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In the United Kingdom, devolution (historically called home rule) is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's statutory granting of a greater level of self-government to parts of the United Kingdom, such as to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and parts of England, specifically to strategic authorities.

Statutory powers have been awarded to the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), and the Northern Ireland Assembly, with authority exercised by their associated executive bodies: the Scottish Government, Welsh Government, and Northern Ireland Executive respectively. In England, devolved powers, functions, and responsibilities have been granted to strategic authorities throughout England. There have been other proposals for devolution in England, including national devolution, regional devolution (such as to northern England or Cornwall) or failed proposals for regional assemblies.

Devolution differs from federalism in that the devolved powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government, thus the state remains, de jure, a unitary state. Legislation creating devolved parliaments or assemblies can be repealed or amended by parliament in the same way as any statute, although the parliaments and assemblies in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London, as well as some mayors in England, were supported via public referendums. Laws such as the Scotland Act 2016 and Wales Act 2017 affirmed the permanence of their devolved institutions, and any abolishment of such must be voted for in a referendum.

Legislation passed following the EU membership referendum, including the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, restricts the authority of the devolved legislatures in both Scotland and Wales.^[1]

Northern Ireland

Map of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom

Image of the Stormont Parliament Building

Stormont Parliament Building, home of the Northern Ireland Assembly

Northern Ireland was the first constituent of the UK to have a devolved administration.^[a] Home Rule came into effect for Northern Ireland in 1921, under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 ("Fourth Home Rule Act"). The Parliament of Northern Ireland established under that act was prorogued (the session ended) on 30 March 1972 owing to the destabilisation of Northern Ireland upon the onset of the Troubles in late 1960s. This followed escalating violence by state and paramilitary organisations following the suppression of civil rights demands by Northern Ireland Catholics.

The Northern Ireland Parliament was abolished by the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973, which received royal assent on 19 July 1973. A Northern Ireland Assembly was elected on 28 June 1973 and following the Sunningdale Agreement, a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive was formed on 1 January 1974. This collapsed on 28 May 1974, due to the Ulster Workers' Council strike.

The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (1975–1976) and second Northern Ireland Assembly (1982–1986) were unsuccessful at restoring devolution. In the absence of devolution and power-sharing, the UK Government and Irish Government formally agreed to co-operate on security, justice and political progress in the Anglo-Irish Agreement, signed on 15 November 1985. More progress was made after the ceasefires by the Provisional IRA in 1994 and 1997.^[2]

The 1998 Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement), resulted in the creation of a new Northern Ireland Assembly, intended to bring together the two communities (nationalist and unionist) to govern Northern Ireland.^[3] Additionally, renewed devolution in Northern Ireland was conditional on co-operation between the newly established Northern Ireland Executive and the Government of Ireland through a new all-Ireland body, the North/South Ministerial Council. A British–Irish Council covering the whole British Isles and a British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference (between the British and Irish Governments) were also established.

From 15 October 2002, the Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended due to a breakdown in the Northern Ireland peace process but, on 13 October 2006, the British and Irish governments announced the St Andrews Agreement, a 'road map' to restore devolution to Northern Ireland.^[4] On 26 March 2007, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley met Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams for the first time and together announced that a devolved government would be returning to Northern Ireland.^[5] The Executive was restored on 8 May 2007.^[6] Several policing and justice powers were transferred to the Assembly on 12 April 2010.

The 2007–2011 Assembly (the third since the 1998 Agreement) was dissolved on 24 March 2011 in preparation for an election to be held on Thursday 5 May 2011, this being the first Assembly since the Good Friday Agreement to complete a full term.^[7] The fifth Assembly convened in May 2016.^[8] That assembly dissolved on 26 January 2017, and an election for a reduced Assembly was held on 2 March 2017 but this did not lead to formation of a new Executive due to the collapse of power-sharing. Power-sharing collapsed in Northern Ireland due to the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal. On 11 January 2020, after having been suspended for almost three years, the parties reconvened on the basis of an agreement proposed by the Irish and UK governments.^[9] Elections were held for a seventh assembly in May 2022. Sinn Féin emerged as the largest party, followed by the Democratic Unionist Party.^[10] The newly elected assembly met for the first time on 13 May 2022 and again on 30 May. However, at both these meetings, the DUP refused to assent to the election of a speaker^[11] as part of a protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol, which meant that the assembly could not continue other business, including the appointment of a new Executive.^[12] On 3 February 2024, a new executive was formed marking the return of devolved government to Northern Ireland.^[13]

Scotland

Map of Scotland within the United Kingdom

Scottish Parliament Building, Edinburgh

The Acts of Union 1707 merged the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England into a single Parliament of Great Britain.^[14] Ever since, individuals and organisations advocated the return of a Scottish Parliament. The drive for home rule for Scotland first took concrete shape in the 19th century, as demands for home rule in Ireland were met with similar (although not as widespread) demands in Scotland.^[15] The National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights was established in 1853, a body close to the Scottish Unionist Party and motivated by a desire to secure more focus on Scottish problems in response to what they felt was undue attention being focused on Ireland by the then Liberal government.^[16] In 1871, William Ewart Gladstone stated at a meeting held in Aberdeen that if Ireland was to be granted home rule, then the same should apply to Scotland. A Scottish home rule bill was presented to the Westminster Parliament in 1913 but the legislative process was interrupted by the First World War.^[16]

The demands for political change in the way in which Scotland was run changed dramatically in the 1920s when Scottish nationalists started to form various organisations.^[17] The Scots National League was formed in 1920 in favour of Scottish independence, and this movement was superseded in 1928 by the formation of the National Party of Scotland, which became the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 1934. At first the SNP sought only the establishment of a devolved Scottish assembly, but in 1942 they changed this to support all-out independence. This caused the resignation of John MacCormick from the SNP and he formed the Scottish Covenant Association. This body proved to be the biggest mover in favour of the formation of a Scottish assembly, collecting over two million signatures in the late 1940s and early 1950s and attracting support from across the political spectrum.^[18] However, without formal links to any of the political parties it withered, and devolution and the establishment of an assembly were put on the political back burner.

Harold Wilson's Labour government set up a Royal Commission on the Constitution in 1969, which reported in 1973 to Edward Heath's Conservative government.^[19] The Commission recommended the formation of a devolved Scottish assembly, but this was not implemented.^[20] Support for the SNP reached 30% in the October 1974 general election, with 11 SNP MPs being elected. In 1978 the Labour government passed the Scotland Act which legislated for the establishment of a Scottish Assembly, provided the Scots voted for such in a referendum. However, the Labour Party was bitterly divided on the subject of devolution.^[21] An amendment to the Scotland Act that had been proposed by Labour MP George Cunningham, who shortly afterwards defected to the newly formed Social Democratic Party (SDP), required 40% of the total electorate to vote in favour of an assembly.^[21] Despite officially favouring it, considerable numbers of Labour members opposed the establishment of an assembly. This division contributed to only a narrow 'Yes' majority being obtained, and the failure to reach Cunningham's 40% threshold.^[21] The 18 years of Conservative government, under Margaret Thatcher and then John Major, saw strong resistance to any proposal for devolution for Scotland, and for Wales.

In response to Conservative dominance, in 1989 the Scottish Constitutional Convention was formed encompassing the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Green Party, local authorities, and sections of "civic Scotland" like Scottish Trades Union Congress, the Small Business Federation and Church of Scotland and the other major churches in Scotland. Its purpose was to devise a scheme for the formation of a devolution settlement for Scotland. The SNP decided to withdraw, as independence was not a constitutional option countenanced by the convention. The convention produced its final report in 1995. In May 1997, the Labour government of Tony Blair was elected with a promise of creating devolved institutions in Scotland. In late 1997, a referendum was held which resulted in a "yes" vote.

The newly created Scottish Parliament (as a result of the Scotland Act 1998) has powers to make primary legislation in all areas of policy which are not expressly 'reserved' for the UK Government and parliament such as national defence and international affairs. 76% of Scotland's revenue and 36% of its spending are 'reserved'.^[22] Devolution for Scotland was justified on the basis that it would make government more representative of the people of Scotland. It was argued that the population of Scotland felt detached from the Westminster government (largely because of the policies of the Conservative governments led by Margaret Thatcher and John Major). Critics however point out that the Scottish Parliament's power is on most measures surpassed by the parliaments of regions or provinces within federations, where regional and national parliaments are each sovereign within their spheres of jurisdiction.^[23]^[24]

A referendum on Scottish independence was held on 18 September 2014, with the referendum being defeated 55.3% (No) to 44.7% (Yes).^[25] In the 2015 general election the SNP won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats with 50% of all Scottish votes. This saw the SNP replace the Liberal Democrats as the third largest in the UK Parliament. In the 2016 Scottish Parliament election the SNP fell two seats short of an overall majority with 63 seats but remained in government for a third term. The proportional electoral system used for Holyrood elections makes it very difficult for any party to gain a majority. The Scottish Conservatives won 31 seats and became the second largest party for the first time. Scottish Labour, down to 24 seats from 38, fell to third place. The Scottish Greens took 6 seats and overtook the Liberal Democrats who remained flat at 5 seats. Following the 2016 referendum on EU membership, where Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to Remain and England and Wales voted to Leave (leading to a 52% Leave vote nationwide), the Scottish Parliament voted for a second independence referendum to be held once conditions of the UK's EU exit are known.

