Devolution In Uk Essay

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Since 1999, the way in which the United Kingdom is run has been reformed by devolution. Devolution is a system of governance in which the government is decentralized and more powers are governed by the three nations making up the United Kingdom (Bailey & Budd, 2016). The United Kingdom comprises the countries of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and England. Traditional most of the decisions have been made from the Westminster. However, devolution aims at transferring some of the powers from the Westminster to the assemblies in Cardiff, Edinburg, and the Scottish parliament. Due to the historical differences between the countries making up the United Kingdom, devolution has been applied in different ways, although the aims and benefits have …show more content…

Over the years there have been calls for independence from various countries making up the UK. Part of the reasons for these calls comes from the realisation that most of these countries feel they have been short-changed in terms of resource distribution (MacKinnon, 2015). A good example is a recent referendum on the independence of Scotland. Nevertheless, with devolution, the majority of the resources will be brought close to the people and not many people will have the feeling of being short-changed. Given that the central governments operate from England and the fact that England appears to be prosperous than others countries making up the UK, the best thing to do is to provide more resources to the other countries so that they can be as prosperous as England (Minto et al., 2016). By allowing countries such as Scotland some form of autonomy to make decisions such as control of Law and Order, Health, Education, Transport, the Environment ,housing and Economic Development and since 2016, Scotland can also set own income tax , they will be able to feel that they are equal partners in the United Kingdom and that their economies are not wholly dependent on the decisions made in …show more content…

By bringing the government closer to the national regions, the regional governments are allowed more room to take on local initiatives. Devolution has provided more space for democracy since it brings the government close to the people. Given that the UK is made up of four countries with different social and economic situations, devolution offers the opportunity for the opportunity of the governments to be close to the people. By having the administrations close to the people, the local people can have local resolutions to the problems and issues that face which are distinct to them (Alcock,2012). This means devolution supports the administrative allocation of power from the state to the regions. This means the devolved government from a second tier or a government which is responsible for various policy and administrative issues. Besides, with the continued recognition of a "Europe of regions", devolution provides the best option for the developments of the regions within Europe by giving less attention to the political boundaries. In essence, devolution provides a better avenue for the local people engage and do business with not only other people within the UK but also with people from other parts of Europe and the world. Devolution intensifies effectiveness in determining service provision. In a

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