devolution,general election权力下放专用课件.pptVIP

* Government and Politics Devolution General election P48 P49 In order to dampen calls for independence in local regions, the British government has since the late 1990s implemented devolution What is devolution Evolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional ,local ,or state level. The United Kingdom is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Devolution essentially means the transfer of powers from the UK parliament in London to assemblies in Cardiff and Belfast, and the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Scotland has a parliament as opposed to an assembly - the crucial difference being that Holyrood is a legislation-making body, passing bills in various areas of its many devolved responsibilities. The Scottish parliament also has the power to raise or lower the basic rate of income tax by 3p in the pound - although this so-called Tartan Tax has never been used. Devolution in Scotland The Scottish parliament is based at Holyrood in Edinburgh Devolution in Scotland Devolution in Wales The Government of Wales Act of 2006 gives the Welsh assembly powers to make its own laws, but limits its scope to defined fields; a broad subject area such as education or health. The Welsh Assembly building is in Cardiff Devolution in Northern Ireland Devolution here is slightly different to Scotland and Wales, with government powers divided into three categories: transferred, reserved and excepted. The Northern Ireland Assembly sits at Stormont in Belfast In March 2010, an agreement was passed to transfer powers of justice and policing to Northern Ireland. Reserved powers - which could be transferred in the future with cross-community consent - include prisons and civil defence. A third category - excepted powers - includes matters such as parliamentary and assembly elections,