The SNP had advocated for another independence referendum to be held in 2020. The SNP were widely expected to include a second independence referendum in their manifesto for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.^[26] Senior SNP figures have said that a second independence referendum would be inevitable, should an SNP majority be elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2021 and some claimed this was going to happen by the end of 2021, though that hasn't been the case.^[27]

The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 restricts and undermines the authority of the Scottish Parliament;^[36] a primary purpose of the act is to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy.^[37] It restricts the ability of the Scottish government to make different economic or social choices from those made in Westminster.^[1]

Wales

Map of Wales within the United Kingdom

The Senedd, home to the Welsh Parliament

Following the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, Wales was treated in legal terms as part of England. However, during the later part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century the notion of a distinctive Welsh polity gained credence. In 1881 the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881 was passed, the first such legislation exclusively concerned with Wales. The Central Welsh Board was established in 1896 to inspect the grammar schools set up under the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889, and a separate Welsh Department of the Board of Education was formed in 1907. The Agricultural Council for Wales was set up in 1912, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries had its own Welsh Office from 1919.

Despite the failure of popular political movements such as Cymru Fydd, a number of national institutions, such as the National Eisteddfod (1861), the Football Association of Wales (1876), the Welsh Rugby Union (1881), the University of Wales (Welsh: Prifysgol Cymru, 1893), the National Library of Wales (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru, 1911) and the Welsh Guards (Gwarchodlu Cymreig, 1915) were created. The campaign for disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Wales, achieved by the passage of the Welsh Church Act 1914, was also significant in the development of Welsh political consciousness. Plaid Cymru, a party committed to Welsh independence, was formed in 1925.

An appointed Council for Wales and Monmouthshire was established in 1949 to "ensure the government is adequately informed of the impact of government activities on the general life of the people of Wales". The council had 27 members nominated by local authorities in Wales, the University of Wales, National Eisteddfod Council and the Welsh Tourist Board. A cross-party Parliament for Wales campaign in the early 1950s was supported by a number of Labour MPs, mainly from the more Welsh-speaking areas, together with the Liberal Party and Plaid Cymru. A post of Minister of Welsh Affairs was created in 1951 and the post of Secretary of State for Wales and the Welsh Office were established in 1964 leading to the abolition of the Council for Wales and Monmouthshire.

Labour's incremental embrace of a distinctive Welsh polity was arguably catalysed in 1966 when Plaid Cymru president Gwynfor Evans won the Carmarthen by-election. In response to the emergence of Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party (SNP) Harold Wilson's Labour Government set up the Royal Commission on the Constitution (the Kilbrandon Commission) to investigate the UK's constitutional arrangements in 1969. The 1974–1979 Labour government proposed a Welsh Assembly in parallel to its proposals for Scotland. These were rejected by voters in the 1979 referendum: 956,330 votes against, 243,048 for.

In May 1997, the Labour government of Tony Blair was elected with a promise of creating a devolved assembly in Wales; the referendum in 1997 resulted in a narrow "yes" vote. The turnout was 50.22% with 559,419 votes (50.3%) in favour and 552,698 (49.7%) against, a majority of 6,721 (0.6%). The National Assembly for Wales, as a consequence of the Government of Wales Act 1998, possesses the power to determine how the government budget for Wales is spent and administered. The 1998 Act was followed by the Government of Wales Act 2006 which created an executive body, the Welsh Government, separate from the legislature, the National Assembly for Wales. It also conferred on the National Assembly some limited legislative powers.

The 1997 devolution referendum was only narrowly passed, with the majority of voters in the former industrial areas of the South Wales Valleys and the Welsh-speaking heartlands of West Wales and North Wales voting for devolution, and the majority of voters in all the counties near England, plus Cardiff and Pembrokeshire, rejecting devolution. However, all recent opinion polls indicate an increasing level of support for further devolution, with support for some tax varying powers now commanding a majority, and diminishing support for the abolition of the Assembly.

The 2011 Welsh devolution referendum saw a majority of 21 local authority constituencies to 1 voting in favour of more legislative powers being transferred from the UK parliament in Westminster to the Welsh Assembly. The turnout in Wales was 35.4% with 517,132 votes (63.5%) in favour and 297,380 (36.5%) against increased legislative power.

A Commission on Devolution in Wales was set up in October 2011 to consider further devolution of powers from London. The commission issued a report on the devolution of fiscal powers in November 2012 and a report on the devolution of legislative powers in March 2014. The fiscal recommendations formed the basis of the Wales Act 2014, while the majority of the legislative recommendations were put into law by the Wales Act 2017.

On 6 May 2020, the National Assembly was renamed Senedd Cymru or the Welsh Parliament with the Senedd becoming its common name in both languages.^[45]

The devolved competence of the Welsh Government, as the Scottish Government, is restricted and undermined by the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020.^[1]

England

Devolution in England is to the strategic authorities rather than England as a whole. This devolution has come about since 2000 under several different laws.

Devolution was first introduced to the Greater London Authority in 2000, followed by the combined authorities and combined county authorities in 2010s and 2020s. Under the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, they were all collectively designated as strategic authorities.

As of June 2026^[update], there are 20 strategic authorities, 14 of which have a directly elected mayor. The powers given to the strategic authorities are more limited than the powers of the devolved national governments; they are limited largely to the economy, transport, and planning.^[46]

In October 2024, the newly elected Labour government established a UK wide Council of the Nations and Regions and an England-only Mayoral Council for England bringing together ministers from the UK government and strategic authority mayors.^[47]^[48] As the Labour government hopes that strategic authorities will be established throughout England, the Mayoral Council would eventually evolve into an all-England forum.^[49]

Crown dependencies

Map showing the Channel Islands

Map showing the Isle of Man

The legislatures of the Crown Dependencies are not devolved as their origins predate the establishment of the United Kingdom and their attachment to the British Crown, and the Crown Dependencies are not part of the United Kingdom. However, the United Kingdom has redefined its formal relationship with the Crown Dependencies since the late 20th century.

Crown dependencies are possessions of the British Crown, as opposed to overseas territories or colonies of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.^[50]

For several hundred years, each has had its own separate legislature, government and judicial system. However, as possessions of the Crown they are not sovereign nations in their own right and the British Government is responsible for the overall good governance of the islands and represents the islands in international law. Acts of the UK Parliament are normally only extended to the islands only with their specific consent.^[51] Each of the dependencies is represented on the British-Irish Council.

The Lord Chancellor, a member of the UK Government, is responsible for relations between the government and the Channel Islands. All insular legislation must be approved by the King-in-Council and the Lord Chancellor is responsible for proposing the legislation on the Privy Council. He can refuse to propose insular legislation or can propose it for the King's approval.

In 2007–2008, each Crown Dependency and the UK signed agreements^[52] that established frameworks for the development of the international identity of each Crown Dependency. Among the points clarified in the agreements were that:

the UK has no democratic accountability in and for the Crown Dependencies, which are governed by their own democratically elected assemblies;
the UK will not act internationally on behalf of the Crown Dependencies without prior consultation;
each Crown Dependency has an international identity that is different from that of the UK;
the UK supports the principle of each Crown Dependency further developing its international identity;
the UK recognises that the interests of each Crown Dependency may differ from those of the UK, and the UK will seek to represent any differing interests when acting in an international capacity; and
the UK and each Crown Dependency will work together to resolve or clarify any differences that may arise between their respective interests.

Jersey has moved further than the other two Crown dependencies in asserting its autonomy from the United Kingdom. The preamble to the States of Jersey Law 2005 declares that 'it is recognized that Jersey has autonomous capacity in domestic affairs' and 'it is further recognized that there is an increasing need for Jersey to participate in matters of international affairs'.^[53] In July 2005, the Policy and Resources Committee of the States of Jersey established the Constitutional Review Group, chaired by Sir Philip Bailhache, with terms of reference 'to conduct a review and evaluation of the potential advantages and disadvantages for Jersey in seeking independence from the United Kingdom or other incremental change in the constitutional relationship, while retaining the Queen as Head of State'. The Group's 'Second Interim Report' was presented to the States by the Council of Ministers in June 2008.^[54] In January 2011, one of Jersey's Council of Ministers was for the first time designated as having responsibility for external relations and is often described as the island's 'foreign minister'.^[55]^[56] Proposals for Jersey independence have not, however, gained significant political or popular support.^[57]^[58] In October 2012 the Council of Ministers issued a "Common policy for external relations"^[59] that set out a number of principles for the conduct of external relations in accordance with existing undertakings and agreements. This document noted that Jersey "is a self-governing, democratic country with the power of self-determination" and "that it is not Government policy to seek independence from the United Kingdom, but rather to ensure that Jersey is prepared if it were in the best interests of Islanders to do so". On the basis of the established principles the Council of Ministers decided to "ensure that Jersey is prepared for external change that may affect the Island's formal relationship with the United Kingdom and/or European Union".^{[citation needed]}

There is also public debate in Guernsey about the possibility of independence.^[60]^[61] In 2009, however, an official group reached the provisional view that becoming a microstate would be undesirable^[62] and it is not supported by Guernsey's Chief Minister.^[63]

In 2010 the governments of Jersey and Guernsey jointly created the post of director of European affairs, based in Brussels, to represent the interests of the islands to European Union policy-makers.^[64]

Since 2010 the Lieutenant Governors of each Crown dependency have been recommended to the Crown by a panel in each respective Crown dependency; this replaced the previous system of the appointments being made by the Crown on the recommendation of UK ministers.^[65]^[66]

Competences of the devolved governments

Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales enjoy different levels^[67] of legislative, administrative and budgetary autonomy. Each devolved administration has exclusive powers in certain policy areas, while in others, responsibility is shared and some areas of policy in the specific area are not under the control of the devolved administration. For example, while policing and criminal law may be a competence of the Scottish Government, the UK Government remains responsible for anti-terrorism, and coordinates serious crime response through the National Crime Agency.

