Devolution of Power: Post-Referendum Negotiation - Prof Janice Morphet, UCL

The constitutional crisis and chaos that has followed the ‘no’ vote has focussed primarily on England rather than the additional powers that will be given to Scotland. Is this just a distraction to encourage speculation and relief when a solution is found or is it rooted in a more fundamental need for change? Will this result in more practical changes being offered to all the nations of the UK on domestic policy matters such as local economic regeneration which have already started to devolve through Citydeals in England and Scotland?

The first issue to consider is the continued trend towards devolution and devolved decision making. Although devolution was an event in 1999, it has always been a process with further powers being added to those devolved in Scotland, Wales and London whilst Northern Ireland was included in the devolved settlement for the UK nations through the St Andrews Agreement in 2006. 

The Economic Consequences of the Scottish Referendum - Prof Brigitte Granville - Professor in International Economics and Economic Policy, Queen Mary

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The political result of the Scottish referendum – the preservation of the Union combined with a commitment by the UK political class to devolve further powers to Scotland – has naturally led to most instant commentary being focused on the political and, more specifically, constitutional consequences.  By contrast, the economic results will have difficulty competing for the attention they deserve – especially what looks likely to be the most tangible economic result: higher taxes in Scotland. This change holds out the interesting prospect of increased competition within the UK as regards the balance between the tax burden and the quality of public services.

The likelihood of higher taxes in Scotland is clear from a straightforward analysis of the referendum campaign and result. The ‘Yes’ platform was overtly redistributionist. It depicted union with England as binding Scotland into fiscal restraints that reflected the preferences of the UK political class (especially as represented by the Conservative Party that is the dominant partner in the present UK coalition government) rather than the choices and needs of the Scottish people. The electorate clearly got that message. An analysis of voting patterns in the referendum shows that the ‘Yes’ vote was higher in areas where there were proportionally more voters with the greatest dependency on the welfare state – such as the unemployed and recipients of disability benefits.  Against this background, and on the safe assumption that the promised further instalment of devolution will focus on tax raising powers, it follows that future elections to the Scottish parliament are likely to be won on platforms of higher marginal taxation to finance increased public spending.

Former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, speaks at Queen Mary on 'How Government Really Works'

Speaking to the Mile End Group at Queen Mary University of London on Monday 28th October, former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, spoke of the need for governments to modernise and adapt to a rapidly changing world.' You will find a full transcript and video of the the event here. 

The Future of Public Administration - A Roundtable Forum held at Queen Mary University of London

The Centre for Government and Leadership at Queen Mary University of London will be hosting a Roundtable Forum on Wednesday 13th November at 13:00

The topic of discussion will be 

The Future of Public Management

What skills will public servants and public managers need in the coming decade?

What role will universities and national schools of public administration play in developing them?

Guest speakers:

Professor Marga Pröhl, Director-General of the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA)

Professor Marcel Proulx, former CEO of the Canadian School of Public Management (ENAP)

Professor Les Metcalfe, Professor Emeritus of Public Management, University of Bocconi; Visiting Professor at Queen Mary University of London

Forum Chair:

Professor Martin Laffin, Head of School, School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London

This event is open to the public, if you would like to attend, please reserve your ticket here

The event will take place in the Colette Bowe Room, Queen's Building, Mile End Campus, E1 4NS

It could cost more than it is worth... why the government's plan to charge visitors for NHS care looks like another Child Support Agency in the making - Prof Perri 6, Chair in Public Management, Queen Mary

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Some people from outside Europe who make use of the National Health Service are to be charged for their care, the British government announced on Tuesday 22^nd October. We've seen proposals for more effective and thorough efforts to charge people for NHS care before, of course. And some hospitals – mainly larger urban ones – do make efforts to charge where they can. Now research commissioned by the Department of Health estimates that much bigger sums could be found by more determined charging, although the researchers admit that there are a great many contentious assumptions in their numbers.

Females to the fore in reshuffle – but women’s policy input may remain limited

As expected, David Cameron has boosted the number of women in his Government. But this strategy is problematic,argue Professors Claire Annesley and Francesca Gains, and may not address the lack of women’s policy input in decision making.

Earlier this spring Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s former spin doctor, suggested that ‘Sam Cam’ was the Conservatives’ ‘secret weapon’ to win back women’s votes. This is a clear sign that in the run up to the next election the battle to win women’s votes is intensifying – and for good reason.

For many years after winning the franchise women in the UK were more likely to vote Conservative, and the ‘gender gap’ (the difference in the Conservative lead over Labour between male and female votes) was in double figures. In the 1970s and 1980s, as women’s roles in the home and the workplace changed, the gender difference in voting narrowed and psephologists argued that sex differences were not important in understanding UK voting patterns.

However the re-emergence of a small but significant gender gap in 1992, reflecting a swing by younger women to Labour, led to a sustained interest by the Labour Party in identifying and mobilising around women’s interests and demands which contributed to their successful 1997 return to office.

In the face of recent polling data, which shows falling support for the Conservative from women, the party has sought – rather belatedly – to proffer a more female friendly campaign strategy.

McBride's Muddle - Prof Perri 6, Chair in Public Management, Queen Mary

This week Damian McBride, sometime Treasury communications leader and later special advisor to Gordon Brown, published an article in Prospect magazine entitled “Not fit for purpose”. McBride claims that the policy failures and fiascos which have been discussed at length in books published this year such as Anthony King’s and Ivor Crewe’s “The blunders of our governments”[i] and Richard Bacon’s and Christopher Hope’s “Conundrum”[ii] are principally the result of the civil service being out of touch, of there being too few people among the upper echelons of the service who are female, young, from working class origins, from regions far from London, not from expensive schools and universities, or indeed who have not previously worked in the Treasury. Overcoming the narrowness of recruitment will, he claims, make the civil service more meritocratic and more “fit for purpose”.