Devolution and Parliamentary Representation: The Case of the Scotland and Wales Bill, 1976–7

For as long as devolution has been debated in the UK, there has been fierce discussion as to the representation of the would‐be affected areas at Westminster. That this has been the case is a consequence of Westminster's dual remit as both a state‐wide and a sub‐state legislature. While this dual remit was relatively straightforward when applied to all nations of the UK, it does, however, raise serious questions about the equality of MPs at Westminster in the face of asymmetric devolution that would carve out parliament's remit in some, but not all, parts of the UK. These questions bedevilled Gladstone's Irish Home Rule Bills in the late 19th century and have been a recurrent feature of debate following New Labour's devolution programme in the late 1990s, culminating in the adoption of a system of ‘English Votes for English Laws’ by the house of commons in October 2015. This article looks at this issue through the lens of the ill‐fated Scotland and Wales Bill introduced by the Callaghan government in 1976. It explores the roots of the bill and how, and why, the idea of referring the question of territorial representation, post‐devolution, to a Speaker's conference, came to secure the initial support of cabinet as the best answer to this problem, and why the government swiftly changed its mind. Parliamentary statecraft considerations served to push a Speaker's conference onto the institutional agenda, before ultimately dooming it to failure.     

Geolocation and voting: Candidate–voter distance effects on party choice in the 2010 UK general election in England

The effect of geographical distance between candidate and voter on vote-likelihood in the UK is essentially untested. In systems where constituency representatives vie for local inhabitants' support in elections, candidates living closer to a voter would be expected to have a greater probability of receiving that individual's support, other things being equal. In this paper, we present a first test of this concept using constituency data (specifically, notice of poll address data) from the British General Election of 2010 and the British Election Survey, together with geographical data from Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail, to test the hypothesis that candidate distance matters in voters' choice of candidate. Using a conditional logit model, we find that the distance between voter and candidates from the three main parties (Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat) matters in English constituencies, even when controlling for strong predictors of vote choice, such as party feeling and incumbency advantage.     

The carse of stirling

EUROPE

Excursion Guide to the Geology of Arran. By Murray Macgregor with contributions by A. Herriot and B. C. King. 7 x 5 ½. Pp. 192. 2 plates. 18 figures. Glasgow: The Geological Society of Glasgow, 1965. 12s. 6d.

Coal and the Power Industries in Postwar Britain. By E. S. Simpson. Longmans Geography Paperbacks. 8 ½ x 5 ½. Pp. xix+170. 17 figures. 55 tables. London: Longmans, Green &; Co., 1966. 17s. 6d.

LATIN AMERICA

Latin America. By J. P. Cole. 10 x 6 ¼. Pp. xviii+468. London: Butterworths, 1965. 57s. 6d.     

Book reviews

Frontiers

Poststructualist geographies: the diabolical art of spatial science. Marcus Doel. Pp. ix + 229. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999. Price: £45.00 (hbk), £14.95 (pbk). ISBN 0 226 48720 2 (hbk), ISBN 0 226 48721 0 (pbk).

Sleight‐of‐hand

New works in geography

Geography and enlightenment. Edited by David N. Livingstone & Charles W.J. Withers. Pp.viii + 455. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 1999. Price £17.50 (pbk), £36.50 (hbk). ISBN 0 226 48721 0 (pbk), ISBN 0 226 48721 2 (hbk).

Secure from rash assault. Sustaining the Victorian environment. James Winter. Pp. xi + 342. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. Price: £ 24.95 (hbk). ISBN 0 520 21609 1.

Perspectives on British rural planning policy, 1994–97. Andrew W. Gilg. Pp. viii + 154. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999. Price £35.00 (hbk). ISBN 1 85972 641 0 (hbk).

Exploring contemporary migration. Paul Boyle, Keith Halfacree & Vaughan Robinson. Pp. 272. London: Longman, 1998. Price £18.99 (pbk). ISBN 0 58225 161 3.

Focus on Scotland

Urban highlanders: Highland‐lowland migration and urban Gaelic culture, 1700–1900. Charles W.J. Withers. Pp. 271. East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 1998. Price £20.00 (pbk). ISBN 1 86232 040 5.

