Pressure is being applied on the Westminster Government by the devolved adminstrations in the North of Ireland, Scotland and Wales for the Joint Ministerial Committees (JMCs) to be restored.
The JCMs were set up in 1999 to provide a forum for cross-border cooperation between Westminster and the new devolved governments, to ensure that the different administrations were kept informed about the political developments taking place in different policy areas. At the time four JCM's were created that covered statistics, inward investment, European issues and international affairs, but due to the strength of the Labour Party in all centres of power, very little use was made of the JCMs. Only the European JCM continued, but now pressure is mounting for Brown to reform all the others following a series of recent disagreements between Westminster and the new Governments.
In particular the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) has been alarmed at the way the Westminster Government has made decisions in recent months with an almost total disregard for Scottish interests. One of the main contentious issues that emerged was in June 2007 where the then Prime Minister Tony Blair arranged a deal with Lybia for the transfer of the Lockerbie bomber without consulting the Scottish legal system.
Since then other issues have emerged, including depriving drug addicts of their benefits and Westminster's new anti-terrorist plans. This has resulted in the SNP arguing that Westminster's still acts in disregard for Scottish interests and is only concerned with English only issues.
At a House of Lords Select Committee Meeting on the Constitution in December 2002 entitled "Devolution: Inter Institutional Relations in the United Kingdom", it was recommended:
"...that further use should be made of the formal mechanisms for intergovernmental relations... Formal mechanisms, such as the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC), are not intended to serve as a substitute for good relations in other respects, or for good and frequent informal contacts, but rather to serve as a framework for such relations and to act as a fall-back in case informal personal relations cease to be sufficient. Such mechanisms are likely to become increasingly important when governments of different political persuasions have to deal with each other."
The Committee went on to state:
"... that the UK Government consider with care how to deal with devolution matters at an early date, so that the machinery of government relating to devolution can cope not just with intergovernmental relations as they stand but as they are likely to become in the medium term. While implementing major changes would raise problems in the short term, the situation would change dramatically if the National Assembly for Wales were to acquire primary legislative powers."
By letting the JCMs become redundant it seems that Westminster did not heed this good advice.
As the devolutionary powers of the Welsh Assembly Government and Stormont increase, as they no doubt will in the medium term, the JCMs will not only be a useful way for the different administrations to keep track on what policy developments are taking place, but will also ensure that Westminster does not continue to trample on the peoples of these Celtic countries as it has done so much in the past.
Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland, has been negotiating with the other First Minister's in Wales and the north of Ireland for several months in a bid to jointly lobby Westminster to bring further structure into the way it deals with the devolved administrations. Salmond's negotiating skills now look likely to reap rewards and as he suggested last week the resumption of the JCMs looks more likely than ever.
(Report prepared for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot)
J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League
29/02/08
■