In fact, rarely has an argument so confidently stated proved so awfully wrong. Far from efficient governance, it has produced decades of terrible outcomes in all the main policy areas for which the devolved bodies are responsible: health, education, local government and transport.
There is, however, a critical exception, because devolution has worked for one small section of the population: unimpressive politicians who, away from the glare of Westminster, are able to exert enormous power with little accountability. When their policies are questioned, we see a spectacle of frothing, self-righteous disdain, as happened this week in the Senedd.
Actual ability to run something is a rare skill. Expanding the number of politicians with access to power does not increase the number of such competent people. Thus devolution – or any other expansion of political control over life – leads to more incompetents attempting to exercise said power.
All this before we even start to talk about the inefficiency of political control, the lousy incentives and so on.
Switzerland has a lot more devolution of powers to the cantons etc than the UK – I don’t think anyone would say that our services are better run than theirs because of this.
All we did with devolution was change the central government from Westminister to Edinburgh/Cardiff etc.
Isn’t it more to do with it being a Labour fiefdom? We know how intolerant they can be cf Liverpool and numerous other Labour controlled organisations.
Scotland was also supposed to be a Labour fiefdom but Blair didn’t reckon with the SNP. Its still intolerant, though so probably because the SNP is the breakaway independence wing of the Labour Party.
Switzerland works because the cantons are responsible for tax as well as spend, right? Whereas in the UK the Scots / Welsh / NI have very limited powers on taxation.
That said, there are some horrific examples of local governments in America too; and they have considerable revenue-raising powers.
The dfference with Switz is that the cantons were there first and joined Helvetica.
Of course the Welsh devolution also never really had any true legitimacy, based as it was on a 50.5/49.5 split on a 50% turnout.
Alas as in so many other ways, British politicians just expose themselves as wannabe Mayors of Toytown.
@Andrew
“That said, there are some horrific examples of local governments in America too; and they have considerable revenue-raising powers.”
Perhaps PR helps – imagine living in a country with only 2 supermarkets – would prices and services be better or worse than the UK?
All PR tends to do is let nutters have access to power. It makes coalition government where a small minority can hold the rest of the coalition hostage to their delusions. First past the post requires that you are least get a plurality, and in some places a majority is required.
This is why progressives here in the US want to get rid of the Electoral College and the Senate. To win you have appeal to a wide geographic electorate. This was deliberately written into the Constitution. But it now stands in the way of ‘progress and equity’.
@Mohave Greenie
“All PR tends to do is let nutters have access to power”
The Electoral College in the US seems to have given us a President with Dementia.
First past the post gave us Blair and the Iraq war.
Exactly as we “No” voters predicted, and were subjected to withering ridicule for doing so, back in ’97.
“All we did with devolution was change the central government from Westminister to Edinburgh/Cardiff etc.”
Yep. Exactly as we…etc., etc. The promise was “bringing government closer to the people”; devolution, indeed. It has utterly failed. Holyrood is (as, again, was predicted), to all intents and purposes, the old Strathclyde Regional Council writ even larger. The Regions controlled the police, the fire brigades, the water supply, the roads. Today, we have a nationalized police force, a nationalized fire “service”, a nationalized water supply, and nationalized roads. Power has become more centralized, not less.
PR is a system under which the electorate votes and then the politicians decide who has won.