Devolution in the United Kingdom

Parts of this article (those related to Section 35 of The Scotland Act 1998 and Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2023)

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In the United Kingdom, devolution is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's statutory granting of a greater level of self-government to the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), the Northern Ireland Assembly and the London Assembly and to their associated executive bodies: the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and in England, the Greater London Authority and combined authorities.

Devolution differs from federalism in that the devolved powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government, thus the state remains, de jure, a unitary state. Legislation creating devolved parliaments or assemblies can be repealed or amended by parliament in the same way as any statute.

Legislation passed following the EU membership referendum, including the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, undermines and restricts the authority of the devolved legislatures in both Scotland and Wales.^[1]