ABSTRACT
As formal intergovernmental institutions with a high institutional depth do not exist in the UK's unitary polity, the relations between the different governments rely heavily on informal institutions and practices which sets clear limits to effective cooperation, conflict resolution and joint policy- and decision-making. In order to get a clear picture of how the engagement between governments is organised, this chapter provides a detailed analysis of the formal and informal institutions and practices of intergovernmental relevance and identifies their institutional depth. These include departments of the central government; the Supreme Court; the Sewel Convention; memorandums of understanding, intergovernmental agreements, concordats and the UK Common Frameworks programme; the Joint Ministerial Committee; the Joint Exchequer Committees; the British-Irish Council and ministerial, officials and interparliamentary arrangements and working groups.
