Between Unionism and Consociationalism: Central-Devolved-Local relations in post Brexit Scotland and the UK

The UK exit from the European Union exacerbated the lingering tensions between centre and periphery that characterise the UK multilevel political system since its inception as an asymmetric system with a strong unitary bent. This unitary logic is prevalent not just UK wide but at Devolved level, in the case of Scotland regarding, Holyrood -the Scottish political establishment post Devolution- and Scottish Local government. The political system was able to navigate these contradictions on the basis of a strong implicit consensus between political elites, even post Devolution, when between 1999 and 2007 the same party was hegemonic at local, Scottish and UK level. The ascendancy of Nationalism after that with its quest from policy differentiation and its open pro-independence agenda, as highlighted by the 2014 independence referendum and the 2016 EU Referendum marked laid in the open the limits of an institutional and multilevel governance system that rested on common consensus and weak formal institutional arrangements. This not only exacerbates the pressure for more power transfer to Scotland but also reinvigorated a new form of Unionism in the ruling UK Conservative party -“the days of Devolve and forget are over” (Conservative Manifesto, 2017)- that in some respects is a departure from classic Unionism towards unitary conceptualisations that ironically, are more similar of that of Mainland Europe. The UK Supreme Court ruling on the EU Withdrawal Act 2018 lay in the open the difference between the perceived notion of the UK as a voluntary union of equals and the legal realities of a Union state. The Internal Market Act 2020 is the latest of a series of development that marks a new Unionist bent from Westminster. At the same time and for the first time not only since the Devolution but in some respect for the first time the UK central government is keen to have a direct presence in Scotland and act as drivers for local government triangulation between the Scottish and UK levels, in a way that is commonplace in multilevel systems with shared competences (Spain, Germany) but rather uncommon in the self-contained Scottish body politic: the Scottish City Regional Deals and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund that will replace the EU Regional funds are a testament to this. Equally the Scottish Devolved establishment has overall argued against the monopolisation of policy initiative at the UK centre to develop the new post Brexit UK-wide frameworks, ironically complaining of the same treatment that Scottish Local Government has often complained it is dispensed to them by Holyrood. And yet it would be premature to qualify the UK as an unitary state due to its composite legal and constitutional structure as preserved with the Act of Union 1707 until the arrival of Devolution. The concerted devolved action and the House of Lords to the Internal Market Act, the Dunlop Review on the Union and the Intergovernmental Relations review highlight the resilience of the UK consociative dynamics.