UK - A Federal State

The question of whether Britain has been a federal state has long been discussed. Tony Blair initiated the establishment of devolved parliaments and councils in states such as Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland (Wollmann & Kuhlmann, 2014). There have also been reports that, with the presence and power of the European Union, Britain would be pushed to become a federal state. Nonetheless, those hypotheses have not been entirely true or persuasive. A theoretical and legal review of the UK's legislative jurisdiction shows that the government is not an actual federal state. However, some of Britain’s features definitely leads to the conclusion that it is a Quasi-Federal state.

Devolution saw the enactment of various legislations such as the Scotland Act, Wales Act and Northern Ireland Act in 1998 and indeed gave the three countries immense powers or control over different affairs in their jurisdictions and hence appear to render Britain as a federal state. On the other hand, Barnes (1998) argued that Tony Blair’s administration was weakening the constitutional and political structure of the UK through devolution. He further maintained that it does not have any prospects of a strong constitutional structure but simply ‘politics of territory’ which seeks to weaken the integrity of the European Union. In addition, Deacon (2012) held that the constitution of the UK has witnessed immense changes for long and therefore signifies the many powers that Devolution eliminated from the Westminster. A review of the government’s website showed the division of responsibilities among various UK states. For instance, Scotland is heavily tasked with the management of the transport sector. Furthermore, there exists other significant areas where the devolved policy is applied. For example, the Parliament of Scotland can carry out changes or amendments to taxation, mainly income tax due to the presence of the Scotland Act of 2012 which the Society of Conservative Lawyers (2014) considered an extension of the authority of the country’s parliament. Also, from 2011, the Welsh Parliament was given the power to make laws and executive control of more than £18 bn of the £30 bn of public expenditure in Wales (Treasury, 2010). Most importantly, all the three devolved countries have power over the financing of the National Health Services which culminated in the integration of social care with health care by Scotland and Northern Ireland. Similarly, Northern Ireland has the power to borrow and the former Economy Minister, Simon Hamilton regarded Northern Ireland as the envy of Wales and Scotland. Each of the UK state or rather devolved region has powers clearly outlined by their parliament and that the Westminster has to seek the approval of the devolved body. Consequently, it is a clear reflection of the United States whereby the federal government and the states have well-elaborated powers which cannot be breached by either. The degree of devolution and the coding of power in devolution makes the UK to appear as a federal state.

Nevertheless, there are various important cruxes where the argument of devolution does not convince people that the United Kingdom is indeed a Federal State and in the process, renders quasi-federal more effective or fitting. As synthesized by Barnes (1998), Federalism entails the separation of powers, however, quasi-federal structure means that the sovereign power is meant to strike down that which has been granted. He further goes on to point out that it is not different from what took place in 1972: the abolishment of the Stormont Parliament. Under the present system, despite being sensitive politically to go that way given the condition of the Welsh and Scottish Nationalism and the significance of the Northern Ireland’s devolution to averting the troubles, the Westminster has total control or authority to pass a legislation that would see the removal of the powers of devolution. It implies that pragmatically, it is difficult for Britain to attain or be considered as a Federal State entirely unless the parliamentary sovereignty is done with altogether. Since this is the building block or the base of the UK constitution, unless a revolution or referendum is done, Britain will at most be considered a Quasi-Federal. Accordingly, one cannot maintain or hold that as a result of devolution, Britain is definitely a Federal State.

An insignificant but rather a substantial shortcoming of the devolution argument is the non-existence of devolution to England, the dilemma regarded as the ‘West-Lothian Question’. In fact, Professor Kenny stated that England as a nation is still without a voice in regards to the mainstream politics (Somin, 2015). It is hard to argue that the United Kingdom is a federal state considering that most of the residents are devoid of a federal power or even a representative body. Consequently, the UK is not a federal state where every state is independent or has its legislative chamber like the United States of America where it is viewed as a fundamental and codified entitlement of every state. Britain is properly explained or deemed as a Westminster Model type of government where various regions in the country are given specific legislative powers from Westminster. It perceived that the powers of the devolved entities are coded in negative aspect or sense. Therefore, the devolution debate is relatively unconvincing that the UK is currently a full Federal State.

Conversely, there is a possibility of reviewing the UK as a ‘state’ from a different angle and strongly deduce that it is a Federal State just like the United States in a Federal Europe as a result of the European Union (EU). It is with no doubt that the European Union has a substantial proportion of attributes synonymous with a Federal State. For instance, it grants the right of movement and residence for people within the EU which is considered as the building block or foundation of Union citizenship (European Commission, 2004). As such, one can argue that EU has definite borders as a result of the free movement of persons just like a state and goes to the point of referring to itself as at most a Quasi-Nation since people may be granted citizenship. In addition, the European Union has the power to veto legislations passed by parliament especially in areas where it has control granting it the pseudo-federal governmental function and the European Union also has an anthem that uses the Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Therefore, if one is to consider this as sufficient to regard the European Union as a state – the link between the United Kingdom and the European Union appears naturally federal. The powers and jurisdictions are well articulated and the relationship between the United Kingdom and EU properly defined through treaties, the supreme nature of the EU legislations confers a sense of European federal government and the United Kingdom as a state and as a matter of fact, the UK make payments to the EU. Such facts lead to people such as Kelemen (2003) to point out that the European Union has the essential features of a federal system. Likewise, Joseph Weiler held that Europe created its constitutional federalism (Weiler and Wind, 2003). Hence, there is a chance that the UK can be viewed as a federal state in the EU.

