Introduction

During the early to mid 1990s an important debate emerged regarding the government of Scotland, Wales and the English regions within the British state. The Major governments maintained support for a traditional constitutional approach. This asserted rule according to laws determined in the Westminster parliament, and implemented through the administrative machinery of central government, including the Scottish and Welsh Offices and the English field administration of central departments. In contrast, all other parties called for change. The Scottish National Party (SNP) and Plaid Cymru questioned the right of British rule altogether; the Liberal Democrats campaigned for the creation of a federal Britain. Most attention, however, focused on the position of the Labour Party, the principal alternative to the Conservatives in forming a government. Labour made commitments to introduce devolution, involving the transfer of powers from Westminster to Scottish and Welsh elected assemblies, albeit under the continuing supremacy of the Westminster parliament. These assemblies would take over the roles and resources of the Scottish and Welsh Offices. In addition Labour advocated decentralisation of certain central government powers to new regional chambers in England. In response to these proposals, the Major governments carried out initiatives which they claimed further enhanced governmental effectiveness within a Westminster-based approach. These included reform of the Scottish and Welsh Offices and parliamentary business; the reform of central field administration in England through the establishment of ten Government Offices of the Regions; and reform of local government structure throughout Scotland, Wales and England. Labour derided these initiatives as minimalist tinkering, whilst reasserting and refining its own proposals.