Question 1

What is devolution and what does Westminster still control?

Accepted Answer

**Devolution** is the transfer of specified powers from the UK Parliament to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is not federalism, and the distinction matters.

**The reserved powers model.** For Scotland and, since 2017, Wales, the arrangement works by listing what is **reserved** to Westminster. Anything **not** reserved is devolved by default.

**Reserved to Westminster:**

**Defence and the armed forces.**

**Foreign policy** and international relations.

**Immigration and nationality.**

**The constitution**, including the union itself.

**Most taxation and fiscal policy**, monetary policy and currency.

**Most social security and pensions.**

**Trade and economic regulation**, competition, consumer protection.

**Energy regulation**, telecommunications and broadcasting.

**Devolved, broadly:**

**Health and the NHS** — which is why NHS structures, prescription charges and policy differ substantially between nations.

**Education**, including different qualification systems.

**Housing, local government, planning and transport.**

**Justice and policing** in Scotland and Northern Ireland; policing is devolved in Wales only partially, and justice is not.

**Environment and agriculture.**

**The asymmetry is the defining feature.** Each settlement differs — Scotland has the widest powers including a separate legal system that predates devolution; Northern Ireland's arrangements arise from the Good Friday Agreement and include power-sharing requirements; Wales's powers have expanded incrementally and remain narrower.

**England has no devolved parliament**, which is the long-standing gap sometimes called the West Lothian question.

**The constitutional position, which is genuinely important:** because of **parliamentary sovereignty**, Westminster retains the legal power to legislate on devolved matters, and could in principle amend or abolish the devolved institutions. The **Sewel Convention** provides that it will not normally legislate on devolved matters without consent — but the Supreme Court has confirmed it is a **political convention, not legally enforceable**.

**Combined authorities and metro mayors** are a separate English arrangement, involving delegated rather than devolved powers.

Question 2

How are local councils actually structured, and what do they do?

Accepted Answer

Differently in different places — which is the honest starting point, because the UK has several parallel structures and knowing which applies to you determines who is responsible for what. The

Question 3

Does the UK have a constitution?

Accepted Answer

Yes — it is simply not written in a single document, which is what people mean when they say it is unwritten. The rules exist; they are just scattered, and some of them are not law at all. Where the

Question 4

What is the House of Lords for?

Accepted Answer

The House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK Parliament. Its central function is revision and scrutiny — examining legislation in detail and asking the Commons to think again — rather than

Question 5

Why do constituency boundaries keep changing?

Accepted Answer

Because populations move, and equal representation requires constituencies to contain broadly equal numbers of electors — so boundaries must be revised periodically or votes become unequal in weight.

Question 6

What is the difference between an MP, a councillor and a mayor?

Accepted Answer

They operate at different levels of government with different powers, and people frequently contact the wrong one. An MP — Member of Parliament. Elected to the House of Commons to represent a

Question 7

What is a byelaw, and what can councils actually enforce?

Accepted Answer

A byelaw is a local law made by a council or other authorised body, and it is far more limited than people assume — a council cannot simply invent rules and enforce them. The essential constraint: a

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