Under section 30 of the Scotland Act 1998, powers that are reserved to the UK Parliament can be temporarily devolved to the Scottish Parliament.^[68] A section 30 order has been granted 16 times since the creation of the Scottish Parliament; these orders have covered a variety of areas, including the power to hold a referendum on independence.^[68]

However, section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 grants the Secretary of State for Scotland the ability to make an order prohibiting the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from submitting a bill to royal assent if they believe it would be incompatible with any of the United Kingdom's international obligations or the interests of defence or national security, or would make modifications of the law as it applies to reserved matters and which the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds to believe would have an adverse effect on the operation of the law as it applies to reserved matters. This power was used for the first time in January 2023, when Scotland Secretary Alister Jack announced that he would make an order under section 35 to prevent the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from proceeding to royal assent.^[69]

Opposition to devolution

Notes

^ Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty that provided (among other matters) for the partition of Ireland, the Irish Free State left the UK at the same time, initially as a dominion of the British Empire (like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa), subsequently to become an independent republic.

References

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^ "Ian Paisley retires as NI Assembly completes historical first full term". BBC News. 25 March 2011.
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^ "Stormont deal: Parties return to assembly after agreement". BBC News. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
^ "Northern Ireland Assembly Election Results 2022". BBC News. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
^ Phillips, Alexa (13 May 2022). "Northern Ireland Assembly fails to elect Speaker after DUP blocks formation of government". Sky News.
^ "Northern Ireland Protocol: Assembly Speaker blocked by DUP for second time". BBC News. 30 May 2022.
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^ "Act of Union 1707". UK Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^ "Home Rule for Scotland. (Hansard, 9 April 1889)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Annex A: Scotland as a nation – its constitutional story so far". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^ "Scottish independence: The parliament that never was". BBC News. 16 September 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^ "A history of the Scottish National Party". BBC News. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^ "Royal Commission on the Constitution: Papers and Evidence". The National Archives. 1967–1973. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^ "The path to devolution". www.parliament.scot. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c Strachan, Graeme (2 March 2024). "When Yes meant No – the story of the 1979 referendum on Scottish devolution". The Courier. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^ Swinney, John (24 August 2022). "GERS figures: Why Scotland's deficit is falling faster than UK Government". The Scotsman.
^ McEwen, Nicola (8 March 2016). "Can Holyrood be one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world?".
^ Leask, David (26 February 2016). "Is Scotland one of the most powerful devolved places in the world? Probably not..."
^ "Scottish independence referendum – Results". BBC News. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^ Watson, Jeremy. "Independence vote will be key part of SNP manifesto". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
^ McCall, Chris (22 October 2020). "Scottish independence referendum 'could happen in 2021' says senior SNP MSP". Daily Record. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
^ Guderjan, Marius (2023). Intergovernmental Relations in the UK: Cooperation and Conflict in a Devolved Unitary State. London/New York: Routledge. pp. 166–176. doi:10.4324/9781003349952. ISBN 978-1-032-39485-5. Since the act became law on 17 December 2020, the devolved administrations can continue to set standards for goods and services produced within their territory, but their rules do not apply to goods and services coming from other jurisdictions. They also must accept products imported into one part of the UK. This undermines their legislative autonomy and renders certain policies ineffective
^ Keating, Michael (2 February 2021). "Taking back control? Brexit and the territorial constitution of the United Kingdom". Journal of European Public Policy. 29 (4). Abingdon: Taylor & Francis: 491–509. doi:10.1080/13501763.2021.1876156. hdl:1814/70296. The UK Internal Market Act gives ministers sweeping powers to enforce mutual recognition and non-discrimination across the four jurisdictions. Existing differences and some social and health matters are exempted but these are much less extensive than the exemptions permitted under the EU Internal Market provisions. Only after an amendment in the House of Lords, the Bill was amended to provide a weak and non-binding consent mechanism for amendments (equivalent to the Sewel Convention) to the list of exemptions. The result is that, while the devolved governments retain regulatory competences, these are undermined by the fact that goods and services originating in, or imported into, England can be marketed anywhere.
^ Lydgate, Emily; Anthony, Chloe (September 2022). "Brexit, food law and the UK's search for a post‐EU identity". Modern Law Review. 85 (5). London: Wiley: 1168–1190. doi:10.1111/1468-2230.12735. While the mutual recognition principle preserves devolved powers, rather than requiring that devolved nations conform with a wide range of harmonised standards (as they did in the EU), the Act undermines devolution simply because devolved legislation will no longer apply to all relevant activity in the devolved territory...Devolution is also undermined by the asymmetry of legislative authority...the UK Internal Market Act is a protected enactment, which devolved administrations are unable to appeal or modify, but which the UK parliament will be able to modify when legislating for England.
^ Dougan, Michael; Hayward, Katy; Hunt, Jo; McEwen, Nicola; McHarg, Aileen; Wincott, Daniel (2020). UK and the Internal Market, Devolution and the Union. Centre on Constitutional Change (Report). University of Edinburgh; University of Aberdeen. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 16 October 2020. The market access principles undermine devolved competences in two ways...[they] significantly undermine the purpose of devolution, which was to enable the devolved nations and regions to legislate according to their own local needs and political preferences.
^ Solomon, Russell (1 September 2022). "Breaking up is hard to do? Devolution and the sovereignty dilemma of post-Brexit UK". Australian and New Zealand Journal of European Studies. 14 (2). Melbourne: European Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand: 35–48. doi:10.30722/anzjes.vol14.iss2.15834. The UK government has sought to avoid regulatory divergence through its Internal Market Act 2020...the IMA effectively undermines the regulatory competences of the devolved governments. The loose arrangements of the EUWA of 2018 were thus turned into harder edged centralised control
^ Keating, Michael (15 March 2023). "Regulation in Scotland and Wales after Brexit". Contemporary Social Science. 18 (2). Taylor & Francis: 185–196. doi:10.1080/21582041.2023.2197881. UK measures regarding the application of international trade agreements, the EU Internal Market Act, legislation on subsidy control and professional qualifications undermine the regulatory autonomy of Scotland and Wales...It is another ironic effect of Brexit that parliamentary scrutiny and devolution have been undermined
^ Horsley, Thomas (2022). "Constitutional Reform by Legal Transplantation: The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020". Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. 42 (4). Oxford: Oxford University Press: 1143–1169. doi:10.1093/ojls/gqac018. PMC 9732217. PMID 36518972. The market access principles may not preclude the devolved administrations from legislating in the same way that, for example, the Devolution Acts make it unlawful (ultra vires) for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly to enact legislation [that] is contrary to Convention rights. Nonetheless, their prospective application under the UKIMA imposes significant practical limits on their political autonomy in areas of devolved competence—limits that the dominance of the far larger English market further reinforce.
^ Armstrong, Kenneth A. (May 2022). "The Governance of Economic Unionism after the United Kingdom Internal Market Act". Modern Law Review. 85 (3). Oxford: Wiley: 635–660. doi:10.1111/1468-2230.12706. So when used to disapply relevant requirements in a destination devolved jurisdiction the effect is different from that generated by the devolution statutes when they treat rules that are outside of competence as being 'not law'. In this way, the legislative competence of each jurisdiction is formally maintained, but its exercise constrained by the extraterritorial reach of regulatory norms applicable elsewhere in the UK and by the potential for regulatory competition where local producers are subject to local rules but competing goods can enter that market in compliance with the regulatory standards from where they originate...the UKIM Act 2020 allows extraterritorial application of rules that reflect different preferences or even undermines local preferences through regulatory competition, its effects are not insignificant for devolved legislatures.
^ ^[28]^[29]^[30]^[31]^[32]^[33]^[34]^[35]
^ ^a ^b Dougan, Michael; Hunt, Jo; McEwen, Nicola; McHarg, Aileen (2022). "Sleeping with an Elephant: Devolution and the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020". Law Quarterly Review. 138 (Oct). London: Sweet & Maxwell: 650–676. ISSN 0023-933X. SSRN 4018581. Retrieved 4 March 2022 – via Durham Research Online. The Act has restrictive – and potentially damaging – consequences for the regulatory capacity of the devolved legislatures...This was not the first time since the Brexit referendum that the Convention had been set aside, but it was especially notable given that the primary purpose of the legislation was to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy...in practice, it constrains the ability of the devolved institutions to make effective regulatory choices for their territories in ways that do not apply to the choices made by the UK government and parliament for the English market.
^ Masterman, Roger; Murray, Colin (2022). "The United Kingdom's Devolution Arrangements". Constitutional and Administrative Law (Third ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 471–473. doi:10.1017/9781009158497. ISBN 978-1-00-915850-3. S2CID 248929397. UK Internal Market Act 2020 imposed new restrictions on the ability of the devolved institutions to enact measures...mutual recognition and non-discrimination requirements mean that standards set by the legislatures in Wales and Scotland cannot restrict the sale of goods which are acceptable in other parts of the UK. In other words, imposing such measures would simply create competitive disadvantages for businesses in Wales and Scotland; they would not change the product standards or environmental protections applicable to all goods which can be purchased in Wales and Scotland.
^ Keating, Michael (2 February 2021). "Taking back control? Brexit and the territorial constitution of the United Kingdom". Journal of European Public Policy. 28 (4). Abingdon: Taylor & Francis: 491–509. doi:10.1080/13501763.2021.1876156. hdl:1814/70296. S2CID 234066376. The UK Internal Market Act gives ministers sweeping powers to enforce mutual recognition and non-discrimination across the four jurisdictions. Existing differences and some social and health matters are exempted but these are much less extensive than the exemptions permitted under the EU Internal Market provisions. Only after an amendment in the House of Lords, the Bill was amended to provide a weak and non-binding consent mechanism for amendments (equivalent to the Sewel Convention) to the list of exemptions. The result is that, while the devolved governments retain regulatory competences, these are undermined by the fact that goods and services originating in, or imported into, England can be marketed anywhere.
^ Kenny, Michael; McEwen, Nicola (1 March 2021). "Intergovernmental Relations and the Crisis of the Union". Political Insight. 12 (1). London: Sage Publishing; Political Studies Association: 12–15. doi:10.1177/20419058211000996. That phase of joint working was significantly damaged by the UK Internal Market Act, pushed through by the Johnson government in December 2020...the Act diminishes the authority of the devolved institutions, and was vehemently opposed by them.
^ Wolffe, W James (7 April 2021). "Devolution and the Statute Book". Statute Law Review. 42 (2). Oxford: Oxford University Press: 121–136. doi:10.1093/slr/hmab003. Retrieved 18 April 2021. the Internal Market Bill—a Bill that contains provisions which, if enacted, would significantly constrain, both legally and as a matter of practicality, the exercise by the devolved legislatures of their legislative competence; provisions that would be significantly more restrictive of the powers of the Scottish Parliament than either EU law or Articles 4 and 6 of the Acts of the Union...The UK Parliament passed the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 and the Internal Market Act 2020 notwithstanding that, in each case, all three of the devolved legislatures had withheld consent.
^ Wincott, Daniel; Murray, C. R. G.; Davies, Gregory (17 May 2021). "The Anglo-British imaginary and the rebuilding of the UK's territorial constitution after Brexit: unitary state or union state?". Territory, Politics, Governance. 10 (5). Abingdon/Brighton: Taylor & Francis; Regional Studies Association: 696–713. doi:10.1080/21622671.2021.1921613. Taken as a whole, the Internal Market Act imposes greater restrictions upon the competences of the devolved institutions than the provisions of the EU Single Market which it replaced, in spite of pledges to use common frameworks to address these issues. Lord Hope, responsible for many of the leading judgments relating to the first two decades of devolution, regarded the legislation's terms as deliberately confrontational: 'this Parliament can do what it likes, but a different approach is essential if the union is to hold together'.
^ Dougan, Michael; Hayward, Katy; Hunt, Jo; McEwen, Nicola; McHarg, Aileen; Wincott, Daniel (2020). UK and the Internal Market, Devolution and the Union. Centre on Constitutional Change (Report). University of Edinburgh; University of Aberdeen. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
^ Dougan, Michael (2020). Briefing Paper. United Kingdom Internal Market Bill: Implications for Devolution (PDF) (Report). Liverpool: University of Liverpool. pp. 4–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
^ "Name Change Information". Welsh Parliament. Archived from the original on 10 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
^ Lupton, Ruth; Hughes, Ceri; Peake-Jones, Sian; Cooper, Kerris (2018). "City-region devolution in England". Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes in a Changing Britain. SPDO research paper 2.
^ "Serving the country".
^ "Deputy Prime Minister launches first-ever Mayoral Council". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
^ White, Hannah; Thomas, Alex; Tetlow, Gemma; Pope, Thomas; Davies, Nick; Davison, Nehal; Metcalfe, Sophie; Paun, Akash (26 September 2024). "Seven things we learned from the Labour Party Conference 2024". Institute for Government. Archived from the original on 2 October 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
^ "Crown Dependencies, 8th Report of 2009–10, HC 56-1". House of Commons Justice Select Committee. 23 March 2010.
^ In relation to Jersey, see "Jersey law course". Institute of Law Jersey. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013.
^ :Framework for developing the international identity of Jersey (PDF). States of Jersey.
Framework for developing the international identity of Guernsey. States of Guernsey.

