ABSTRACT
The relationships between the component parts of the United Kingdom were more stable during this period than they had been in the past or were to be in the future. In 1938, the then United Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer accepted the principle that in the event of a Northern Ireland budget deficit, not caused by higher social expenditure or lower taxation, the United Kingdom government would supply the funds to maintain the same services and standards as in Britain. In the late 1940s, a Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom seemed popular over 2 million Scots signed the Covenant. Northern Ireland showed its usefulness during the Second World War, particularly since the United Kingdom government had given up its rights to use certain ports in the Irish Free State in 1938. Land steeped in the traditions of the Celtic saints took precedence over the defence preparations of a British government.
