Tom Griffin (London, OK): Northern Ireland is to abolish prescription charges from 2010, Health Minister Michael McGimpsey of the UUP announced today. The move will follow a reduction to £3 in January 2009. "The introduction of free prescriptions was one of my party's manifesto commitments and was also one of my earliest assembly debates. A key consideration for me was the loss of around £13m income each year from prescription charges, and while it is only 3.5 per cent of the total drugs bill, it is still a lot of money." He added: "After looking closely at the financial position with my officials, I have concluded that the cost of free prescriptions can be found within my existing budget and without impacting on any existing service." Wales has already abolished prescription charges, and Scotland is set to follow suit in 2011. Although Gordon Brown announced moves to abolish charges for cancer patients last week, England is now the only UK nation in whch there are no plans to abolish prescription charges outright.

Tom Griffin (London, OK): The All Wales Convention holds its third meeting in Cardiff Bay today. As the Western Mail's Martin Shipton notes, it's been a slow start for the body that is meant to consider the case for more powers for the Welsh Assembly. Read the rest of this post...

Stephen Glenn (Linlithgow, Lib Dems): What next for the Liberal Democrats in Scotland? They're no longer in a coalition administration but just part of the opposition to an SNP minority government. It's a dangerous position with the Tories strengthening and Labour weakening. Three candidates have stepped forward to fill the void left by Nicol Stephen's resignation as leader, by the end of next week one of them will be leader. Tavish Scott, a close ally of Stephen, is seen by many as the continuity candidate. Ross Finnie, served eight years in the cabinet when the party was in coalition with Labour after the Scottish Parliament was created. He says the party needs to find its 'narrative' again. Mike Rumbles, who chaired the Holyrood's Standard's Committee for four years, sees a radical path ahead. Read the rest of this post...

Guy Aitchison (London, OK): Last week I reported on Government plans to abolish the territorial departments of state and replace them with a new devolution "super department". I argued that this move should have been carried out long ago since it would have provided for a more ambitious, creative and coherent government policy on devolution as well as a more formalised, and hence more effective, system of intergovernmental relations. Some of our commenters were more suspicious of the proposal. Writing in today's FT, George Parker provides more details on the re-structuring, now expected to take place late September. Contrary to earlier speculation, government officials have said that the new department will not have any responsibility for the English regions. There will be no Department for the Nations and Regions, then, but a single central Department focussing on work presently carried out by the Scotland, Welsh and Northern Ireland offices. Read the rest of this post...

Fair Deal (Slugger O'Toole): The Barnett formula has fundamental flaws and failed in its aim of equalisation. The IPPR report Fair Shares attempts to offer a new way forward for the UK, but the alternative has its own flaws, key questions are sidestepped and it will probably be Alex Salmond who determines whether Barnett reaches 40 years of age. Read the rest of this post...

Guy Aitchison (London, OK):The territorial departments of state are set to be scrapped as part of Gordon Brown's autumn reshuffle according to Wales on Sunday. Under the plans the Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland offices will be merged into one single Department for Nations, Regions and Local Government. The move is long over-due. The existence of individual territorial secretaries of state was always an anomaly once devolution was introduced. It has become even harder to justify now that the National Assembly and Scottish Parliament have become assertive and well-established bodies, demanding and - in the case of the Assembly - receiving ever-more powers from Westminster. The absence of any comparable English "voice" at Cabinet has also contributed to the perception that the other nations of the UK are receiving privileged treatment. The Constitution Unit has been calling for this move for years. It has advised the Government that a single department with overall responsibility for the nations and regions would be in a much better position to develop a joined up and coherent policy on devolution. As it is government thinking on devolution has been a complete mess. (It's not hard to think of examples; think Prescott's lame plans for regional assemblies, the out-dated Barnett formula and Wendy's embarrassing call to "bring it on".) Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): The Conservatives' link-up with the Ulster Unionists is provoking a great deal of interest around the blogosphere today. Over at Brassneck, Mick Fealty sees the move as a sign that the Tories have finally developed a coherent response to devolution. From a unionist (in the broadest sense of that word) perspective the new arrangements may finally give both parties a purpose beyond the narrow protection of a political union that is no longer under coherent attack from outside, but in grave danger of losing coherence from within. Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): A cross-party group of MPs yesterday tabled an amendment to the Embryology Bill that would extend Britain's post-1967 abortion law to Northern Ireland. This could be an interesting can of worms for the Prime Minister as the Sunday Telegraph noted at the weekend: The issue is doubly politically sensitive for Mr Brown because it threatens to reopen the row about how Labour secured the support of nine Democratic Unionist party MPs – crucial to the Government's success in winning last month's Commons vote on extending the period terrorist suspects can be held without charge to 42 days. The Prime Minister has denied any "deal" was done with the DUP. However, Shaun Woodward, the Northern Ireland Secretary, reassured the DUP at the time that the Government had no plans to extend abortion laws to the province.   Read the rest of this post...

