ABSTRACT
In the UK, the process of devolution has a long history. It goes back to 1886, when the Liberal leader William Gladstone proposed the Home Rule for Ireland. Devolution challenges the culture of the unitary nature of the British State and the supremacy of Parliament, as power is handed over from central government to national parliaments and assemblies: ‘Devolution may be defined as consisting of three elements: the transfer to a subordinate elected body, on a geographical basis, of functions at present exercised by ministers and Parliament’ (Bogdanor, 2001: 2).
