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The Ulster Unionist movement established itself as the most significant counter-revolutionary force in Irish political life. Its members were motivated by a desire to maintain the union and a yet deeper determination to resist the authority of any future Dublin parliament. Meanwhile, between 1915 and 1919, convergence of opinion concerning the Irish question emerged at the highest level in British political life. It found expression in the government of Ireland act, 1920. This provided for the formation of devolved governments in both southern and a six-county Northern Ireland, each to be responsible for ‘peace, order, and good government’ within their respective jurisdictions. Ireland was to remain an integral part of the United Kingdom and the sovereignty of the Westminster parliament was to be undiminished.

This chapter focuses on the functions of devolved government in Northern Ireland established in 1999. The devolution did not grant Northern Ireland any tax-raising powers, but it did transfer legislative and administrative responsibility in key areas such as health, education, the environment, culture, and the arts to locally elected politicians. A cabinet-style “Executive” was formed, based on party strength within the elected 108-seat Assembly and led by the “first minister” and the “deputy first minister.” This was a whole new political infrastructure, a visible edifice of government that those who lived in Northern Ireland could engage with. There were now departments with budgets to spend, policies to deliver, responsible ministers, and an Assembly and committee structure to perform oversight functions and debate the issues. For Northern Ireland, it was quite a new experience, both for the politicians and for those who elected them.

This chapter provides a review of the devolution in the UK that began in Social Policy Review 16, with an examination of the brief period of devolution in Northern Ireland, sometime between 1999 and 2004. The discussion is placed in the context of a longer history of devolved government under Ulster Unionist control since the partition of Ireland in 1922. The author is able to identify several distinctive features of Northern Ireland's welfare system that involve a ‘small government’.

This chapter begins by discussing four different policy characteristics of the term ‘flagship’. The first of these four policy characteristics is innovative, as policies that had not previously existed in the UK. Second is distinctive as universal provision or in not having been universally provided in recent times in the UK. The third characteristic is its uniqueness to Scotland or Wales or Northern Ireland. The fourth is self-identified as flagship policies by the devolved governments. This chapter also considers examples of social policies in each of the four categories, describes their characteristics, and then outlines their formulation and operation. It argues that the identification of flagship social policy is not a precise exercise and some policies for which the status has been claimed may fall rather short and more in a category of significant divergence.

England's place in the union and the government of England, especially its territorial nature, lie at the heart of the English Question but the ramifications of devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have hardly impinged on England and the English public seem blissfully unaware of or not bothered about devolution elsewhere. There have been two quite distinct sets of English Questions. The first concerns the familiar problems associated with governing a large territory with a large, diverse population in an advanced liberal democratic state. A second and quite different set of issues has arisen since devolution was granted to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. This is often summed up in the West Lothian Question but goes much deeper. Devolved government has territorialised UK politics, made England more apparent as a polity, and created anomalies.

The central argument of this book is that devolved government was the culmination of processes that had evolved over many decades but devolution was never inevitable. The original different unions have been important in the development of the UK's territorial politics but so too have been other forces. Social and economic pressures gave rise to different conceptions of what the state at the centre should do, how much it should intervene in society and the economy, and this had consequences for its territorial constitution and issues of territorial management. The greatest problem with the idea of the UK as a union state is that it focuses exclusively on only some or even one of the unions which created the state. If the unitary state understanding of the UK was inadequate because it only described the English polity, the union state understanding is inadequate because it ignores England and Wales.

This chapter analyses changes in public bodies or quangos in Northern Ireland under direct rule. It discusses the key distinction between quangos sponsored by Northern Ireland departments and those sponsored by the Northern Ireland Office and other United Kingdom departments. This chapter contends that during direct rule there was a stronger case for the use of quangos in the absence of devolved government and with limited local government as they provided a mechanism for local participation and localised delivery.

This chapter focuses on the problems that continue to exist in Northern Ireland. While a lot has changed in Northern Ireland since the height of the conflict, there are also some points of continuity. The persistence of vigilante groups exercising social control in urban working-class areas is one such instance. Second, the existence of devolved government and a reformed policing and justice system acceptable to both unionist and nationalist communities has made little difference to the immediate sense of security of the people. The chapter argues that the inability of the police to prosecute the leaders of RAAD and prevent punishment attacks from taking place demonstrates the gap between the formal political system and life as it is lived at the community level in Northern Ireland.

This chapter sets out the background and context to the UK’s implementation of austerity measures following the financial crash of 2007/08. It examines the principles underlying the enactment of the Bedroom Tax policy before outlining the new regulations on room restrictions that have been imposed on those claiming housing benefit in the social rented sector. It discusses the controversy surrounding its implementation as well as the ways in which it has impacted different regions of the UK. This chapter also reflects on changes to housing benefit more widely and suggests that we are seeing the return of the ‘housing question’ in post-industrial Britain as austerity policies undermine housing affordability. The final part of this chapter outlines the structure of the book.

This chapter examines the challenges facing women who want to participate in politics in Northern Ireland and touches upon the relationship between women inside and outside politics. Women constantly run up against socially conservative attitudes and face residual and overt misogyny and resistance to specific measures for change, including at times from women who have internalised as the norm practices that protect the dominant male group. The chapter draws upon survey research to show changes in public attitudes and discusses outreach programmes that support women who wish to become involved. It traces the post-Good Friday Agreement (GFA) journey for women through the political institutions and demonstrates that while some progress has been made, more is required.

This chapter considers the short-lived power-sharing devolved Executive in Northern Ireland (which was in office from January to May 1974), and the memoir-writing devoted to it. This has been written by UUP and SDLP Ministers in the administration (Brian Faulkner, Paddy Devlin, Austin Currie, and Basil McIvor), as well as by civil servants who were closely engaged in this constitutional experiment (Kenneth Bloomfield and Maurice Hayes). In addition the memoirs of British Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland of the period are also studied (William Whitelaw and Merlyn Rees). The chapter deals with the frustrations and recriminations over the demise of the Executive, and the inadequate response to the Ulster Workers’ Council strike of May 1974.