Framework for developing the international identity of the Isle of Man (PDF). Isle of Man Government.
^ States of Jersey Law 2005 (PDF). States of Jersey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 May 2012.
^ Second Interim Report of the Constitution Review Group (PDF). States of Jersey. 27 June 2008.
^ "Meet our new foreign minister". Jersey Evening Post. 14 January 2011. Archived from the original on 17 January 2011.
^ "Editorial: A new role of great importance". Jersey Evening Post. 17 January 2011. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011.
^ "Editorial: Legal ideas of political importance". Jersey Evening Post. 21 September 2010. Archived from the original on 2 July 2011.
^ Sibcy, Andy (17 September 2010). "Sovereignty or dependency on agenda at conference". Jersey Evening Post. Archived from the original on 2 July 2011.
^ "Common policy for external relations" (PDF). States of Jersey. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
^ Ogier, Thom (27 October 2009). "Independence – UK always willing to talk". Guernsey Evening Press. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012.
^ Prouteaux, Juliet (23 October 2009). "It IS time to loosen our ties with the UK". Guernsey Evening Press. Archived from the original on 28 October 2009.
^ Ogier, Thom (13 October 2009). "Full independence would frighten away investors and firms". Guernsey Evening Press. Archived from the original on 20 October 2009.
^ Tostevin, Simon (9 July 2008). "Independence? Islanders don't want it, says Trott". Guernsey Evening Press. Archived from the original on 22 November 2008.
^ Staff writer (27 January 2011). "Channel Islands' 'man in Europe' appointed". Jersey Evening Post. Archived from the original on 2 February 2011.
^ Staff writer (6 July 2010). "£105,000 – the tax-free reward for being a royal rep". Jersey Evening Post. Archived from the original on 16 August 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
^ Ogier, Thom (3 July 2010). "Guernsey will choose its next Lt-Governor". Guernsey Evening Press. Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
^ "The current Welsh devolution settlement" (PDF). commissionondevolutioninwales. Commission on Devolution in Wales. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2014.
^ ^a ^b Sim, Philip (19 December 2019). "Scottish independence: What is a section 30 order?". BBC News.
^ "UK government to block Scottish gender bill". BBC News. 16 January 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2025.

External links

Cabinet Office: Devolution guidance

[2] Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty that provided (among other matters) for the partition of Ireland, the Irish Free State left the UK at the same time, initially as a dominion of the British Empire (like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa), subsequently to become an independent republic.

[UKIM-1] [37]^[38]^[39]^[40]^[41]^[42]^[43]^[44]

[3] "IRA Ceasefire". The Search for Peace. BBC News. 2005. Retrieved 25 October 2011.

[Jackson_2003-4] Jackson, Alvin (2003) Home Rule, an Irish History 1800–2000, ISBN 0-7538-1767-5.

[BBC_2006-5] "March target date for devolution". BBC News. 13 October 2006..

[6] "NI deal struck in historic talks". BBC News. 26 March 2007.

[7] "Historic return for NI Assembly". BBC News. 8 May 2007.

[8] "Ian Paisley retires as NI Assembly completes historical first full term". BBC News. 25 March 2011.

[9] Report, NI Assembly, 12 May 2011, archived from the original on 6 August 2011

[10] "Stormont deal: Parties return to assembly after agreement". BBC News. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.

[11] "Northern Ireland Assembly Election Results 2022". BBC News. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.

[failed1-12] Phillips, Alexa (13 May 2022). "Northern Ireland Assembly fails to elect Speaker after DUP blocks formation of government". Sky News.

[failed2-13] "Northern Ireland Protocol: Assembly Speaker blocked by DUP for second time". BBC News. 30 May 2022.

[14] "The Northern Ireland Assembly".

[15] "Act of Union 1707". UK Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

[16] "Home Rule for Scotland. (Hansard, 9 April 1889)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

[gov.scot-17] "Annex A: Scotland as a nation – its constitutional story so far". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

[18] "Scottish independence: The parliament that never was". BBC News. 16 September 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

[19] "A history of the Scottish National Party". BBC News. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

[20] "Royal Commission on the Constitution: Papers and Evidence". The National Archives. 1967–1973. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

[21] "The path to devolution". www.parliament.scot. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

[auto-22] Strachan, Graeme (2 March 2024). "When Yes meant No – the story of the 1979 referendum on Scottish devolution". The Courier. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

[23] Swinney, John (24 August 2022). "GERS figures: Why Scotland's deficit is falling faster than UK Government". The Scotsman.

[24] McEwen, Nicola (8 March 2016). "Can Holyrood be one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world?".

[25] Leask, David (26 February 2016). "Is Scotland one of the most powerful devolved places in the world? Probably not..."

[26] "Scottish independence referendum – Results". BBC News. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

[27] Watson, Jeremy. "Independence vote will be key part of SNP manifesto". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 23 October 2020.

[28] McCall, Chris (22 October 2020). "Scottish independence referendum 'could happen in 2021' says senior SNP MSP". Daily Record. Retrieved 23 October 2020.

[Gu23a-29] Guderjan, Marius (2023). Intergovernmental Relations in the UK: Cooperation and Conflict in a Devolved Unitary State. London/New York: Routledge. pp. 166–176. doi:10.4324/9781003349952. ISBN 978-1-032-39485-5. Since the act became law on 17 December 2020, the devolved administrations can continue to set standards for goods and services produced within their territory, but their rules do not apply to goods and services coming from other jurisdictions. They also must accept products imported into one part of the UK. This undermines their legislative autonomy and renders certain policies ineffective

[Keating21a-30] Keating, Michael (2 February 2021). "Taking back control? Brexit and the territorial constitution of the United Kingdom". Journal of European Public Policy. 29 (4). Abingdon: Taylor & Francis: 491–509. doi:10.1080/13501763.2021.1876156. hdl:1814/70296. The UK Internal Market Act gives ministers sweeping powers to enforce mutual recognition and non-discrimination across the four jurisdictions. Existing differences and some social and health matters are exempted but these are much less extensive than the exemptions permitted under the EU Internal Market provisions. Only after an amendment in the House of Lords, the Bill was amended to provide a weak and non-binding consent mechanism for amendments (equivalent to the Sewel Convention) to the list of exemptions. The result is that, while the devolved governments retain regulatory competences, these are undermined by the fact that goods and services originating in, or imported into, England can be marketed anywhere.

