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Petition to scrap devolution rejected because ‘it isn’t up to the UK Government’

19 Feb 2021 2 minute read
Westminster and the Senedd. Picture on the right by Richard Szwejkowski (CC BY-SA 2.0).

A petition to scrap devolution has been rejected because the UK Parliament nor UK Government is “responsible for” it.

It called for a repeal of the “UK Devolution Bill” and to get rid of what it called the “money pit satellite parliaments” and claimed, without supporting evidence, that there was “almost” an “EU plan to split the Union”.

The answer from the committee said it would be a “decision for the people of the devolved nations”, not Westminster.

If a petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the UK Government will respond, and if it reaches 100,000, it will be considered for debate in the UK Parliament.

But a petition can also be rejected by the committee if it does not meet the necessary standards.

The rules say: “Petitions must be about something that the Government or the House of Commons is responsible for.”

‘Satellite parliaments’ 

The petition said: “Repeal the UK Devolution bill, get rid of the money pit satellite parliaments”

“We need to rescind/repeal the Devolution bill, get rid of the satellite parliaments that serve no real purpose apart from lip service to the likes of the SNP but cost the UK dearly, it could almost be an EU plan to split the Union and then England in to 9 districts/regions with elected mayors.”

The response from the Petitions Committee said: “It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not responsible for.

“This would be a decision for the people of the devolved nations.”

The committee suggested another petition instead, which called for a referendum on handing back the powers of the Welsh Parliament to Westminster.

The petition, which claimed that Wales having its own laws caused “confusion” closed without reaching the threshold of 10,000 signatures necessary to elicit a response from the UK Government.


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