UK Government essay plans 100% PASSED

UK Government essay plans 100% PASSED Success of devolution Point 1: Allowed for greater democracy and more effective local representation, with devolved bodies able to respond to the concerns of their electorates - Scotland: the population is more left wing than in the rest of the UK --> led to the election of a left wing SNP government that has introduced policies including free prescription charges, free tuition fees and a higher top rate of income tax than in the rest of the UK - Scotland Act 1998 granted the Scottish Parliament control over health and education policy, whilst the Scotland Act 2016 granted it significant control over taxation - COVID - Scotland, Wales, NI and England relaxed restrictions at different speeds Point 2: It was believed that granting significant autonomy to Scotland within the United Kingdom in particular would prevent them voting for independence - As no nationalist movement has yet achieved independence and it could be argued that devolution has therefore been a success in terms of the unity of the UK, as it has satisfied some demands for self government and the UK hasn’t broken up - Devolution has also played a key part in delivering a relatively stable peace in Northern Ireland and provided a framework for long-term change - Recent increases in support for independence are a consequence of the unpopularity and failure of recent Conservative governments not devolution Point 3: Devolution has been a success in terms of governance as in some areas better results can be seen as a consequence of devolution. - In Greater Manchester i.e. greater control over health policy has been correlated with modest increases in life expectancy in some cases - Policies which are successful in devolved bodies can be adopted in the rest of the UK, such as the ban on smoking in public places which was first introduced in Scotland Arguments that devolution hasn't been a success Point 1: The asymmetric nature of devolution, with different powers and policies for different parts of the UK, can be seen as undermining equal citizenship, as different citizens have different levels of representation, are subjected to different laws and to different policies.