Intergovernmental Relations in the UK: Time for a Radical Overhaul?

McEwen, Nicola; Kenny, Michael; Sheldon, Jack; Swan, Coree Brown

doi:10.1111/1467-923x.12862

Cited by 31 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Cooperation and intersectoral collaboration will become even more essential in Wales and beyond as responses are marshalled to the cumulative health, economic, social and political shocks triggered by global climate change, the ending of the transition period following the UK's exit from the EU and, now, the coronavirus pandemic (Green, Wood, and Bellis 2020). The COVID-19 crisis has magnified intergovernmental tensions within the UK, and new uncertainty has emerged surrounding future territorial relationships (McEwen et al 2020). Even in the best of times, evidence from reports, inquiries and research reviewed in this paper shows that forward-looking and wellintentioned public policy and legal frameworks may lack the singular potency to bring about the kinds of changes intended to service provision and face-to-face practice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations from a small country: mental health policy, services and nursing in Wales

Hannigan

2021

HEPL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wales is a small country, with an ageing population, high levels of population health need and an economy with a significant reliance on public services. Its health system attracts little attention, with analyses tending to underplay the differences between the four countries of the UK. This paper helps redress this via a case study of Welsh mental health policy, services and nursing practice. Distinctively, successive devolved governments in Wales have emphasised public planning and provision. Wales also has primary legislation addressing sustainability and future generations, safe nurse staffing and rights of access to mental health services. However, in a context in which gaps always exist between national policy, local services and face-to-face care, evidence points to the existence of tension between Welsh policy aspirations and realities. Mental health nurses in Wales have produced a framework for action, which describes practice exemplars and looks forward to a secure future for the profession. With policy, however enlightened, lacking the singular potency to bring about intended change, nurses as the largest of the professional groups involved in mental health care have opportunities to make a difference in Wales through leadership, influence and collective action.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations from a small country: mental health policy, services and nursing in Wales

Hannigan

2021

HEPL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Further, the Internal Market Bill de facto dilutes the devolved competences of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales over a range of health matters [72]. Of note, McEwen and colleagues have documented the limitations of the current system, further exacerbated due to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, calling for a radical overhaul of intergovernmental relations and decision-making processes [73]. Reference was also made to establishing a new inter-governmental Ministerial Forum for future trade agreements [67,74], which might also offer a means for such consultations [75].…”

Section: Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brexit and trade policy: an analysis of the governance of UK trade policy and what it means for health and social justice

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background There is an extensive body of research demonstrating that trade and globalisation can have wide-ranging implications for health. Robust governance is key to ensuring that health, social justice and sustainability are key considerations within trade policy, and that health risks from trade are effectively mitigated and benefits are maximised. The UK’s departure from the EU provides a rare opportunity to examine a context where trade governance arrangements are being created anew, and to explore the consequences of governance choices and structures for health and social justice. Despite its importance to public health, there has been no systematic analysis of the implications of UK trade policy governance. We therefore conducted an analysis of the governance of the UK’s trade policy from a public health and social justice perspective. Results Several arrangements required for good governance appear to have been implemented – information provision, public consultation, accountability to Parliament, and strengthening of civil service capacity. However, our detailed analyses of these pillars of governance identified significant weaknesses in each of these areas. Conclusion The establishment of a new trade policy agenda calls for robust systems of governance. However, our analysis demonstrates that, despite decades of mounting evidence on the health and equity impacts of trade and the importance of strong systems of governance, the UK government has largely ignored this evidence and failed to galvanise the opportunity to include public health and equity considerations and strengthen democratic involvement in trade policy. This underscores the point that the evidence alone will not guarantee that health and justice are prioritised. Rather, we need strong systems of governance everywhere that can help seize the health benefits of international trade and minimise its detrimental impacts. A failure to strengthen governance risks poor policy design and implementation, with unintended and inequitable distribution of harms, and ‘on-paper’ commitments to health, social justice, and democracy unfulfilled in practice. Although the detailed findings relate to the situation in the UK, the issues raised are, we believe, of wider relevance for those with an interest of governing for health in the area of international trade.

show abstract

“…Although this was particularly problematic for Northern Ireland which -owing to the collapse of devolved institutions there -was unable to participate (or even agree a detailed shared position on how to prevent a border on the island of Ireland), it was also challenging for the Scottish and Welsh devolved units who perceived that their voices and perspectives were not being adequately heard. In effect, the more coherent national positions developed by the Scottish and Welsh were stymied by the underdevelopment of the UK's arrangements for intergovernmental relations (see McEwen et al 2020).…”

Section: Intergovernmental Inadequaciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Northern Ireland and Brexit: where sovereignty and stability collide?

Murphy

2021

Journal of Contemporary European Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Having been issues which stimulated little discussion beyond Northern Ireland before the Brexit referendum, the 'Irish issue' dominated and complicated the subsequent EU-UK withdrawal negotiations. The 'taking back control' narrative bears the hallmarks of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's notion of a 'recaptured sovereignty'. This conception of sovereignty, however, clashes with the post-sovereign character and content of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. The institutions created by the Agreement move beyond the old frameworks for political order by creating a series of interlocking territorial, cross-territorial, and cross-national institutions based on shared sovereignty. This prompts critical questions about the resilience and sustainability of the Agreement against the backdrop of a shift in sovereignty which appears incompatible with the key tenets of Northern Ireland's peace agreement. This article examines how Northern Ireland's approach to and experience of the EU referendum differed from the rest of the UK. It queries how the referendum result, subsequent political and electoral developments, and difficulties in agreeing a withdrawal formula and future UK-EU relationship, expose the gap between the UK's commitments to a post-sovereign arrangement for Northern Ireland and the preference for a return to an older conception of sovereignty as implied by the Brexit vote.Unlike other parts of the UK, Northern Ireland's historic experience has been marked by serious and violent conflict. The movement from conflict to peace over a protracted period of time culminated in the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The evolving process of peace consolidation which followed was interrupted by the June 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union (EU). In Northern Ireland, a majority voted in favour of Remain. The referendum campaign, however, was different in tone and content to the rest of the UK (see Murphy 2016). It focused less on migration and 'taking back control', and more on issues, such as the future status of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the implications of a Leave vote for the (fragile) peace process and the impact on trade and policies. Having been an issue which stimulated little discussion beyond Northern Ireland before the referendum, issues pertaining to Northern Ireland and the Irish border came to dominate and complicate the subsequent EU-UK withdrawal negotiations. The 'taking back control' narrative which so animated Britain, and particularly England's, referendum narrative and the subsequent UK-EU negotiations bears the hallmarks of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's (2020) notion of a 'recaptured sovereignty'. This conception of sovereignty, however, clashes with the post-sovereign character and content of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. The principles and institutions established by the Agreement move beyond the old frameworks for political order by creating a series of novel and interlocking territorial, cross-territor...

show abstract

Intergovernmental Relations in the UK: Time for a Radical Overhaul?

Cited by 31 publications

References 0 publications

Observations from a small country: mental health policy, services and nursing in Wales

Observations from a small country: mental health policy, services and nursing in Wales

Brexit and trade policy: an analysis of the governance of UK trade policy and what it means for health and social justice

Northern Ireland and Brexit: where sovereignty and stability collide?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About