[31] Lydgate, Emily; Anthony, Chloe (September 2022). "Brexit, food law and the UK's search for a post‐EU identity". Modern Law Review. 85 (5). London: Wiley: 1168–1190. doi:10.1111/1468-2230.12735. While the mutual recognition principle preserves devolved powers, rather than requiring that devolved nations conform with a wide range of harmonised standards (as they did in the EU), the Act undermines devolution simply because devolved legislation will no longer apply to all relevant activity in the devolved territory...Devolution is also undermined by the asymmetry of legislative authority...the UK Internal Market Act is a protected enactment, which devolved administrations are unable to appeal or modify, but which the UK parliament will be able to modify when legislating for England.

[DouganMcEwen20a-32] Dougan, Michael; Hayward, Katy; Hunt, Jo; McEwen, Nicola; McHarg, Aileen; Wincott, Daniel (2020). UK and the Internal Market, Devolution and the Union. Centre on Constitutional Change (Report). University of Edinburgh; University of Aberdeen. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 16 October 2020. The market access principles undermine devolved competences in two ways...[they] significantly undermine the purpose of devolution, which was to enable the devolved nations and regions to legislate according to their own local needs and political preferences.

[33] Solomon, Russell (1 September 2022). "Breaking up is hard to do? Devolution and the sovereignty dilemma of post-Brexit UK". Australian and New Zealand Journal of European Studies. 14 (2). Melbourne: European Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand: 35–48. doi:10.30722/anzjes.vol14.iss2.15834. The UK government has sought to avoid regulatory divergence through its Internal Market Act 2020...the IMA effectively undermines the regulatory competences of the devolved governments. The loose arrangements of the EUWA of 2018 were thus turned into harder edged centralised control

[34] Keating, Michael (15 March 2023). "Regulation in Scotland and Wales after Brexit". Contemporary Social Science. 18 (2). Taylor & Francis: 185–196. doi:10.1080/21582041.2023.2197881. UK measures regarding the application of international trade agreements, the EU Internal Market Act, legislation on subsidy control and professional qualifications undermine the regulatory autonomy of Scotland and Wales...It is another ironic effect of Brexit that parliamentary scrutiny and devolution have been undermined

[Hor22a-35] Horsley, Thomas (2022). "Constitutional Reform by Legal Transplantation: The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020". Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. 42 (4). Oxford: Oxford University Press: 1143–1169. doi:10.1093/ojls/gqac018. PMC 9732217. PMID 36518972. The market access principles may not preclude the devolved administrations from legislating in the same way that, for example, the Devolution Acts make it unlawful (ultra vires) for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly to enact legislation [that] is contrary to Convention rights. Nonetheless, their prospective application under the UKIMA imposes significant practical limits on their political autonomy in areas of devolved competence—limits that the dominance of the far larger English market further reinforce.

[Arm22-36] Armstrong, Kenneth A. (May 2022). "The Governance of Economic Unionism after the United Kingdom Internal Market Act". Modern Law Review. 85 (3). Oxford: Wiley: 635–660. doi:10.1111/1468-2230.12706. So when used to disapply relevant requirements in a destination devolved jurisdiction the effect is different from that generated by the devolution statutes when they treat rules that are outside of competence as being 'not law'. In this way, the legislative competence of each jurisdiction is formally maintained, but its exercise constrained by the extraterritorial reach of regulatory norms applicable elsewhere in the UK and by the potential for regulatory competition where local producers are subject to local rules but competing goods can enter that market in compliance with the regulatory standards from where they originate...the UKIM Act 2020 allows extraterritorial application of rules that reflect different preferences or even undermines local preferences through regulatory competition, its effects are not insignificant for devolved legislatures.

[UKIMAn-37] [28]^[29]^[30]^[31]^[32]^[33]^[34]^[35]

[DouHu22-38] Dougan, Michael; Hunt, Jo; McEwen, Nicola; McHarg, Aileen (2022). "Sleeping with an Elephant: Devolution and the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020". Law Quarterly Review. 138 (Oct). London: Sweet & Maxwell: 650–676. ISSN 0023-933X. SSRN 4018581. Retrieved 4 March 2022 – via Durham Research Online. The Act has restrictive – and potentially damaging – consequences for the regulatory capacity of the devolved legislatures...This was not the first time since the Brexit referendum that the Convention had been set aside, but it was especially notable given that the primary purpose of the legislation was to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy...in practice, it constrains the ability of the devolved institutions to make effective regulatory choices for their territories in ways that do not apply to the choices made by the UK government and parliament for the English market.

[MaMu22-39] Masterman, Roger; Murray, Colin (2022). "The United Kingdom's Devolution Arrangements". Constitutional and Administrative Law (Third ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 471–473. doi:10.1017/9781009158497. ISBN 978-1-00-915850-3. S2CID 248929397. UK Internal Market Act 2020 imposed new restrictions on the ability of the devolved institutions to enact measures...mutual recognition and non-discrimination requirements mean that standards set by the legislatures in Wales and Scotland cannot restrict the sale of goods which are acceptable in other parts of the UK. In other words, imposing such measures would simply create competitive disadvantages for businesses in Wales and Scotland; they would not change the product standards or environmental protections applicable to all goods which can be purchased in Wales and Scotland.

[Keating21-40] Keating, Michael (2 February 2021). "Taking back control? Brexit and the territorial constitution of the United Kingdom". Journal of European Public Policy. 28 (4). Abingdon: Taylor & Francis: 491–509. doi:10.1080/13501763.2021.1876156. hdl:1814/70296. S2CID 234066376. The UK Internal Market Act gives ministers sweeping powers to enforce mutual recognition and non-discrimination across the four jurisdictions. Existing differences and some social and health matters are exempted but these are much less extensive than the exemptions permitted under the EU Internal Market provisions. Only after an amendment in the House of Lords, the Bill was amended to provide a weak and non-binding consent mechanism for amendments (equivalent to the Sewel Convention) to the list of exemptions. The result is that, while the devolved governments retain regulatory competences, these are undermined by the fact that goods and services originating in, or imported into, England can be marketed anywhere.

[KenMcEw21-41] Kenny, Michael; McEwen, Nicola (1 March 2021). "Intergovernmental Relations and the Crisis of the Union". Political Insight. 12 (1). London: Sage Publishing; Political Studies Association: 12–15. doi:10.1177/20419058211000996. That phase of joint working was significantly damaged by the UK Internal Market Act, pushed through by the Johnson government in December 2020...the Act diminishes the authority of the devolved institutions, and was vehemently opposed by them.

[WolffeDevol-42] Wolffe, W James (7 April 2021). "Devolution and the Statute Book". Statute Law Review. 42 (2). Oxford: Oxford University Press: 121–136. doi:10.1093/slr/hmab003. Retrieved 18 April 2021. the Internal Market Bill—a Bill that contains provisions which, if enacted, would significantly constrain, both legally and as a matter of practicality, the exercise by the devolved legislatures of their legislative competence; provisions that would be significantly more restrictive of the powers of the Scottish Parliament than either EU law or Articles 4 and 6 of the Acts of the Union...The UK Parliament passed the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 and the Internal Market Act 2020 notwithstanding that, in each case, all three of the devolved legislatures had withheld consent.

[Wincott21-43] Wincott, Daniel; Murray, C. R. G.; Davies, Gregory (17 May 2021). "The Anglo-British imaginary and the rebuilding of the UK's territorial constitution after Brexit: unitary state or union state?". Territory, Politics, Governance. 10 (5). Abingdon/Brighton: Taylor & Francis; Regional Studies Association: 696–713. doi:10.1080/21622671.2021.1921613. Taken as a whole, the Internal Market Act imposes greater restrictions upon the competences of the devolved institutions than the provisions of the EU Single Market which it replaced, in spite of pledges to use common frameworks to address these issues. Lord Hope, responsible for many of the leading judgments relating to the first two decades of devolution, regarded the legislation's terms as deliberately confrontational: 'this Parliament can do what it likes, but a different approach is essential if the union is to hold together'.

[DouganMcEwen20-44] Dougan, Michael; Hayward, Katy; Hunt, Jo; McEwen, Nicola; McHarg, Aileen; Wincott, Daniel (2020). UK and the Internal Market, Devolution and the Union. Centre on Constitutional Change (Report). University of Edinburgh; University of Aberdeen. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 16 October 2020.

[Dougan20Brief-45] Dougan, Michael (2020). Briefing Paper. United Kingdom Internal Market Bill: Implications for Devolution (PDF) (Report). Liverpool: University of Liverpool. pp. 4–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.

[46] "Name Change Information". Welsh Parliament. Archived from the original on 10 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.

[47] Lupton, Ruth; Hughes, Ceri; Peake-Jones, Sian; Cooper, Kerris (2018). "City-region devolution in England". Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes in a Changing Britain. SPDO research paper 2.

[48] "Serving the country".

[gov.uk-49] "Deputy Prime Minister launches first-ever Mayoral Council". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 October 2024.

[50] White, Hannah; Thomas, Alex; Tetlow, Gemma; Pope, Thomas; Davies, Nick; Davison, Nehal; Metcalfe, Sophie; Paun, Akash (26 September 2024). "Seven things we learned from the Labour Party Conference 2024". Institute for Government. Archived from the original on 2 October 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.

[51] "Crown Dependencies, 8th Report of 2009–10, HC 56-1". House of Commons Justice Select Committee. 23 March 2010.

[52] In relation to Jersey, see "Jersey law course". Institute of Law Jersey. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013.

[gov.je-53] :Framework for developing the international identity of Jersey (PDF). States of Jersey.
Framework for developing the international identity of Guernsey. States of Guernsey.

