Federalism in the United Kingdom
In England, only Greater London, combined authorities, and the counties of Cornwall and Yorkshire, currently have varying degrees of devolved powers, with proposals for an England-wide or regional devolution.
Autonomy could also potentially be applied uniformly across the entire United Kingdom, compared to the varying levels of devolution at present.
The Scotland Act 2016 and the Wales Act 2017 made the Scottish Parliament and Senedd permanent parts of the British constitution, requiring a referendum in each respective country to remove the legislatures, although the UK parliament still retains the sovereign right to adjust devolved powers.
Since a system of devolution was implemented in the late 20th century, some have proposed that a transition be made towards a federation or confederation, as an effort by unionists to combat separatism.
Since the 2014 Scottish independence referendum there has been a wider debate about the UK adopting a federal system with each of the four home nations having its own, equal devolved legislatures and law-making powers.
[19] In September 2011 it was announced that the British government was to set up a commission to examine the West Lothian question.
[27] In September 2013, Conservative MS for South Wales Central, David Melding produced a book for the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) discussing federalism.
[29] Their proposal for a federal UK originally included: In 2021 the Liberal Democrats updated their stance on a federal UK with a policy motion and a background paper calling for regional parliaments throughout England whose powers would approach those of the Scottish Parliament, representing a near symmetric arrangement in which the regions of England would be constitutionally equivalent to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as states of the federal union but allowing for a parallel English legislature for English-only affairs, England remaining as a single legal jurisdiction.
It suggested that federal government should have very few functions which would include defence, border control and foreign affairs.
[33] An English parliament as part of a federal UK was suggested by Labour politician Chuka Umunna in July 2015.
[36] This includes: Central matters to include: In April 2018, Isobel Lindsay, a board member of Scotland's economic and political think-tank, Common Weal, suggested the following two models: England is by far the largest single unit in the United Kingdom by population (84%) and by area (54%) and thus contributes to the justification for a "Three Nations plus English regions" model.
In October 2018, Andrew Blick, of King's College London and the Federal Union, proposed a Federalist Constitution for the UK.
[40] In February 2020, political analyst John Curtice suggested that the UK's decision to leave the European Union, which was supported by a majority in England and Wales but not in Scotland and Northern Ireland, may have strengthened the Scottish independence movement and proved problematic for the Good Friday Agreement.
[43] A report commissioned by the UK Labour Party during the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn was published in February 2021.
Brown proposed:[52][53] In September 2022, Gordon Brown's plans were said to include; further devolution of taxation to Scotland, Wales, and England's regions; a new mechanism to "community groups" for the promotion of bills in parliament; constitutional guarantee of social and economic rights; replacement of the House of Lords by an upper house of nations and regions (previously cited in the party's 2015 and 2019 manifestos); minimum of three years' funding to local and devolved governments for longer-term planning.
[55] First minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford suggested that Gordon Brown's recommendations would ensure practical ways in which devolution could not be overruled.
[56] In December 2022, a Labour report on the Commission on the UK's Future was published, titled "A New Britain: Renewing our Democracy and Rebuilding our Economy", the following proposals were made: In March 2022, Glyndwr Jones of the Institute of Welsh Affairs produced a document "A League-Union of the Isles" discussing constitutional options for the UK with a preface by former first minister of Wales Carwyn Jones.
The author presents multiple potential constitutional options for the UK nations including: devolution, federalism, confederalism, confederal-federalism, sovereignty within the EU and independence.
Having their first meeting on the 25th of November 2021, Professor Laura McAllister and Dr Rowan Williams are co-chairing the commission.
