Law and State Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Law and State - Essay Example As mention in the topic, it was historically possible to regard United Kingdom as a set of unitary institution controlled by the ministers. The United Kingdom is a unitary state where the central government controls most of the activities of the government substantially. This is what the historical government of the United Kingdom was considered to be in history. This however changed in the modern context with devolution of the United Kingdom states, where there was a creation of new regulatory authorities and provision of public services. With respect to the devolution, law played a greater role compared to politics in holding the state to account, compared to the previous central government where politics had a major role2. Role of Law in Devolution Due to the devolution, the structure of public services in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is different in some respect. The law plays a significant role in this devolution, every particular region has both its own assembly and exe cutive, and a Secretary of State and administrative department based in the central government, both taking the role of the ministries of the central government in the region3. Even though the laws have greater roles in the devolved government compared the great role of politics which was dominant in the historical central government, the laws that apply in Northern Ireland and Scotland are particularly different from those in Wales and England. The parliament of Scotland has very much more influence in consequence compared to the Welsh parliament4. The Scottish government played the role of civil service for Scotland and has a social policy governing the state. The structure of administration of Northern Ireland is different significantly; the health board is responsible for personal social services with Northern Ireland Housing Executive managing the public housing5. In the modern context of the devolved government that was established after a simple majority referenda in Scotland and Wales in 1997 September. Because of the need for law to keep the state in check, the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Parliament and the Assembly for the Northern Ireland were developed by the law6. England was left un-established. This was added to the legislatures newly established in Scotland and Wales that devolved much spending to the shires and councils of the United Kingdom. The law was enforced in the states via the taxes locally collected and the grants for services provided such as fire service, the police, and the ambulance service under the authority of the elected local government7. Because of the major role played by the law in the devolved governments, the framework has frequently changed from the historical context where politics had a major role in the central government. Among the most important changes that took place with devolution include: the reformation of the Social Security Department of Work and Pensions, the transfer to the Inland Revenue of the income maintenance, the demolition of the Transport Department, the local government and the regional states8. The responsibilities of the key social policy were placed in the Deputy prime Minister’s office; these have been relocated to the Local Government and Communities majorly due to the role that the law plays over the politics in the devolved system9. Due to the role played by law in holding the state to account. The government departments dealing with the social policy were established in order to ensure the law presides over