Getting WISE to Manifestos: what do they say about the future of inter-governmental relations within the UK?
Dewi Knight and Catherine May
At PolicyWISE we create and nurture cross-nation spaces. We welcome improved relations, structures, and exchanges, so that citizens and communities across the nations benefit from comparative and collaborative policy analysis and learning. We’ve looked at the party election manifestos to see what they’re saying on cross-government and cross-nation working and learning, so you don’t need to go anywhere else.
(To note – this was written on Friday 14th June, we will continue to analyse and monitor the manifestos as they are published, especially the SNP and Northern Ireland parties, and we will also examine what the parties are saying on inter-parliamentary relations.)
Put simply, it’s story of new Councils, revived Commissions, and the older quandary of comparable data.
A joint report from the Institute for Government and The Constitution Unit at UCL recently noted that “improvements can be made” to structures and joint-working, in particular through the prioritisation of improving understanding of devolution across Whitehall and “stronger interparliamentary relations between the UK parliament and devolved legislatures”.
At the recent PolicyWISE/Resolution Foundation conference, current and former First Ministers talked about the difficulties of co-operation, the prevailing political culture and the “myth” of Westminster sovereignty.
It is good to see these issues covered in the different manifestos.
So, what are the parties saying and what might this mean for the future of intergovernmental working?
The Labour Party is pledging to “reset the UK Government’s relationship with (the) devolved governments.” Taking forward the work of Gordon Brown’s Commission on the UK’s Future, their manifesto includes a commitment to “ensure” that inter-governmental “structures and institutions” help improve cross-administration “policy relationships and collaboration”.
There is also a commitment to establish a new Council of the Nations and Regions. This would bring together the heads of governments and the mayors of English combined authorities. The Liberal Democrats have made a similar pledge, but foreground it as a “federal” approach, whereas Labour’s language focuses more on UK Government relations with the “nations”.
On the theme of federalism, the proposed Council would seem similar to Australia’s “national cabinet”. This was a Covid-era development, and its effectiveness and future is discussed in this parliamentary briefing note. Should Labour and/or the Liberal Democrats have the opportunity to take their proposal forward, it would be worth reflecting on lessons learned from the Australian approach.
The proposed UK Council, as with any such structures, also prompts the question whether the Prime Minister would represent England and/or the UK and if they are clear on what the difference is?
Turning to the Conservative manifesto, there does not seem to be a pledge for specific structures or networks but instead to “maintain meaningful intergovernmental relations.” They do, however, pledge to “legislate to deliver comparable data across the UK so the performance of public services can be accurately compared.”
It is unclear what the scope of the proposed legislation would be, but UK-wide data comparability is an issue that comes up regularly in our work and in discussions with both policymakers and researchers. It should be noted that the different Chief Statisticians are alive to this issue already and working towards respectful cross-nation data and statistics..
Plaid Cymru want to see legislation to enshrine the “Sewel Convention” (where legislative consent is required from the devolved parliaments for Westminster to act), whilst Labour promises to “strengthen” this convention with a “memorandum of understanding.. for the common good”.
Plaid also propose a “duty of co-operation and parity of esteem between the governments”, which sounds a lot like proposals made by Mark Drakeford at our recent conference.
The Greens manifesto (for “England and Wales”) are clear that their commitment is that the constituent parts of the UK “should be free to make their own decisions about their relationship with the rest of the United Kingdom”, although they do not say what that might look like or mention who would make the decisions for England.
In summary, and assuming a Labour victory, we can expect to see a welcome renewed focus on the process and mechanisms for inter-governmental relations. It is, as yet, unclear whether this would be on the principle of shared and dispersed sovereignty. Or more likely, a “reset” for respectful working and exchanges, but with the Westminster government as both convener and chief actor.
Dewi Knight and Catherine May