Abstract
Since 1997 and New Labour's landslide victory, there has been a flurry of legislation in the UK, eg with relation to the House of Lords, party funding and freedom of information, in an attempt to change and modernize the institutions of the country. What is known as devolution? Devolution means deputing or delegating of power or authority. Devolution is different from federalism, which is a constitutional settlement in which power is not devolved by the centre to the periphery (with, again, the centre remaining ultimately the locus of supreme power), but shared between two entities, as in America, Australia or Germany.