Framework for developing the international identity of the Isle of Man (PDF). Isle of Man Government.

[54] States of Jersey Law 2005 (PDF). States of Jersey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 May 2012.

[55] Second Interim Report of the Constitution Review Group (PDF). States of Jersey. 27 June 2008.

[56] "Meet our new foreign minister". Jersey Evening Post. 14 January 2011. Archived from the original on 17 January 2011.

[57] "Editorial: A new role of great importance". Jersey Evening Post. 17 January 2011. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011.

[58] "Editorial: Legal ideas of political importance". Jersey Evening Post. 21 September 2010. Archived from the original on 2 July 2011.

[59] Sibcy, Andy (17 September 2010). "Sovereignty or dependency on agenda at conference". Jersey Evening Post. Archived from the original on 2 July 2011.

[External_policy-60] "Common policy for external relations" (PDF). States of Jersey. Retrieved 8 December 2012.

[61] Ogier, Thom (27 October 2009). "Independence – UK always willing to talk". Guernsey Evening Press. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012.

[62] Prouteaux, Juliet (23 October 2009). "It IS time to loosen our ties with the UK". Guernsey Evening Press. Archived from the original on 28 October 2009.

[63] Ogier, Thom (13 October 2009). "Full independence would frighten away investors and firms". Guernsey Evening Press. Archived from the original on 20 October 2009.

[64] Tostevin, Simon (9 July 2008). "Independence? Islanders don't want it, says Trott". Guernsey Evening Press. Archived from the original on 22 November 2008.

[65] Staff writer (27 January 2011). "Channel Islands' 'man in Europe' appointed". Jersey Evening Post. Archived from the original on 2 February 2011.

[66] Staff writer (6 July 2010). "£105,000 – the tax-free reward for being a royal rep". Jersey Evening Post. Archived from the original on 16 August 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2013.

[67] Ogier, Thom (3 July 2010). "Guernsey will choose its next Lt-Governor". Guernsey Evening Press. Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2013.

[68] "The current Welsh devolution settlement" (PDF). commissionondevolutioninwales. Commission on Devolution in Wales. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2014.

[Sim-2019-69] Sim, Philip (19 December 2019). "Scottish independence: What is a section 30 order?". BBC News.

[70] "UK government to block Scottish gender bill". BBC News. 16 January 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2025.

