Constitution Unit papers

The Constitution Unit has helpfully made available many of its old papers on constitutional reform. This extract from Prof Robert Hazell's "Constitutional Reform and the New Labour Government" (1997):

There are three basic respects in which Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland are currently privileged compared with other parts of the UK. First, they have separate Secretaries of State, who can argue their case in Cabinet; second, and thanks in part to that special pleading they enjoy very generous levels of public expenditure, even when allowance is made for their special needs; and third, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, enjoy over-representation at Westminster. This last does not give rise to, but adds spice to, the West Lothian Question. As everyone here knows it is not really a question at all, because it never expects an answer, but it is really used to make two political points. The first is to suggest that within a unitary state legislative devolution is impossible. That, as I hope to show shortly, is nonsense. The second point is about fairness between the nations of the UK, and in this respect the West Lothian Question deserves to be taken seriously. It will not be a fair or balanced settlement between Scotland and the rest of the UK if post-devolution Scotland continues to be privileged in these three respects. They have been privileges which have been allowed to develop largely to keep the Scots quiet about devolution. If they continue post-devolution the rest of us can be forgiven for thinking that the Scots are being allowed to have their cake and eat it.