The United Kingdom（Period 6　Reading and Writing）

the constitution of the united kingdom is based on the principle that parliament is the ultimate sovereign body in the country.the united kingdom has been a centralised, unitary state for much of its history.however, there has long been quite a widespread sense of regional�� identity in the celtic nations, which articulated itself politically in the 20th and 21th centuries.throughout the late nineteenth century the uk debated giving ireland home rule.home rule was given to northern ireland in 1920: it was eventually abolished by london in 1972, after much civil strife.referendums for devolved assemblies to scotland and wales failed to pass in 1979, but similar proposals were passed in referendums in 1998 in scotland, wales and northern ireland.in 1999, the scottish parliament and the national assembly for wales were established, the former having primary legislative power.there is also a degree of regional identity in cornwall, but much smaller than scotland and wales.a petition endorsing a devolved cornish assembly received 50 000 signatures (10% of the electorate), but the issue receives little attention in national politics or the media. regional assemblies were proposed for north england, but after a referendum in the ‘north east’ region where 78% voted against the scheme, the plans for regional governments were abandoned.the office of the deputy prime minister stated, however, that“the government continues to have a clear policy to decentralise power and improve performance through reform in local government and strengthening all the english regions.”northern ireland’s most recent attempt at home rule, with a directly elected power-sharing assembly emerged from the good friday agreement, but it is currently suspended.unlike federalism, however, home rule parliaments have no constitutional status or rights to exist.they are created by parliament and, as northern ireland experienced in 1972, can be abolished by parliament.