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@@ Line 61: / Line 61: @@
 The SNP had advocated for another independence referendum to be held in 2020. The SNP were widely expected to include a second independence referendum in their manifesto for the [[2021 Scottish Parliament election]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Watson |first=Jeremy |title=Independence vote will be key part of SNP manifesto |newspaper=[[The Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/independence-vote-will-be-key-part-of-snp-manifesto-ljq03bzc5 |access-date=2020-10-23 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref> Senior SNP figures have said that a [[Proposed second Scottish independence referendum|second independence referendum]] would be inevitable, should an SNP majority be elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2021 and some claimed this was going to happen by the end of 2021, though that hasn't been the case.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCall |first=Chris |date=2020-10-22 |title=Scottish independence referendum 'could happen in 2021' says senior SNP MSP |url=https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/scottish-independence-referendum-could-happen-22887688 |access-date=2020-10-23 |newspaper=Daily Record}}</ref>
-Some commentators claim the [[United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020]] restricts and undermines the authority of the Scottish Parliament;{{Refn|name=UKIMAn|<ref name=Gu23a>{{cite book |last1=Guderjan |first1=Marius |title=Intergovernmental Relations in the UK: Cooperation and Conflict in a Devolved Unitary State |date=2023 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London/New York|doi=10.4324/9781003349952|isbn=978-1-032-39485-5 |pages=166–176|quote=Since the act became law on 17 December 2020, the devolved administrations can continue to set standards for goods and services produced within their territory, but their rules do not apply to goods and services coming from other jurisdictions. They also must accept products imported into one part of the UK. This undermines their legislative autonomy and renders certain policies ineffective|url=https://www.routledge.com/Intergovernmental-Relations-in-the-UK-Cooperation-and-Conflict-in-a-Devolved/Guderjan/p/book/9781032394855}}</ref><ref name=Keating21a>{{cite journal |last=Keating |first=Michael |title=Taking back control? Brexit and the territorial constitution of the United Kingdom|author-link=Michael Keating (political scientist)|journal=[[Journal of European Public Policy]]|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|location=Abingdon|date=2 February 2021 |volume=29|issue=4|pages=491–509|doi=10.1080/13501763.2021.1876156|hdl=1814/70296|doi-access=free|hdl-access=free|quote=The UK Internal Market Act gives ministers sweeping powers to enforce mutual recognition and non-discrimination across the four jurisdictions. Existing differences and some social and health matters are exempted but these are much less extensive than the exemptions permitted under the EU Internal Market provisions. Only after an amendment in the House of Lords, the Bill was amended to provide a weak and non-binding consent mechanism for amendments (equivalent to the Sewel Convention) to the list of exemptions. The result is that, while the devolved governments retain regulatory competences, these are undermined by the fact that goods and services originating in, or imported into, England can be marketed anywhere.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lydgate |first1=Emily |last2=Anthony |first2=Chloe |title=Brexit, food law and the UK's search for a post‐EU identity |journal=[[Modern Law Review]] |date=September 2022 |volume=85 |issue=5|publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]]|location=London|doi-access=free|quote=While the mutual recognition principle preserves devolved powers, rather than requiring that devolved nations conform with a wide range of harmonised standards (as they did in the EU), the Act undermines devolution simply because devolved legislation will no longer apply to all relevant activity in the devolved territory...Devolution is also undermined by the asymmetry of legislative authority...the UK Internal Market Act is a protected enactment, which devolved administrations are unable to appeal or modify, but which the UK parliament will be able to modify when legislating for England.|pages=1168–1190 |doi=10.1111/1468-2230.12735}}</ref><ref name=DouganMcEwen20a>{{cite report |last1=Dougan |first1=Michael |last2=Hayward |first2=Katy |last3=Hunt |first3=Jo |last4=McEwen |first4=Nicola |last5=McHarg |first5=Aileen |last6=Wincott |first6=Daniel |date=2020 |title=UK and the Internal Market, Devolution and the Union |url=https://www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk/publications/uk-and-internal-market-devolution-and-union|quote=The market access principles undermine devolved competences in two ways...[they] significantly undermine the purpose of devolution, which was to enable the devolved nations and regions to legislate according to their own local needs and political preferences.|department=Centre on Constitutional Change|author-link1=Michael Dougan|author-link2=Katy Hayward|author-link4=Nicola McEwen|author-link6=Daniel Wincott|publisher=[[University of Edinburgh]]; [[University of Aberdeen]] |pages=2–3 |access-date=16 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Solomon |first1=Russell |title=Breaking up is hard to do? Devolution and the sovereignty dilemma of post-Brexit UK |journal=Australian and New Zealand Journal of European Studies |date=1 September 2022 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=35–48 |doi-access=free|publisher=European Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand|location=Melbourne|quote=The UK government has sought to avoid regulatory divergence through its Internal Market Act 2020...the IMA effectively undermines the regulatory competences of the devolved governments. The loose arrangements of the EUWA of 2018 were thus turned into harder edged centralised control|doi=10.30722/anzjes.vol14.iss2.15834}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Keating |first1=Michael |title=Regulation in Scotland and Wales after Brexit |journal=Contemporary Social Science|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|quote=UK measures regarding the application of international trade agreements, the EU Internal Market Act, legislation on subsidy control and professional qualifications undermine the regulatory autonomy of Scotland and Wales...It is another ironic effect of Brexit that parliamentary scrutiny and devolution have been undermined|doi-access=free|date=15 March 2023 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=185–196 |doi=10.1080/21582041.2023.2197881}}</ref><ref name=Hor22a>{{cite journal |last1=Horsley |first1=Thomas |title=Constitutional Reform by Legal Transplantation: The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 |journal=[[Oxford Journal of Legal Studies]] |date=2022 |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=1143–1169 |doi=10.1093/ojls/gqac018|doi-access=free|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pmid=36518972 |pmc=9732217 |quote=The market access principles may not preclude the devolved administrations from legislating in the same way that, for example, the Devolution Acts make it unlawful (ultra vires) for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly to enact legislation [that] is contrary to Convention rights. Nonetheless, their prospective application under the UKIMA imposes significant practical limits on their political autonomy in areas of devolved competence—limits that the dominance of the far larger English market further reinforce.}}</ref><ref name=Arm22>{{cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Kenneth A. |title=The Governance of Economic Unionism after the United Kingdom Internal Market Act |journal=[[Modern Law Review]] |date=May 2022 |volume=85 |issue=3 |pages=635–660 |doi=10.1111/1468-2230.12706|doi-access=free|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]]|quote=So when used to disapply relevant requirements in a destination devolved jurisdiction the effect is different from that generated by the devolution statutes when they treat rules that are outside of competence as being ‘not law’. In this way, the legislative competence of each jurisdiction is formally maintained, but its exercise constrained by the extraterritorial reach of regulatory norms applicable elsewhere in the UK and by the potential for regulatory competition where local producers are subject to local rules but competing goods can enter that market in compliance with the regulatory standards from where they originate...the UKIM Act 2020 allows extraterritorial application of rules that reflect different preferences or even undermines local preferences through regulatory competition, its effects are not insignificant for devolved legislatures.}}</ref>}} a primary purpose of the act is to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy.<ref name=DouHu22 /> Some say it restricts the ability of the Scottish government to make different economic or social choices from those made in Westminster.{{refn|name=UKIM|<ref name=DouHu22>{{cite journal |last1=Dougan |first1=Michael |last2=Hunt |first2=Jo |last3=McEwen |first3=Nicola |last4=McHarg |first4=Aileen|author-link1=Michael Dougan|author-link3=Nicola McEwen|title=Sleeping with an Elephant: Devolution and the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 |journal=[[Law Quarterly Review]] |date=2022|volume=138|issue=Oct|pages=650–676 |url=https://dro.dur.ac.uk/35167/|location=London|publisher=[[Sweet & Maxwell]]|ssrn=4018581|via=[[Durham University|Durham Research Online]]|access-date=4 March 2022|quote=The Act has restrictive – and potentially damaging – consequences for the regulatory capacity of the devolved legislatures...This was not the first time since the Brexit referendum that the Convention had been set aside, but it was especially notable given that the primary purpose of the legislation was to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy...in practice, it constrains the ability of the devolved institutions to make effective regulatory choices for their territories in ways that do not apply to the choices made by the UK government and parliament for the English market.|issn=0023-933X}}</ref><ref name=MaMu22>{{cite book |last1=Masterman |first1=Roger |last2=Murray |first2=Colin |title=Constitutional and Administrative Law |date=2022 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1-00-915850-3 |pages=471–473|edition=Third|chapter=The{{nbsp}}United Kingdom's Devolution Arrangements|quote=UK Internal Market Act 2020 imposed new restrictions on the ability of the devolved institutions to enact measures...mutual recognition and non-discrimination requirements mean that standards set by the legislatures in Wales and Scotland cannot restrict the sale of goods which are acceptable in other parts of the UK. In other words, imposing such measures would simply create competitive disadvantages for businesses in Wales and Scotland; they would not change the product standards or environmental protections applicable to all goods which can be purchased in Wales and Scotland.|doi=10.1017/9781009158497|s2cid=248929397 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/highereducation/books/constitutional-and-administrative-law/E1EB9FEDC43459C991E42BD945231DB5}}</ref><ref name=Keating21>{{cite journal |last1=Keating |first1=Michael |title=Taking back control? Brexit and the territorial constitution of the United Kingdom |journal=[[Journal of European Public Policy]]|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|location=Abingdon|date=2 February 2021 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=491–509 |doi=10.1080/13501763.2021.1876156|quote=The UK Internal Market Act gives ministers sweeping powers to enforce mutual recognition and non-discrimination across the four jurisdictions. Existing differences and some social and health matters are exempted but these are much less extensive than the exemptions permitted under the EU Internal Market provisions. Only after an amendment in the House of Lords, the Bill was amended to provide a weak and non-binding consent mechanism for amendments (equivalent to the Sewel Convention) to the list of exemptions. The result is that, while the devolved governments retain regulatory competences, these are undermined by the fact that goods and services originating in, or imported into, England can be marketed anywhere.|hdl=1814/70296 |s2cid=234066376|doi-access=free|hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name=KenMcEw21>{{cite journal |last1=Kenny |first1=Michael |author-link1=Michael Kenny (political scientist)|last2=McEwen |first2=Nicola|author-link2=Nicola McEwen|title=Intergovernmental Relations and the Crisis of the Union|location=London|publisher=[[Sage Publishing]]; [[Political Studies Association]]|journal=Political Insight |date=1 March 2021 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=12–15 |doi=10.1177/20419058211000996|quote=That phase of joint working was significantly damaged by the UK Internal Market Act, pushed through by the Johnson government in December 2020...the Act diminishes the authority of the devolved institutions, and was vehemently opposed by them.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=WolffeDevol>{{cite journal |last1=Wolffe |first1=W James |title=Devolution and the Statute Book|journal=[[Statute Law Review]] |date=7 April 2021 |doi=10.1093/slr/hmab003 |author-link=James Wolffe|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|url=https://academic.oup.com/slr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/slr/hmab003/6213886|volume=42|issue=2|pages=121–136|access-date=18 April 2021|quote=the Internal Market Bill—a Bill that contains provisions which, if enacted, would significantly constrain, both legally and as a matter of practicality, the exercise by the devolved legislatures of their legislative competence; provisions that would be significantly more restrictive of the powers of the Scottish Parliament than either EU law or Articles 4 and 6 of the Acts of the Union...The UK Parliament passed the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 and the Internal Market Act 2020 notwithstanding that, in each case, all three of the devolved legislatures had withheld consent.|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=Wincott21>{{cite journal |last1=Wincott |first1=Daniel |last2=Murray |first2=C. R. G. |last3=Davies |first3=Gregory |title=The Anglo-British imaginary and the rebuilding of the UK's territorial constitution after Brexit: unitary state or union state? |journal=Territory, Politics, Governance|author-link1=Daniel Wincott|location=Abingdon/Brighton|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]; [[Regional Studies Association]]|date=17 May 2021|volume=10 |issue=5 |pages=696–713 |doi-access=free|quote=Taken as a whole, the Internal Market Act imposes greater restrictions upon the competences of the devolved institutions than the provisions of the EU Single Market which it replaced, in spite of pledges to use common frameworks to address these issues. [[David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead|Lord Hope]], responsible for many of the leading judgments relating to the first two decades of devolution, regarded the legislation's terms as deliberately confrontational: 'this Parliament can do what it likes, but a different approach is essential if the union is to hold together'.|doi=10.1080/21622671.2021.1921613}}</ref><ref name=DouganMcEwen20>{{cite report |last1=Dougan |first1=Michael |last2=Hayward |first2=Katy |last3=Hunt |first3=Jo |last4=McEwen |first4=Nicola |last5=McHarg |first5=Aileen |last6=Wincott |first6=Daniel |date=2020 |title=UK and the Internal Market, Devolution and the Union |url=https://www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk/publications/uk-and-internal-market-devolution-and-union |department=Centre on Constitutional Change|author-link1=Michael Dougan|author-link2=Katy Hayward|author-link4=Nicola McEwen|author-link6=Daniel Wincott|publisher=[[University of Edinburgh]]; [[University of Aberdeen]] |pages=2–3 |access-date=16 October 2020}}</ref><ref name=Dougan20Brief>{{cite report |last=Dougan |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Dougan |date=2020 |title=Briefing Paper. United Kingdom Internal Market Bill: Implications for Devolution |url=https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/law/2-research/eull/UKIM,Briefing,Paper,-,Prof,Michael,Dougan,15,September,2020.pdf |publisher=[[University of Liverpool]] |pages=4–5 |location=Liverpool |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=26 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026161836/https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/law/2-research/eull/UKIM,Briefing,Paper,-,Prof,Michael,Dougan,15,September,2020.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}