Girls in trouble: sexuality and social control in rural Scotland, 1660–1780. Rosalind Mitchison & Leah Leneman. Pp. viii + 144. Edinburgh: Scottish Cultural Press, 1998. £10.95 (pbk). ISBN 1 898218 89 7 (pbk).

Girls in trouble: sexuality and social control in urban Scotland, 1660–1780. Rosalind Mitchison & Leah Leneman. Pp. viii + 164. Edinburgh: Scottish Cultural Press, 1998. £12.95 (pbk). ISBN 1 898218 90 0 (pbk).     

The cultural landscape of Celtic countries: A review

Innovation Diffusion: A New Perspective. By L. A. Brown. Pp. xx + 345, 23.5 × 16, illustrations, index. Methuen, London, 1981.

Location and Trade Theory. By Joseph T. Johnson. (Chicago Department of Geography, Research Paper No. 198, 1981). 201 pp., 22.5 × 15. $8.00.

Rural Conservation in Inter‐War Britain. By John Sheail. 25 × 16, 263 pp., plates, figures, tables, notes, index. Clarendon, Oxford, 1981. £16.50.

Tourist Development. By Douglas Pearce. 23.5 × 15.5, 112 pp., figures, tables, bibliography, index. Topics in Applied Geography, Longmans, Harlow, 1981, £3.95.

Islay: Biography of an Island. By Margaret C. Storrie. 260 pp., 21 × 15. Numerous maps and photographs, appendix, index. Oa Press, Islay, 1981.

Easter Ross 1750‐1850: The Double Frontier. By Ian R. M. Mowat. 270 pp., 24 × 16. Bibliography, appendices, indexes. John Donald, Edinburgh, 1981. £15.00.

EDUCATIONAL

Air and Earth. By Michael Atherton and Roger Robinson. 24.5 × 19, 80 pp. Hodder &; Stoughton, Sevenoaks, 1981. £1.95.

Map Practice. By Brian Turk. 30 × 21, 32 pp. University Tutorial Press, Slough, 1981. £2.60.     

Cattle mobility in prehistoric Britain: strontium isotope analysis of cattle teeth from Durrington Walls (Wiltshire,Britain)

An important role has been envisaged for cattle during the Neolithic period in Britain based on their prominence within the faunal assemblages of the period as a whole. The relative ease with which cattle can be moved over long distances and the requirement to provide ample pastureland leads almost inescapably to the consideration of prehistoric cattle movement. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the mobility of Late Neolithic cattle at the well-known site of Durrington Walls, Wiltshire. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values from cattle (Bos taurus) teeth were compared to local vegetation samples, well established values from archaeological material and to known geological conditions in order to determine whether individual animals were raised in areas with similar geological conditions as those found at the site (i.e. chalkland), and therefore whether the animals were of allochthonous or autochthonous origin. In total, 13 mandibular molars from Durrington Walls were analysed. Two of the animals included in the study were certainly raised under conditions similar to those found in the vicinity of Durrington Walls, but the other 11 provided signatures so distinct from that found locally that they could not have been raised on chalkland. From the results it is suggested that cattle were brought to the site from a variety of grazing areas in different parts of Britain. The implication of these findings is that the movement of cattle was undertaken during the Late Neolithic, and that in a number of cases substantial distances must have been traversed in order for animals to reach the site. In addition, the study provided valuable information for the interpretation of the site, which attracted people from a variety of regions, probably for ceremonial reasons.     

Balancing London? A Preliminary Investigation of the “Core Cities” and “Northern Way” Spatial Policy Initiatives Using Multi-City Corporate and Commercial Law Firms

This paper reports a preliminary investigation into the economic efficacy of two spatial frameworks—English Core Cities and the Northern Way—recently promoted by national policy makers. We ask whether they are consistent with contemporary economic process in the UK space economy through analyses of commercial multi-city law firms. The latter are treated as an “indicator sector” to define the contemporary UK space economy as practised by law firms. Within this new space of flows, the location strategies of the law firms do confirm the salience of the Northern Way (as trans-Pennine corridor) and Core Cities as part of a larger UK metropolitan space of flows. Conflating the two spatial frameworks leads us to identify hints of a rebalancing of London within a metropolitan UK space. A Manchester polycentric mega-city region is found to be the likely candidate for this role. This finding in no way impinges on London's dominant global role, and we conclude that perhaps mutuality between London and provincial cities is beginning to replace past negative dependency relations.