A Federal System for the United Kingdom

Abstract

If devolution for Sctoland and for Wales, had taken place as proposed in the Scotland and Wales Acts this might have brought about considerable transformations in UK political life, and given rise to pressures for other kinds of constitutional change within the UK. Among the many possible issues some of the most notable would have been: reform of the composition and powers of the House of Lords, reform of the electoral system to introduce some form of proportional representation in place of the single member first-past-the-post system, and fixed terms for the various parliaments in order to avoid the confusion of variable dates for holding elections. These further possible changes will not be examined or argued in detail in this paper, since they are not essential to the question of federalism and devolution. However, they are typical of the constitutional issues that surface when a major change is undertaken, and must enter into the discussion of whether, and how, to move towards a federal system.