Understanding Governance

1 total work

British Devolution and European Policy-making

by Simon Bulmer, Martin Burch, Caitriona Carter, Patricia Hogwood, and Andrew Scott

Published 26 November 2002

In 1999 the Blair government introduced British devolution as part of a major programme of constitutional reform. British Devolution and European Policy-Making charts some of the major questions arising. Would the UK's centralized and generally effective European policy machinery be undermined by new actors? How would these new actors be able to exercise their devolved powers on matters such as agriculture, when European policy was 'reserved' to the UK government? Drawing upon interview and documentary material, the authors explore the transition to devolution and argue that a fundamental change in the European policy-making machine has occurred. Particular focus is placed upon the new arrangments for inter-governmental relations within Britain