Devolution to Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast began in earnest after 1997, with the subsequent establishment of the parliaments, assemblies and devolved administrations that we see today. More powers and responsibilities have since been transferred. But each nation has different levels of legislative, administrative and budgetary competence. The UK Government has kept certain policy areas as ‘reserved’ or ‘excepted’ to London like taxation and social security.
During Covid-19, the Devolved Administrations used their powers differently to the UK Government in London. Each nation had its own roadmap that involved different approaches, stricter messaging, compulsory policies backed in law, and variable review dates & timings, as local conditions (like the R-Number) dictated. But when First Ministers tightened or eased the restrictions, we gave BMF members the necessary advice or guidance straightaway to support them through the pandemic.