A Vision for a Potential Federal UK
With the union increasingly becoming shaky, exacerbated by the pressures of Brexit and COVID-19, parallel to existing divisions in England between regions, the government and others have proposed all sorts of ideas to solve these issues. But they will only paper over cracks and divisions will only become deeper. More and more, a federal United Kingdom seems like an ideal solution.
In a speech on the 15th July, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised more powers for local authorities in England as part of his plan to ‘level up the country.’ He spoke about wanting to ‘‘rewrite the rulebook’’ on local devolution and potentially giving counties, similar powers as major cities such as London.
But in a time where Scottish and Welsh independence movements have gained strength alongside increasing concerns over Northern Ireland’s place in the UK, Johnson’s plan appears lacklustre and won’t really change English devolution much and certainly won’t do much if anything to help save the union. It is obvious that power in the UK is too centralised and increasingly likely that the union will eventually break up.
Some people say that independence for both Scotland and Wales is inevitable, and the same for Irish reunification. They say the UK will only consist of England, a rump form of its previous self when it was once the largest empire in world history. But isn’t there another solution which would truly devolve powers in England and strengthen the case for the other constituent nations to remain in the union?
There is, and in my opinion, that’s a federal United Kingdom. And specifically, a federal nation with federalism modelled on countries including the USA, Canada, Australia and Germany.
The concept of federalism in the UK is not a new one. Wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1912, proposed the idea of a federal government alongside English regions such as London, the Midlands, Yorkshire and more having their own regional parliaments. In 1969, the Redcliffe-Maud Report was published which proposed 58 unitary authorities alongside three metropolitan areas which would be grouped into eight provinces.
However, this plan was never enacted and in coming decades while devolution was introduced to Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland, it didn’t gain a foothold in England with the exception of London. Specifically, the rejection of a proposed regional assembly for North East England by voters in 2004, ended hopes for further devolution across England. However, combined authorities have been introduced in England since, devolving power to certain city regions and the other UK nations have been given additional powers too.
Having previously argued the case for federalism in the UK as part of my university work, I would like to set out a vision for how this would look.
Starting off in England, England itself would be divided into the nine regions that are officially recognised by government and which are used for statistical and administrative purposes. These regions would be the North West, North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, the West Midlands, the East Midlands, the South West, the South East, London and the East of England. With England comprising over 80% of the UK population and over 50% of its area, a single English devolved entity would not be feasible in many ways, notably centralisation would still remain an issue. As such, the devolving of powers to English regions would devolve power across the country more equally.
Each of these regions would be designated as provinces, similarly to Canada and would have their own provincial government alongside a provincial parliament. They would also have their own courts alongside having powers over matters such as direct taxes, healthcare, housing, prisons, education, marriage, policing and more. With regards to a federal government, the existing government based in London would take on the role of a federal government and existing courts based in London would also remain but take on the role of federal courts, similar to courts in Germany, the United States and other nations.
The same would also apply for Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland. However, taking into account their increased desires for independence (and reunification in the latter case), they could be given some powers over matters that would usually be reserved to federal governments globally such as immigration, defence, criminal law and more. Specifically, in the case of Scotland and NI owing to their votes to Remain in the 2016 EU referendum and which have become major reasons propelling their independence and reunification movements, they could also be given powers allowing themselves to align with EU law. The latter would be particularly important for Northern Ireland, as it has to align itself with EU law with regards to trade and customs as part of the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit agreement.
Powers belonging to a federal government would be similar to those retained by federal governments around the world. Notably, these would include matters such as immigration, defence, economy, fisheries, foreign affairs, banking, elections and more. Essentially, pretty much most of what Westminster has now already.
In addition, the establishment of an inter-governmental body, potentially a ‘‘Council of Provinces & Nations’’ should be a step taken in order to increase and promote co-operation amongst provinces and nations and provide a united front when interacting with a federal government. This would be parallel to the expansion of bodies such as the existing British-Irish Council and British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly to include new English provinces.
Importantly, in order to safeguard these changes, a written constitution would need to be created in order to codify federalism and deny the possibility of Westminster revoking autonomy, as is the case with current devolution legislation (albeit doing so would probably be political suicide for the government but still). Notably, the United Kingdom is one of a few countries in the world including New Zealand and Israel, which do not have a codified constitution.
A federal United Kingdom would also provide a golden opportunity to bolster the power of English regions, along with the other UK nations, while bolstering the state of the union. In the aftermath of Brexit and in the upcoming post-COVID era, there has never been a more important time to strengthen the union. While some may argue that dividing further power would further stoke the flames of separatism and would create additional bureaucracy and wouldn’t be effective, a federal UK would give additional strength to citizens and residents’ voices. Something which it can be argued, has been lacking with the present system. Indeed, centralisation within a country that has division upon division, will only end up with a negative outcome, the most serious being the end of the UK as we know it.
Written by Rean Rehman
My name is Rean and I’m currently a final year Journalism and Politics student. I’ve always loved writing and have been passionate about it since I was a child. I’m a huge fan of politics, reading and music, and I also love long walks and playing video games. I just want to live my best life and be chill and happy. I don’t know the future but I hope whatever it is, I’ll be happy with it.
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