The repatriation of competences: implications for devolution

英国的权力下放解决方案已嵌入英国的欧盟成员国身份。农业、环境、渔业、地区发展、司法和内政等政策领域既是权力下放的议会的事务，也是欧盟的职权范围。在这些政策领域，欧盟提供了一个共同的框架，限制了英国内部和英国各地出现的分歧程度，这有助于保持英国各国的团结。无论谈判后达成何种模式，英国退出欧盟都将以复杂的方式影响下放国家的权力。这可能会导致权力进一步下放到已下放的机构。或者，它可能导致权力在英国范围内的机构内重新集中。第三种可能性是，它可以看到建立新的论坛和程序，使英国政府和下放的政府在他们权力重叠的政策领域更密切地合作。谈判的结果，以及关键参与者所做的决定，将对权力下放国家机构的权力和责任，以及它们与英国其他地区的关系产生影响。随着英国脱欧谈判的进行，该项目将对这些发展进行研究，我们将研究结果将如何影响权力下放和英国四个政府之间的关系。我们将研究并支持议会在审查脱欧谈判进程和结果方面发挥作用。我们将与公务员会面，帮助他们了解不同的脱欧方案对苏格兰、北爱尔兰和威尔士权力下放的影响。我们的项目将集中在下放政策的三个特定领域——农业、环境、司法和内政——以调查脱欧后将权力从欧盟带回英国的具体后果。我们将与这些行业的专业人士和代表合作，帮助他们在不同情况下为英国脱欧做准备和规划。我们还将通过编写易于阅读和获取的解释、分析和报告，以及利用在媒体上发表评论的机会，增进对权力下放过程、结果及其对权力下放的影响的更广泛理解。

The devolution settlements in the United Kingdom have been embedded in UK membership of the European Union. Policy areas like agriculture, the environment, fisheries, regional development and justice and home affairs, are both matters for the devolved parliaments and also areas that fall under the authority of the EU. In these policy fields, the EU has provided a common framework that has limited the degree of difference that has emerged within and across the UK, and this has helped keep the nations of the UK together. Whichever model is reached after negotiations, the UK's withdrawal from the EU will affect the powers of the devolved nations in complex ways. It may lead to further decentralisation of power to the devolved institutions. Alternatively, it could lead to powers being recentralized within UK-wide institutions. A third possibility is that it could see the setting up of new forums and process to enable the UK Government and the devolved governments to cooperate more closely on policy areas where their powers overlap. The outcome of the negotiations, and the decisions taken by key actors, will have consequences for the powers and responsibilities of institutions in the devolved nations and their relationships with the rest of the UK. This project will carry out a study of these developments as the Brexit negotiations get underway, and we will examine how the outcomes will shape devolution and relations between the UK's four governments. We will study and support the role of parliaments in scrutinizing the Brexit negotiation processes and the outcomes. We will meet with civil servants to help them understand the effects of different Brexit options on devolution in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Our project will focus on three particular areas of devolved policy - agriculture, the environment and justice and home affairs - to investigate the particular consequences of bringing powers back from the EU to the UK after Brexit. We will work with professionals and representatives from these sectors to help them prepare and plan for Brexit under different scenarios. We will also enhance broader understanding of the process, outcomes and their impact on devolution by producing easy to read and easy to access explanations, analyses and reports, and by taking up opportunities for commenting in the media.