Brexit and intergovernmental relations: a comparative case study of Scotland and Wales and the new common framework for agricultural support

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a key European Union (EU) policy that the UK has participated in since joining the European Community (EC) in 1973. After 1999, Scotland and Wales's devolved administrations (DAs) were responsible for delivering this policy. Following the UK's withdrawal from the EU, the CAP no longer applied, necessitating a replacement agricultural support policy framework. A Joint Ministerial Communique (2017) stipulated that these new common frameworks (NCF) would be designed jointly by the UK government and the devolved administrations, underpinned by coordination, cooperation, and respect for the devolution settlements. The Provisional Common Framework for Agricultural Support was published in February 2022. This thesis examines how the intergovernmental relationship (IGR) enabled the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales to participate in designing a new common framework for agricultural support. It explores the fundamental principles and structures underpinning the UK's IGR, examining their development since devolution's introduction. It also investigates how previous engagement with the UK government in agricultural support policy has shaped the current intergovernmental relationship. Since 1999, devolution in Scotland and Wales has been enhanced through the Scotland Acts of 2012 and 2016, the Government of Wales Acts of 2006 and 2014, and the Wales Act 2017, granting more power to the devolved administrations. Several reviews commissioned by the UK government raised concerns about the IGR's formal machinery and informal relationships, recommending improvements. In 2018, the UK and devolved governments agreed to commission another intergovernmental review, published in January 2022. A comparative case study was conducted on the experiences of the Scottish and Welsh governments. This thesis draws on literature from historical institutionalism and path dependency to perform a historical analysis using process tracing spanning from 1999 to 2022. Data from official documents and parliamentary and committee meeting transcripts were analysed using critical realism thematic analysis. This study contributes to the burgeoning literature on common and agricultural support frameworks. It enriches the existing literature on intergovernmental relations, providing historical contextualisation of UK government-commissioned reviews of IGR. Additionally, this research advances the study of historical institutionalism by offering a nuanced understanding of how institutional arrangements adapt and persist over time.