Paper 2 · The Constitution

Devolution · Notes

Sub-topic lookup view of the walk-through.

About these notes. This is the sub-topic lookup version. For the full narrative lesson with the four-nation cards and the comparative powers table, use the Walk-through. For active recall, use the MCQ Quiz. To practise the judgement, use the interactive judgement grid.

Likely exam angles. Devolution sits inside the Paper 2 Constitution topic. The 30-mark question almost always turns on whether devolution has strengthened or weakened the Union, or whether further reform is needed. Hold both sides and reach a structured judgement.

1. What devolution is - and what it is not

Devolution is the statutory transfer of specified powers from a central legislature (Westminster) to a subordinate elected legislature, while the central legislature keeps ultimate sovereignty. It began in earnest in 1997-98 under Tony Blair's Labour government and has reshaped the UK constitution more than any change since 1972.

Not federalism. In a federal system (USA, Germany, Canada) both levels draw their power from a shared constitution and neither can abolish the other. In the UK, Westminster is sovereign and devolution exists by statute - Parliament could in law repeal the Scotland Act 1998, though in practice this is now unthinkable.
Not simple decentralisation. The devolved bodies have elected legislatures with the power to make and unmake their own law in defined areas, not just to administer Westminster policy.
Asymmetric. Each settlement is different in scope and structure - Scotland deepest, Wales catching up, Northern Ireland power-sharing, England with no parliament at all. This asymmetry is the central feature of the modern UK constitution.

The distinction to hold throughout. Devolution is the political grant of power, not a legal surrender of sovereignty. The Sewel Convention manages the politics - Westminster will not normally legislate on devolved matters without consent - but the tension between a sovereign Westminster and self-governing devolved bodies is the live constitutional question.

2. The four asymmetric settlements

Nation	Body	Key statutes	What marks it out
Scotland (deepest)	Scottish Parliament (Holyrood), 129 MSPs	Scotland Acts 1998 / 2012 / 2016	Primary law-making, separate legal system, full income tax rates and bands, substantial welfare. 2014 independence referendum 45% Yes / 55% No.
Wales (catching up)	Senedd Cymru, 60 Members (96 from 2026)	Government of Wales Act 1998; 2011 referendum; Wales Act 2017	Started with secondary law-making only; gained primary law-making in 2011; reserved-powers model since 2017; Welsh rates of income tax since 2019.
Northern Ireland (power-sharing)	NI Assembly (Stormont), 90 MLAs	Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement 1998	Mandatory coalition of unionist and nationalist blocs; cross-border bodies with the Republic; suspended several times, most recently 2022 to February 2024.
England (no parliament)	Westminster, plus metro mayors	EVEL 2015-21 (abolished)	The only nation with no devolved legislature. The West Lothian question is unresolved; metro mayors give some city regions partial devolution but no national equivalent.

The asymmetry to remember. Scotland has the most powers and the only fully devolved income tax; Wales has caught up but lacks justice and full tax powers; Northern Ireland is unique in its power-sharing structure; England has no parliament. Four nations, four very different settlements.

3. Which powers are devolved, which are reserved

The exam rewards specific knowledge of who holds what. The broad pattern across all the devolved bodies:

Devolved across Scotland, Wales and NI: health, education, agriculture and environment, transport, housing and planning, local government.
Devolved in Scotland and NI but reserved in Wales: justice and policing (Scotland has its own legal system pre-dating devolution; NI gained policing in 2010; Wales is the notable exception).
Income tax: full rates and bands in Scotland (Scotland Act 2016); only the Welsh rates (10p of each band) in Wales since 2019; not devolved in NI.
Always reserved to Westminster: foreign affairs, defence, immigration and asylum, currency and most macroeconomic policy. These are exactly the things states would hold in a federal system - which is why UK devolution is not federalism.

The point this proves. The reserved list is the giveaway. A federal state would let its regions keep some control over the constitution, defence or foreign affairs. In the UK these stay at the centre - devolution disperses power without dividing sovereignty.

4. Key terms, Acts and cases

Term	What it is
Reserved-powers model	Everything not explicitly reserved to Westminster is devolved. Used in Scotland since 1998 and Wales since 2017.
Sewel Convention	Westminster will not normally legislate on devolved matters without the consent of the relevant legislature. A convention, not a legal rule.
Miller (No 1) 2017	Supreme Court case confirming the Sewel Convention is a convention only, not legally enforceable. Westminster can legislate on devolved matters without consent if it chooses.
West Lothian question	Why should Scottish MPs vote on English-only laws when English MPs cannot vote on Scottish ones? Named by Tam Dalyell, MP for West Lothian, in 1977.
EVEL	English Votes for English Laws, a Commons procedure 2015-2021 giving English MPs a veto on English-only bills. Abolished in 2021.
Barnett Formula	The mechanism allocating Treasury spending across the four nations. Gives Scotland and Wales higher per-capita spending than England.
Internal Market Act 2020	Post-Brexit Westminster legislation seen as overriding devolved competences on goods standards and state aid. Passed without Scottish or Welsh consent.
NI Protocol / Windsor Framework	Post-Brexit arrangement keeping NI in the EU single market for goods, creating an Irish Sea trade border. Triggered the 2022-Feb 2024 Stormont suspension.

5. Has devolution strengthened or weakened the Union?

The case it has weakened the Union

The 2014 Scottish independence referendum brought Scotland to the brink (45% Yes, 55% No) and shaped a generation of politics.
SNP electoral dominance 2007-2024 made independence a permanent live question rather than a settled one.
The post-Brexit settlement intensified resistance: the Internal Market Act 2020 was seen as an override, and the NI Protocol created a within-UK trade border that suspended Stormont 2022 to February 2024.

The case it has strengthened or preserved the Union

The 2014 referendum was a clear No. Devolution gave Scotland self-rule short of independence - a constitutional safety valve at the Union's most stretched moment.
Labour's 2024 Scottish gains (35 seats, up from 1 in 2019) showed unionist parties can recover ground.
NI power-sharing returned in February 2024 with Michelle O'Neill as First Minister - the Good Friday framework held under strain.
Welsh devolution is broadly popular without a serious independence movement; Welsh independence polling sits around 20% against Scotland's 40-50%.

The strongest judgement. Devolution has weakened the Union's legal simplicity but strengthened its political durability. Without it since 1997 the pressure for full Scottish independence and the contestation in NI would likely have produced an earlier break. Devolution is the structure that holds the Union together, even as it produces the tensions that periodically test it.

6. Exam method - the Q2 30-marker

The question almost always asks whether devolution has strengthened or weakened the Union, or whether further reform is needed.
Structure by theme. A strong answer runs the weakened case, the strengthened case, then the asymmetric question (no English parliament, Barnett, EVEL abolished), reaching interim judgements as it goes.
Hold a clear line of argument. The safety-valve reading - weakened legal simplicity but strengthened political durability - lets you take a side without ignoring the other.
Use specific evidence. Dates and named Acts (Scotland Act 2016, Wales Act 2017, Good Friday Agreement 1998, Internal Market Act 2020) and the 2014 referendum result separate the top band from vague answers.

Plan from the table. The comparative powers table is the single most useful thing to learn - the asymmetry across the nations is the heart of every devolution question. A worked 30-mark answer is at the end of the walk-through.

📜 Walk-throughThe full narrative lesson with the four-nation cards and the comparative powers table. 🧠 MCQ quiz15 questions across the settlements, Acts, cases and the union debate. 📊 Judgement gridPredict and check each cell, then test yourself on the four settlements.