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): In a meditation on the fate of "Big Player" Unionism in Scotland, in today's FT, John Lloyd fails to register that this is now an argument taking place in England - the really big change from ten years ago. He looks forward cautiously to a Labour win in Glasgow on Thursday and at the same time considers what the argument for the Union needs to be now in Scotland. He asks, "And what, indeed, would a renewed Unionism look and sound like? Mr Brown has sought to equate Britishness with "a passion for liberty anchored in a sense of duty and an intrinsic commitment to fair play", as he put it three years ago, when still chancellor of the exchequer." Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): Divisions in the Northern Ireland Executive resurfaced at the weekend, when the Irish News reported that a meeting due to take place on Thursday is in doubt: If the one scheduled for July 24 does not take place an entire quarter of the year will have passed between the last meeting on June 19 and next possible date. It will also mean that First Minister Peter Robinson has only presided over one executive meeting since taking office. There are an estimated 40 pieces of government business trapped in limbo as papers and proposals await executive approval.  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): Most Welsh Assembly members want the same law-making powers as the Scottish Parliament, a new poll has found. The survey for the Western Mail comes ahead of today's inaugural meeting of the All Wales Convention, which will examine the case for further devolution. A survey of AMs found 90% were convinced the Assembly was ready for an increase in powers, with 82% calling for the same law-making capabilities enjoyed by politicians in Scotland. This was the opinion of all Plaid Cymru and Liberal Democrat AMs, three-quarters of those in the Labour group and 67% of Conservatives.  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): The Barnett formula for financing the UK's devolved governments is unfair and should be replaced, according to a report issued by IPPR North on Thursday. Scotland and Wales have already begun considering alternatives. Northern Ireland should be looking to do the same, according to one of the report's authors, Iain Maclean in the Sunday Times today:  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): A report from the Commons Welsh Affairs Committee looked at one of the most sensitive aspects of devolution this week, the impact on NHS services that have traditionally straddled the English/Welsh border. As a consequence of the tensions over diverging funding regimes in Wales and England, evidence suggests that there is a perception that the English NHS is subsidising the Welsh NHS. Evidence also suggests that Welsh patients perceive that they are being treated as second-class citizens within the National Health Service. Both suggestions should be addressed immediately by the Department of Health, the Welsh ssembly Government and health service providers to ensure that patients receiving treatment on both sides of the Welsh-English border are treated fairly and equally, and that they believe this to be the case. In evidence to the Committee, First Minister Rhodri Morgan explained why North Wales in particular is still heavily reliant on specialist services based in England: The population of North Wales is one thirteenth of the population of the North-West of England, therefore the relationship with even the small/medium centres, like Chester, but certainly with Merseyside and Greater Manchester in the provision of health services is totally different from the relationship between South Wales, which as two million people, and the greater Bristol areas, which would also have about two million people.  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): The Welsh Assembly Government marked the first anniversary of the Labour-Plaid Cymru One Wales Agreement today by announcing new details of the Commision that will look at the principality's tax and spending arrangements.  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): The executive committee for the All Wales Convention was announced on Thursday, ahead of the body's first meeting on 14 July.  Read the rest of this post...

The Constitution Unit has this week produced two new contributions to its invaluable series of devolution monitoring reports. Akash Paun and Edward Calow provide a good one-stop overview of the state of devolution across the UK:  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): The BBC Trust has today published an impartiality report on the corporation's coverage of the component nations of the UK. It includes an interesting study by Cardiff University, whose conclusions largely chime with those of IPPR North's recent report on the post-devolution media. When Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland did make the news, coverage was more likely to involve topics such as sport and crime, rather than those policy areas that are now devolved responsibilities. So, for example, of the 161 news items about health and education in our general sample, no fewer than 160 were about England. On BBC outlets, all 136 stories about health and education were about England. It is not simply that more stories were told about England, but storytelling often assumed an English perspective, or else an assumption that England can safely stand in for Britain or the UK.  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London: The Green Ribbon) Some of the proceedings from last week's Inside Devolution 2008 conference at the Constitution Unit are now available online. They included a fascinating roundtable discussion on the performance of the devolved governments over the past year: Iain MacWhirter, Martin Shipton, and Robin Wilson provided insightful analyses of the political situation in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively. (Audio here)  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): The Crewe and Nantwich by-election will be concentrating many minds on the prospect of a Conservative government, not least in Scotland , where the Tories have only one MP. That position has led some to suggest that the Conservatives would be better off conceding the SNP's case and hiving off Scotland altogether. In a speech to the party's Scottish Conference, Cameron set his face against that approach:  Read the rest of this post...

Mike Small (Fife, Bella Caledonia): Scottish Labour seem to have missed something pretty key: the SNP are now the Scottish Government. This level of denial and incompetence has led them to come up with a suicidal policy switch - and Wendy Alexander and co. are now backing a referendum on independence. But the Scottish Government will decide the term, timing and process of the now inevitable referendum vote, whatever Labour thinks. Read the rest of this post...