Council of Nations tackles challenge of UK power-sharing
Council of Nations tackles challenge of UK power-sharing
Getty Images Sir Keir Starmer and John Swinney will meet in Edinburgh
Sir Keir Starmer is due to chair the first-ever meeting of a new Council of the Nations and Regions in Edinburgh on Friday. It brings the prime minister together with the leaders of the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as England?s mayors. Power sharing between the different governments of the UK was bound to cause a degree of tension. Anyone who thought that would always be a creative and constructive force was probably idealistic, if not naive. There have been some spectacular rows between the devolved administrations and UK departments over the years. Fights about funding are probably the most common and sometimes ministers in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast have teamed up to make joint representations to the Treasury in London. At other times, the struggles have been about where power lies and whether or not that should change.
PA Media England's regional mayors will also be included in the council
Relations between the Scottish and UK governments have been particularly fraught at times - not least during the protracted debates over Brexit and the possibility of a second independence referendum. The new Labour government under Starmer promised a reset to which the SNP first minister, John Swinney said he would also commit. The early signs have been positive. Yes, there?s been disagreement over the UK decision to stop funding a universal winter fuel payment for the elderly. But there has also been serious discussion about how the governments can work together to secure a future for the huge Grangemouth industrial site. Only this week, the Scottish finance secretary Shona Robison, reported to a Holyrood committee meaningful change in her pre-budget discussions with Treasury ministers.
The first meeting of the Council of the Nations and Regions is a further effort to improve the workings of government. Some SNP politicians have complained that Scottish cities like Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen do not have their own seats at the table. Labour sources say that?s because the SNP has not devolved powers beyond Holyrood to create regional leadership within Scotland.
Brexit, bottle deposit and gender reform
The new Council is not quite the ?powerful, legally-mandated? body that Gordon Brown envisaged in his commission on the UK?s future. It?s not clear what decision-making power it will actually have. However, Downing Street seems determined to avoid giving the impression that this new body will simply be a talking shop. The inaugural meeting is discussing major investments in renewable energy technology across the UK ahead of a further investment conference on Monday. These get togethers are expected to be held twice a year.
Ahead of the first full gathering, devolved leaders will meet the PM individually and as a group - the so-called ?quad?. If relations between the Holyrood and Westminster governments are better now than they were before the UK general election, it?s worth pointing out that the baseline was an all time low. As Scottish Secretary, Conservative MP Alister Jack was quite happy to be seen as a muscular unionist, checking the nationalism of the SNP. He used the UK internal market act, brought in following Brexit, to block the introduction of a Scottish bottle deposit scheme.
PA Alister Jack stepped in on a number of occasions while he was Scottish secretary
UK ministers also used their reserved powers to stop gender recognition reforms in Scotland and were backed up by the courts. SNP ministers saw this as outrageous interference in the exercise of devolved power. From Mr Jack?s perspective he was confronting outrageous overreach by the devolved administration. In a separate dispute, UK lawyers argued successfully in court that Holyrood could not hold another independence referendum without their approval. These clashes poisoned relations between the Scottish and UK governments. They could not have gotten much worse.
Getty Images Former First Minister Jack McConnell and then PM Tony Blair worked together at the start of devolution
Not that there was never any cooperation between Conservative governments at Westminster and the SNP at Holyrood. They managed to agree to work together on freeports and struck a deal to expand Holyrood?s tax and welfare powers after the 2014 independence referendum. Relations between governments were probably best when the parties of power in Edinburgh and London were the same. For the first eight years of devolution that was Labour. As first minister, Jack McConnell was able to secure a role for Holyrood in overseas aid which is a UK responsibility. There was also a ?fresh talent? deal to allow overseas students graduating in Scotland visa extensions. But even in those years there were disputes.
Intergovernmental 'friction'
When UK authorities carried out ?dawn raids? to remove ?failed asylum seekers? including children that had become settled in Scotland, the devolved government objected. They argued that while immigration, asylum and border controls were UK responsibilities, this particular policy clashed with devolved powers to protect the welfare of children. There was an understanding for a time, then a change of UK ministers reasserted Westminster control. The switch in Holyrood power from Labour to the SNP in 2007 soon signalled that the level of friction could become a lot greater.
AFP The extradition of Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi angered the Scottish Government
