The reforming zeal of the coalition has not yet extended to any significant reappraisal of the constitutional arrangements between the four nations of the United Kingdom. Although the Scotland bill is assured smooth passage through Westminster, thus transferring significant new taxation powers, the reforms are founded on extensive cross-party support and were initiated before the coalition came to power. But the commission promised by the coalition on the "West Lothian question" has yet to materialise. David Cameron also appears so far to have resisted the temptation to tie his "we are all in this together" narrative to a government-sponsored British patriotism. Gordon Brown's efforts to instil a common sense of Britishness were instructive; identity politics in the UK are often divisive and politically unrewarding.
The challenge of balancing the demands for further devolution with the maintenance of a universal UK citizenship and British identity was one that the previous Labour government failed to coherently address. But Cameron's declared ambition for the "complete modernisation" of public services could prove increasingly divisive and stimulate intra-national tensions across the UK.
Reform in policy areas such as health, education and local government often relate to England alone, without recognition of their implications elsewhere. For example, the proposed increase in tuition fees in England raised fears in Scotland and Wales of significant numbers of English "refugees" denying Scottish and Welsh students places in their home-based universities. In response, the Scottish and Welsh governments have raised tuition fees for English students in line with rises in England, which some claim is evidence of an anti-English "educational apartheid".
As the devolved governments seek to protect resources and services as the cuts bite, defensive measures may well be extended to other areas as the coalition accelerates its quasi-privatisation of the English public sector. But the vernacular of radical reformism adopted by leading coalition ministers indicates a lack of comprehension of the limits of Westminster's authority in many policy areas. Calls by Michael Gove to teach a "connected narrative" of British history in schools fail to acknowledge he does not have responsibility for curricula design outside of England. In Scotland, the SNP minority government has already begun to reform its history curriculum to promote a distinctive Scottish national narrative.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/06/david-cameron-uk-devolution-citizenship
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