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Evaluate the view that the case for further english devolution is overdue. PARA 1 - P1 - metro mayors. There are 9 metro mayors and a 1 additional combined authorities without mayors and one Cornwall 'unitary authority with devolution'. A metro mayor oversees a combined authority, that is many councils come under this mayor such as the West of England and is given more powers. Including Greater London, 41% of England's population (representing 43% of economic output but just 14% of land area) now live in areas with some form of mayoral devolution deal. asymmetric devolution. London Mayor who has enormous powers over transport and planning and also has a London Assembly to help him. These mayors all have budgets and varying degrees of powers over transport, housing, further education and infrastructure. For example Greater Manchester's mayor, Andy Burnham doubles up as a police crime commissioner and has control over local transport. Andy Burnham is calling for 'deep devolution' - argues this will allow areas to flourish. Greater Manchester does have power over transport, but not the West of England for example. This is because it follows the principle of subsidiarity and is in line with many western liberal democracies like Germany. • Subsidiarity is the principle that the best decisions are the ones that are made locally. The analysis is that this is the only way to 'level up' - the criticism of Burnham is that the current agenda relies on Westminster and the Whitehall civil service, that does not understand the north. • Mayors bring energy into an area, like Steve Rotherham and Andy Burnham. CA - The counter is that if metro mayors are meant to increase participation and build greater buy-in then why is turnout so low? WM 2021 - 31% Liverpool city reigon 30%. And the more you send powers to local areas the more you decrease democratic accountability at the centre - people will no longer account Evaluate the view that the case for further english devolution is overdue. PARA 2 - P2 - Another reason why further English devolution is a must is the resentment devolution to the regions has caused in England. This is illustrated by the west Lothian question. Most simply put, it asks why Scottish, Welsh or indeed Northern Irish MPs have the same right to vote at Westminster as any English MP now that large areas of policy are devolved to national parliaments and assemblies in areas such as health, housing, schools and policing. It questions why such MPs can vote on english matters when english MPs cannot vote on scottish or welsh matters. There were two incidents when loyal Scottish and Welsh Labour MPs were needed to vote through Labour government policies because so many of their English colleagues rebelled. In a vote to set up foundation trusts in the English NHS, Blair's majority was cut to 35 because many English Labour MPs rebelled or failed to vote; Blair needed 67 Scottish and Welsh MPs to push the trusts through. • Blair needed similar levels of loyalty in January 2004 to introduce tuition fees, a policy firmly rejected in Scotland by Labour MPs who held the policy of free education for Scots and not for the English. John Reid, then MP for Hamilton and North Bellshill, was appointed Blair's health secretary in 2003 when Holyrood had control over nearly all health policy in Scotland, Iain Duncan Smith called it a "democratic monstrosity". • More-so that more tax payers money is given to Scotland per head than to England. • Recently the SNP sought to vote down 3 English only bills, grammar schools, Sunday opening hours and repealing fox hunting - yet these are devolved. This creates resentment in England. So need more powers. CA - There has already been attempts to deal with this through English Votes for English Laws (EVEL). This was a weak piece of legislation but became overcomplica Evaluate the view that the case for further english devolution is overdue. PARA 3 - P3 - Possibly what England needs is a fully fledged English parliament like that of Scotland and Wales. • It would equalise the powers across the regions and cover all of England. • Would make Britain more look like a federal system. • An English parliament then would look at uniquely English issues - this parliament can consists of mayors from across the country. • It will resolve the asymmetrical devolution CA - the problem with an English parliament is that it will take power away from local people and place it in a centralised authority. • What would be the position of Westminster mps? It would be redundant and the whole idea would be very costly • Westminster is already dominated by English MPs • Sovereignty would then lie in many places - and the Westminster parliament would be no more than symbolic. • Turnout would decline even more. Voter fatigue. • England is too small to have devolution - it will confuse matters because people live and work in multiple cities. • Interim Judgement - having devolution through metro mayors makes more sense than having a parliament that is distanced from the people. Evaluate the view that there are more advantages to having a codified constitution than remaining with an uncodified constitution INTRO - In the UK we have an uncodified constitution meaning ultimate sovereignty lies in parliament and they can override any decisions. This can be seen as beneficial due to the flexibility, ability to meet current demands and accountability of MPs but it can also be seen as damaging as it means the government has the power to make decisions which could harm our rights. Ultimately there is not a massive demand to have a codified constitution and an uncodified constitution fundamentally gives the government flexibility which is in the interests of the public. Three sections: 1 a codified constitution protects rights 2 it would place powers in the hands of an impartial judiciary 3 it would clarify the roles and powers of the PM and executive and remove unwritten conventions