Devolved Powers and Emergencies

The subject of this topical episode is ‘Devolved Powers and Emergencies’, exploring how emergencies test constitutional arrangements concerning devolved powers and how such constitutional arrangements might be improved.

Discussants are: Jim Gallagher, a former Civil Servant, who headed the Scottish justice department. He was the UK government’s most senior adviser on devolution and other constitutional issues, working in the Cabinet office and the number 10 policy unit under Gordon Brown. He was secretary of the UK civil contingencies committee and in charge of emergency planning in Scotland; Stephen Gethins, who worked in the NGO Sector specialising in peace-building, arms control and democracy in the Caucasus and the Balkans regions. He has been an MP at Westminster and the Scottish National Party’s Front Bench Spokesman for International Affairs and Europe; and Catherine Stihler, who was a Labour Member of the European Parliament for 20 years and is now Chief Executive Officer of Creative Commons. Chairing the discussion is Ian Duncan, who was a Conservative Member of the European Parliament and more recently the UK Government’s Climate Minister. Having been ennobled as a working peer in 2017, he is now Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.