+The [[United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020]] restricts and undermines the authority of the Scottish Parliament;{{Refn|name=UKIMAn|<ref name=Gu23a>{{cite book |last1=Guderjan |first1=Marius |title=Intergovernmental Relations in the UK: Cooperation and Conflict in a Devolved Unitary State |date=2023 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London/New York|doi=10.4324/9781003349952|isbn=978-1-032-39485-5 |pages=166–176|quote=Since the act became law on 17 December 2020, the devolved administrations can continue to set standards for goods and services produced within their territory, but their rules do not apply to goods and services coming from other jurisdictions. They also must accept products imported into one part of the UK. This undermines their legislative autonomy and renders certain policies ineffective|url=https://www.routledge.com/Intergovernmental-Relations-in-the-UK-Cooperation-and-Conflict-in-a-Devolved/Guderjan/p/book/9781032394855}}</ref><ref name=Keating21a>{{cite journal |last=Keating |first=Michael |title=Taking back control? Brexit and the territorial constitution of the United Kingdom|author-link=Michael Keating (political scientist)|journal=[[Journal of European Public Policy]]|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|location=Abingdon|date=2 February 2021 |volume=29|issue=4|pages=491–509|doi=10.1080/13501763.2021.1876156|hdl=1814/70296|doi-access=free|hdl-access=free|quote=The UK Internal Market Act gives ministers sweeping powers to enforce mutual recognition and non-discrimination across the four jurisdictions. Existing differences and some social and health matters are exempted but these are much less extensive than the exemptions permitted under the EU Internal Market provisions. Only after an amendment in the House of Lords, the Bill was amended to provide a weak and non-binding consent mechanism for amendments (equivalent to the Sewel Convention) to the list of exemptions. The result is that, while the devolved governments retain regulatory competences, these are undermined by the fact that goods and services originating in, or imported into, England can be marketed anywhere.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lydgate |first1=Emily |last2=Anthony |first2=Chloe |title=Brexit, food law and the UK's search for a post‐EU identity |journal=[[Modern Law Review]] |date=September 2022 |volume=85 |issue=5|publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]]|location=London|doi-access=free|quote=While the mutual recognition principle preserves devolved powers, rather than requiring that devolved nations conform with a wide range of harmonised standards (as they did in the EU), the Act undermines devolution simply because devolved legislation will no longer apply to all relevant activity in the devolved territory...Devolution is also undermined by the asymmetry of legislative authority...the UK Internal Market Act is a protected enactment, which devolved administrations are unable to appeal or modify, but which the UK parliament will be able to modify when legislating for England.|pages=1168–1190 |doi=10.1111/1468-2230.12735}}</ref><ref name=DouganMcEwen20a>{{cite report |last1=Dougan |first1=Michael |last2=Hayward |first2=Katy |last3=Hunt |first3=Jo |last4=McEwen |first4=Nicola |last5=McHarg |first5=Aileen |last6=Wincott |first6=Daniel |date=2020 |title=UK and the Internal Market, Devolution and the Union |url=https://www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk/publications/uk-and-internal-market-devolution-and-union|quote=The market access principles undermine devolved competences in two ways...[they] significantly undermine the purpose of devolution, which was to enable the devolved nations and regions to legislate according to their own local needs and political preferences.|department=Centre on Constitutional Change|author-link1=Michael Dougan|author-link2=Katy Hayward|author-link4=Nicola McEwen|author-link6=Daniel Wincott|publisher=[[University of Edinburgh]]; [[University of Aberdeen]] |pages=2–3 |access-date=16 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Solomon |first1=Russell |title=Breaking up is hard to do? Devolution and the sovereignty dilemma of post-Brexit UK |journal=Australian and New Zealand Journal of European Studies |date=1 September 2022 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=35–48 |doi-access=free|publisher=European Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand|location=Melbourne|quote=The UK government has sought to avoid regulatory divergence through its Internal Market Act 2020...the IMA effectively undermines the regulatory competences of the devolved governments. The loose arrangements of the EUWA of 2018 were thus turned into harder edged centralised control|doi=10.30722/anzjes.vol14.iss2.15834}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Keating |first1=Michael |title=Regulation in Scotland and Wales after Brexit |journal=Contemporary Social Science|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|quote=UK measures regarding the application of international trade agreements, the EU Internal Market Act, legislation on subsidy control and professional qualifications undermine the regulatory autonomy of Scotland and Wales...It is another ironic effect of Brexit that parliamentary scrutiny and devolution have been undermined|doi-access=free|date=15 March 2023 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=185–196 |doi=10.1080/21582041.2023.2197881}}</ref><ref name=Hor22a>{{cite journal |last1=Horsley |first1=Thomas |title=Constitutional Reform by Legal Transplantation: The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 |journal=[[Oxford Journal of Legal Studies]] |date=2022 |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=1143–1169 |doi=10.1093/ojls/gqac018|doi-access=free|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pmid=36518972 |pmc=9732217 |quote=The market access principles may not preclude the devolved administrations from legislating in the same way that, for example, the Devolution Acts make it unlawful (ultra vires) for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly to enact legislation [that] is contrary to Convention rights. Nonetheless, their prospective application under the UKIMA imposes significant practical limits on their political autonomy in areas of devolved competence—limits that the dominance of the far larger English market further reinforce.}}</ref><ref name=Arm22>{{cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Kenneth A. |title=The Governance of Economic Unionism after the United Kingdom Internal Market Act |journal=[[Modern Law Review]] |date=May 2022 |volume=85 |issue=3 |pages=635–660 |doi=10.1111/1468-2230.12706|doi-access=free|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]]|quote=So when used to disapply relevant requirements in a destination devolved jurisdiction the effect is different from that generated by the devolution statutes when they treat rules that are outside of competence as being ‘not law’. In this way, the legislative competence of each jurisdiction is formally maintained, but its exercise constrained by the extraterritorial reach of regulatory norms applicable elsewhere in the UK and by the potential for regulatory competition where local producers are subject to local rules but competing goods can enter that market in compliance with the regulatory standards from where they originate...the UKIM Act 2020 allows extraterritorial application of rules that reflect different preferences or even undermines local preferences through regulatory competition, its effects are not insignificant for devolved legislatures.}}</ref>}} a primary purpose of the act is to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy.<ref name=DouHu22 /> It restricts the ability of the Scottish government to make different economic or social choices from those made in Westminster.{{refn|name=UKIM|<ref name=DouHu22>{{cite journal |last1=Dougan |first1=Michael |last2=Hunt |first2=Jo |last3=McEwen |first3=Nicola |last4=McHarg |first4=Aileen|author-link1=Michael Dougan|author-link3=Nicola McEwen|title=Sleeping with an Elephant: Devolution and the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 |journal=[[Law Quarterly Review]] |date=2022|volume=138|issue=Oct|pages=650–676 |url=https://dro.dur.ac.uk/35167/|location=London|publisher=[[Sweet & Maxwell]]|ssrn=4018581|via=[[Durham University|Durham Research Online]]|access-date=4 March 2022|quote=The Act has restrictive – and potentially damaging – consequences for the regulatory capacity of the devolved legislatures...This was not the first time since the Brexit referendum that the Convention had been set aside, but it was especially notable given that the primary purpose of the legislation was to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy...in practice, it constrains the ability of the devolved institutions to make effective regulatory choices for their territories in ways that do not apply to the choices made by the UK government and parliament for the English market.|issn=0023-933X}}</ref><ref name=MaMu22>{{cite book |last1=Masterman |first1=Roger |last2=Murray |first2=Colin |title=Constitutional and Administrative Law |date=2022 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1-00-915850-3 |pages=471–473|edition=Third|chapter=The{{nbsp}}United Kingdom's Devolution Arrangements|quote=UK Internal Market Act 2020 imposed new restrictions on the ability of the devolved institutions to enact measures...mutual recognition and non-discrimination requirements mean that standards set by the legislatures in Wales and Scotland cannot restrict the sale of goods which are acceptable in other parts of the UK. In other words, imposing such measures would simply create competitive disadvantages for businesses in Wales and Scotland; they would not change the product standards or environmental protections applicable to all goods which can be purchased in Wales and Scotland.|doi=10.1017/9781009158497|s2cid=248929397 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/highereducation/books/constitutional-and-administrative-law/E1EB9FEDC43459C991E42BD945231DB5}}</ref><ref name=Keating21>{{cite journal |last1=Keating |first1=Michael |title=Taking back control? Brexit and the territorial constitution of the United Kingdom |journal=[[Journal of European Public Policy]]|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|location=Abingdon|date=2 February 2021 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=491–509 |doi=10.1080/13501763.2021.1876156|quote=The UK Internal Market Act gives ministers sweeping powers to enforce mutual recognition and non-discrimination across the four jurisdictions. Existing differences and some social and health matters are exempted but these are much less extensive than the exemptions permitted under the EU Internal Market provisions. Only after an amendment in the House of Lords, the Bill was amended to provide a weak and non-binding consent mechanism for amendments (equivalent to the Sewel Convention) to the list of exemptions. The result is that, while the devolved governments retain regulatory competences, these are undermined by the fact that goods and services originating in, or imported into, England can be marketed anywhere.|hdl=1814/70296 |s2cid=234066376|doi-access=free|hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name=KenMcEw21>{{cite journal |last1=Kenny |first1=Michael |author-link1=Michael Kenny (political scientist)|last2=McEwen |first2=Nicola|author-link2=Nicola McEwen|title=Intergovernmental Relations and the Crisis of the Union|location=London|publisher=[[Sage Publishing]]; [[Political Studies Association]]|journal=Political Insight |date=1 March 2021 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=12–15 |doi=10.1177/20419058211000996|quote=That phase of joint working was significantly damaged by the UK Internal Market Act, pushed through by the Johnson government in December 2020...the Act diminishes the authority of the devolved institutions, and was vehemently opposed by them.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=WolffeDevol>{{cite journal |last1=Wolffe |first1=W James |title=Devolution and the Statute Book|journal=[[Statute Law Review]] |date=7 April 2021 |doi=10.1093/slr/hmab003 |author-link=James Wolffe|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|url=https://academic.oup.com/slr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/slr/hmab003/6213886|volume=42|issue=2|pages=121–136|access-date=18 April 2021|quote=the Internal Market Bill—a Bill that contains provisions which, if enacted, would significantly constrain, both legally and as a matter of practicality, the exercise by the devolved legislatures of their legislative competence; provisions that would be significantly more restrictive of the powers of the Scottish Parliament than either EU law or Articles 4 and 6 of the Acts of the Union...The UK Parliament passed the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 and the Internal Market Act 2020 notwithstanding that, in each case, all three of the devolved legislatures had withheld consent.|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=Wincott21>{{cite journal |last1=Wincott |first1=Daniel |last2=Murray |first2=C. R. G. |last3=Davies |first3=Gregory |title=The Anglo-British imaginary and the rebuilding of the UK's territorial constitution after Brexit: unitary state or union state? |journal=Territory, Politics, Governance|author-link1=Daniel Wincott|location=Abingdon/Brighton|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]; [[Regional Studies Association]]|date=17 May 2021|volume=10 |issue=5 |pages=696–713 |doi-access=free|quote=Taken as a whole, the Internal Market Act imposes greater restrictions upon the competences of the devolved institutions than the provisions of the EU Single Market which it replaced, in spite of pledges to use common frameworks to address these issues. [[David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead|Lord Hope]], responsible for many of the leading judgments relating to the first two decades of devolution, regarded the legislation's terms as deliberately confrontational: 'this Parliament can do what it likes, but a different approach is essential if the union is to hold together'.|doi=10.1080/21622671.2021.1921613}}</ref><ref name=DouganMcEwen20>{{cite report |last1=Dougan |first1=Michael |last2=Hayward |first2=Katy |last3=Hunt |first3=Jo |last4=McEwen |first4=Nicola |last5=McHarg |first5=Aileen |last6=Wincott |first6=Daniel |date=2020 |title=UK and the Internal Market, Devolution and the Union |url=https://www.centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk/publications/uk-and-internal-market-devolution-and-union |department=Centre on Constitutional Change|author-link1=Michael Dougan|author-link2=Katy Hayward|author-link4=Nicola McEwen|author-link6=Daniel Wincott|publisher=[[University of Edinburgh]]; [[University of Aberdeen]] |pages=2–3 |access-date=16 October 2020}}</ref><ref name=Dougan20Brief>{{cite report |last=Dougan |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Dougan |date=2020 |title=Briefing Paper. United Kingdom Internal Market Bill: Implications for Devolution |url=https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/law/2-research/eull/UKIM,Briefing,Paper,-,Prof,Michael,Dougan,15,September,2020.pdf |publisher=[[University of Liverpool]] |pages=4–5 |location=Liverpool |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=26 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026161836/https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/law/2-research/eull/UKIM,Briefing,Paper,-,Prof,Michael,Dougan,15,September,2020.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}
 ==Wales==