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Main article: Devolution in the United Kingdom
Though the British parliament remains the sovereign parliament, Scotland and Wales have devolved parliaments and Northern Ireland has an assembly. De jure, each could have its powers broadened, narrowed or changed by an Act of the British Parliament. The UK is a unitary state with a devolved system of government. This contrasts with a federal system, in which sub-parliaments or state parliaments and assemblies have a clearly defined constitutional right to exist and a right to exercise certain constitutionally guaranteed and defined functions and cannot be unilaterally abolished by Acts of the central parliament.
All three devolved institutions are elected by proportional representation: the Additional Member System is used in Scotland and Wales, and Single Transferable Vote is used in Northern Ireland.
England, therefore, is the only country in the UK not to have its own devolved parliament. However, senior politicians of all main parties have voiced concerns in regard to the West Lothian Question,[11][12] which is raised where certain policies for England are set by MPs from all four constituent nations whereas similar policies for Scotland or Wales might be decided in the devolved assemblies by legislators from those countries alone. Alternative proposals for English regional government have stalled, following a poorly received referendum on devolved government for the North East of England, which had hitherto been considered the region most in favour of the idea, with the exception of Cornwall, where there is widespread support for a Cornish Assembly, including all five Cornish MPs.[13][14] England is therefore governed according to the balance of parties across the whole of the United Kingdom.
The government has no plans to establish an English parliament or assembly although several pressure groups[15] are calling for one. One of their main arguments is that MPs (and thus voters) from different parts of the UK have inconsistent powers. Currently an MP from Scotland can vote on legislation which affects only England but MPs from England (or indeed Scotland) cannot vote on matters devolved to the Scottish parliament. Indeed, the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is an MP for a Scottish constituency, introduced some laws that only affect England and not his own constituency. This anomaly is known as the West Lothian question.
The policy of the British Government in England was to establish elected regional assemblies with no legislative powers. The London Assembly was the first of these, established in 2000, following a referendum in 1998, but further plans were abandoned following rejection of a proposal for an elected assembly in North East England in a referendum in 2004. Unelected regional assemblies remain in place in eight regions of England.
British Politics: A Very Short Introduction explores the history of British politics, looking at whether the present instability is an aberration, the result of long-standing fault lines, or both. Current events are placed within a longer, larger perspective, focusing on Britain’s constitution, its polarized political culture of debates and disagreements, the importance of party politics, and the meaning of representative democracy now. Following the financial crisis, a peacetime coalition government, and the fallout from the 2016 referendum, Britain’s political future is uncertain. However, even after the momentous changes leading up to and including the 2019 general election, it remains uncertain whether the character of British politics will fundamentally change.
‘The Britishness of British Politics’ explores what makes British politics so distinctive. Britain has enjoyed a long and remarkable history of political stability in modern times. Without a modern revolutionary moment, Britain was not compelled to remake its political institutions or to draw up a new constitution. There has been a long period of visible continuity in its constitutional landscape. It has had a strong executive centre to government rooted in a particular history and society. However, that stability is now being challenged by greater diversity in society and greater demands for accountability by governments.
‘The Constitution: Old and New’ addresses the question of the nature of Britain's constitution. It is often said that Britain has an unwritten constitution or no proper constitution at all. This is misleading, rather it has a constitution that is not codified or enacted into a single book or rules. It is a historical constitution as well as a political one and is made up of an accumulation of statutes, common law provisions and precedents, conventions and guidebooks. However, that is changing as a result of Britain joining the European Union, the growing demand for devolution in Scotland and Wales and the changes implemented by the Labour Government of Tony Blair.
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"British politics" redirects here. For the academic journal of the same name, see British Politics (journal).
See also: Politics of England, Politics of Northern Ireland, Politics of Scotland, and Politics of Wales
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