more levels of government, so that sovereignty is decentralised between a federal government and autonomous governments in a federal system.
The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in December 2020. Its purpose is to prevent internal trade barriers within the UK, and to restrict the legislative powers of the devolved administrations in economic policy. It is one of several pieces of legislation concerning trade that were passed following the European Union membership referendum, as after Brexit the UK is no longer directly subject to EU law.
Welsh devolution is the transfer of legislative powers for self-governance to Wales by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The current system of devolution began following the enactment of the Government of Wales Act 1998, with the responsibility of various devolved powers granted to the Welsh Government rather than being the responsibility of the Government of the United Kingdom.
References
- ↑ Richard Jones. "Constitutional Reform and the Contribution of the Political Parties since the Beginning of the 20th Century" (PDF). Hummedia.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- 1 2 "Toponymic guidelines for map and other editors, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". GOV.UK. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
- ↑ "Standard: ISO 3166 — Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivision". Iso.org. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
- ↑ "The big read: Can federalism ever work in the UK?". HeraldScotland. 22 April 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- ↑ "Federalism". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- ↑ "Welsh independence: Thousands march through Wrexham". BBC News. 2 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ "Scottish independence: Will there be a second referendum?". BBC News. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ "The inevitability of a united Ireland". Politico.eu. 18 May 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ "StackPath". Instituteforgovernment.org.uk. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- 1 2 "Reforming our Union 2021: summary [HTML]". GOV.WALES. 8 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ Dr Umesh Prabhu (10 July 2017). "More devolution rather than independence: time for the SNP to rediscover the 'middle way'". British Politics and Policy at LSE. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ "The Labour 'radical federalism' report is a necessary intervention - but an avoidable disappointment". Nation.Cymru. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ Rodgers, Sienna (9 September 2021). "What is radical federalism, what would it look like and should Labour back it?". LabourList. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ "House of Lords reform". UK Parliament.
- ↑ "Labour call for Senate of the Nations and Regions to replace the House of Lords". Nation.Cymru. 4 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ Adonis, Andrew (5 January 2022). "Relocating parliament to Birmingham or Manchester is an idea whose time has come". prospectmagazine.co.uk.
- ↑ Coleman, Charley (9 June 2022). "Co-location of the Houses of Parliament". lordslibrary.parliament.uk.
- ↑ "Proportional Representation". Electoral-reform.org.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ Melton, James (2015). TO CODIFY OR NOT TO CODIFY? (PDF). Constitution Unit, UCL.
- ↑ "Queen has "huge problem" as support for abolishing monarchy rises". Newsweek. 4 May 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ "Clearly Britain loses more than it gains from the monarchy. Let us be brave and end it | Polly Toynbee". The Guardian . 17 February 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ "The disestablishment of the church is now necessary and inevitable | Giles Fraser: Loose canon". The Guardian . 7 September 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ Letters (8 September 2017). "Whether or not to disestablish the Church of England | Letters". The Guardian . Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ↑ "Disestablish and be damned". Newhumanist.org.uk. 16 October 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2022.