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Devolution and the Centre
James Mitchell, Robert Hazell ,
Roger Masterman, John Rhodes
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In Brief
This project examines the impact of devolution on the 'centre': those organizations and structures designed to pull together and coordinate policy for the UK as a whole, or to act as arbiters in conflicts between different parts of the machinery of government in the UK post-devolution.
Findings
- Informal mechanisms at the centre are proving resilient, adapted from the pre-devolution era
- Stormont-London relations 1945-72 were more closely coordinated than is traditionally understood - but via the Treasury and other departments rather than the then 'lead' UK ministry, the Home Office
- The Treasury remains a powerful role in devolution matters; the centrality of the Treasury under different forms of devolution prior to 1972 and since 1997 suggests strong continuities in the management of territorial politics
Context
Debates on devolution have tended to focus on its impact in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in the process neglecting its impact on the centre. Yet devolution affects the centre and poses challenges to it in a number of respects:
• It raises questions of territorial representation at the centre, both about the (changing) roles of the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Offices, and about England, which lacks a territorial department.
• It also raises questions about how to integrate and coordinate the UK's 'communal interest' and to arbitrate between competing territorial interests. New coordinating bodies have been established - the Joint Ministerial Committee, 'concordats' on cooperation between central and devolved authorities, and the British-Irish Council - to perform these tasks. But the dynamics of their operation, and their impact on the centre, are not yet clear.
Objectives
The main contention of the project is that the centre is no less important as a consequence of devolution and may have become more important; paradoxically, devolution may even be contributing to pressure towards a stronger centre.
The project will:
• Illuminate the how devolution impacts on issues of territorial representation, integration, coordination and arbitration at the centre following devolution by drawing on wider literatures on territorial politics and new institutionalism
• Carry out case studies of new and existing institutions at the centre, including the DETR and successor departments focused on England, the Territorial Departments and new coordinating institutions
• Utilise past practice of coordination through a re-examination of relations between the centre and the Northern Ireland Stormont administration (1922-72)
• Explore how territorial interests are integrated and coordinated through case studies of territorial public finance, European Union matters, financial assistance to industry, and statistics
• Deliver insights about the machinery and procedures required at the centre to support good intergovernmental relations
Research Plan
The research began in 2001. It involves an extensive schedule of interviews with officials mainly in central government, but also in part in the devolved authorities and study of appropriate official documentation. The Stormont study will be conducted largely through archival research at the Public Record Offices in Kew and Northern Ireland and interviews with former politicians and civil servants.
Project Publications
Hazell, Robert:
'Three into One Won't Go': The Future of Territorial Secretaries of State'
Constitution Unit, London, 2001
Masterman, Roger and Mitchell, James:
'Devolution and the Centre'
in Trench, A. (ed.) The State of the Nations 2001. The Second Year of Devolution, Thorverton, Imprint Academic, 2001
Mitchell, James:
'Discordant devolution?', Public Service Magazine, November 2002
Mitchell, James:
'England and the Centre', Regional Studies, vol.36, October 2002, pp.757-765
Mitchell, James:
'Towards a new constitutional settlement?' in Collin Hay (ed.), British Politics Today, Cambridge, Polity Press, pp.237-258
Related Projects
Burch: 'Asymmetric' Devolution and EU Policy-Making in the UK
Hazell:How the Law and Devolution Disputes Shape the Devolution Settlement
Parry: Home Civil Service as an Integrative Force in the Post-Devolution Polity
| Principal Contact |
Professor James Mitchell
Department of Government
University of Strathclyde
McCance Building
16 Richmond Street
Glasgow G1 1XQ.
j.mitchell@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 0141 548 2219 |
| Project Members |
Professor Robert Hazell
Constitution Unit
University College London
Roger Masterman
Constitution Unit
University College London
John Rhodes
Constitution Unit
University College London |
| Duration of Project: |
01 January 2001 - 31 December 2003
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| Amount of Award: |
£86,871
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| ERSC Project Number: |
L219 25 2026
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