Ulster Unionist Peer Lord Empey has voiced concerns that the devolution process within the United Kingdom is taking place in a haphazard manner without any coherent political direction.  

Lord Empey said:

“A debate was held in the House of Lords to discuss the Strathclyde Report which was commissioned by the Prime Minister following the vote on Tax Credits in October 2015.

“Whilst the debate focused on the procedure for dealing with secondary legislation and the relationship between both Houses of Parliament, it raised many other matters pertaining to the constitution of the United Kingdom.

“The truth is that our unwritten constitution is being changed before our eyes and the public has no idea of what is happening, neither is there any coherent political direction to this process.

“Devolution to the Home Nations is changing all the time, with more powers being devolved to Scotland and Wales. The Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly all have different levels of devolved powers and this is becoming increasingly confusing to the public and businesses alike.

"Powers are being given to cities and groups of Councils in England, but this is not happening in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

“This week we saw the first use of English Votes for English Laws (EVEL) whereby MPs from Northern Ireland Scotland and Wales were for the first time prohibited from voting on a matter in the House of Commons.

“While it is fully understandable that there is resentment in England that Scottish MPs in particular were able to vote on education matters in England but English MPs could not vote on education matters in Scotland, the worrying aspect of this is the uncoordinated nature of the way things are developing.

“There is a lack of a coherent overall plan for the UK at local, regional and national level. I firmly believe that there is room and a necessity for variations to meet regional needs, but this should be within the overall context of a fully thought through plan. Sadly, no such plan exists.

“Any constitution needs to change and evolve with the times, but there needs to be a broad consensus on where we are going with all these alterations. Unfortunately no such consensus exists and even worse one has not even been sought.”