There are nonetheless indisputable aspects that render it difficult to refer to the UK’s relationship with the European Union as Quasi-Federal. The most concrete being the argument that the EU falls short of the essential elements to refer to it as a state. Moreover, Tanja Börzel and Thomas Risse held that the European Union is devoid of two important elements of a federation (Ribeiro, 2006). As a matter of fact, member countries are still sovereign and the EU does not have the fiscal strength to tax and spend as well. It can also be argued that the EU falls short of another basic attribute of statehood in case Max Weber’s realist concept is brought to light. According to Max Weber, a state is considered as a human community with independence and control of the legal application of physical force in a specific jurisdiction or territory. Since the EU does not have its own law enforcers or military, it is hard for it to be regarded as a state and it is definitely not acknowledged as one. Hence, at most, the relationship present between the EU and the UK is Quasi-Federal. Furthermore, the fact that parliament has the ability to leave the European Union at will happens to be the most important feature that makes it difficult to consider Britain as a Federal State within Europe compared to the United States where States bound by the constitution. In other words, the powers of the UK parliament are not defined or spelled out by the EU. Therefore, the absence of absolute statehood and the sovereignty of the UK’s parliament implies that it is not a Federal State in Europe but simply Quasi-Federal state at best.

Evidently, from the arguments presented above, it goes without saying that the UK cannot be truly considered or referred to as a Federal State whether in reference of internal federalism or a federal state in the EU. Within the United Kingdom, devolution is not entirely distributed, the EU does not encompass complete statehood and to refer to it as federal can be deemed duplicitous on the basis of parliamentary sovereignty since parliament has the capacity to take away the powers of the devolved entities and at the same time leave the EU. It shows that we may simply refer to the UK as Quasi-Federal so long as parliament decides that the UK remains part of the EU.

Should It Be a Federal State

In the recent past, political developments in the United Kingdom have led to some arguing that a federal system needs to be established. It is strongly believed that the establishment of a federal structure would help prevent secessionist sentiments like the one witnessed by Scotland and close the ballooning ideological gap between the British and the leftist Scottish and Welsh (Somin, 2015). A publication by the Institute of Economic Affairs (a think-tank in Britain) and written by a professor (Philip Booth) from St. Mary University called for the extensive decentralized type of federalism for the UK. Booth’s argument in the publication caught the attention of the media in Britain and had an effect on the discussion over such issues. He pointed out that the current devolved structure culminates to an unrepresentative governance which is mainly biased. According to Booth, the devolved structure is over-represented in parliament when contrasted with their population when it is supposed to be under-represented (Somin, 2015). He recommended reforms in two parts. Firstly, the establishment of a federal union comprised of England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The federal government will have limited powers in particular areas such as defence, border control and foreign affairs and a reduced or smaller executive and parliament. Secondly, powers should b decentralized in Scotland and rest of the United Kingdom to the local authority.

Even though the issue of Scotland’s independence was unsuccessful in the 2014 referendum, it is highly likely that secessionists sentiments will be re-ignited especially in the wake of the victory by the Conservative Party in the UK election in 2015 (Somin, 2010). The election signalled the strength and significant gains for the Scottish National party. As the English and Scottish continue to have divergent views, the pressure on the UK political structure may increase and perhaps reach a breaking point stressed Booth (2015). Such developments resulted in many to believe that there is the possibility of the UK making reforms in its system and embrace federalism like the United States.

However, others maintain that Federalism in the United States was practically aimed at eliminating ethic and regional difference and it would not work in the UK. In the UK, more specifically in England, federalism would act as a power grab and seasonal politicians who are not concerned with their fiefdom and bring about immense divisions. Besides, it means that the UK will have to redraft its history and contemplate on its identity. Also, the dominance of England in the UK means that the federal system would basically be unbalanced and therefore impractical.



Bibliography

Barnes, J. (1998). Federal Britain. (Online). Available at https://www.cps.org.uk/files/reports/original/111027150220-federalbritain.pdf (Accessed on 7th January, 2018).

Booth, F. (2015). Federal Britain: The case for decentralization. (Online). Available at https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Booth-Federal-Britain-Interactive.pdf (Accessed on 7th January 2018).

Deacon, R. (2012). Devolution in the United Kingdom. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.

European Commission (2004). Movement and residence. (Online). Available at http://ec.europa.eu/justice/citizen/move-live/index_en.htm(Accessed on 7th January, 2018).

Kelemen, R. D. (2003). Rules of Federalism : Institutions and Regulatory Politics in the EU and Beyond. Cambridge, MA, USA, Harvard University Press.

Ribeiro, J.S. (2006). Distributive Justice Through Taxation: European Perspective. Jurisprudencija, 2 (80); 80–89.

Society of Conservative Lawyers (2014). Our Quasi-Federal Kingdom: A Report of a Working Party of The Society of Conservative Lawyers. (Online). Available at http://www.conservativelawyers.com/files/Our_Quasi-Federal_Kingdom.pdf(Accessed on 7th January, 2018).

Somin, I. (2015). A federal system for Britain. (Online). Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/11/05/a-federal-system-for-britain/?utm_term=.fc095617e937(Accessed on 7th January, 2018).

Treasury (2010). Spending Review 2010. (Online). Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/203826/Spending_review_2010.pdf(Accessed on 7th January, 2018).

Weiler, J., & Wind, M. (2003). European constitutionalism beyond the state. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Wollmann, H., & Kuhlmann, S. (2014). Introduction to comparative public administration: Administrative systems and reform in Europe. Cheltenham : Edward Elgar.

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