Il local government in Scozia dopo il referendum sull’indipendenza: un “big business” di scarso peso politico alla ricerca di una sanzione costituzionale

After playing an important role since the twelfth century, today local govern¬ment in Scotland is big business: its gross expenditure equates to approximately 40% of the Scottish Budget and almost half of all public sector jobs are based in it. Nevertheless its role post-2014 has been conspicuously missing in the independence referendum debate. In Scotland (as well as in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) local government is not characterized by autonomy – that is to say, by distinction and relative independence from the state – guaranteed by the constitution: local authorities are part of the executive, along with the national and the devolved government and public bodies, perform state functions in local areas and do not have a power of general competence. The Act of Union 1707 maintained a distinctive local government system in Scotland, but all legislation affecting it in the pre-1999 period emerged from the Westminster Parliament. Now, according to the Scotland Act 1998, the new Scottish Parliament is able to enact primary and secondary legislation for Scottish local authorities. These do not seem, however, have made special benefits from devolution, but are «the Cinderella of the constitutional reform», as someone noted. In case of a favorable outcome in the independence referendum, Scotland was likely to have a written constitution. The draft interim constitution (the Scottish Independent Bill) sanctioned the existence of local government and outlined its status, but nothing was said about the type of local authorities, their size, their powers, their resources. After the referendum, it is very likely an additional devolution (so-called “devo-plus” or “devo-max”) and is even felt, according to the president of the Smith Commission, «a strong desire to see the principle of devolution extended further, with the transfer of powers from Holyrood to local communities». But pro-union and pro-independence parties do not agree on the role of local government in the future more autonomous Scotland. So, there needs now to be a clarification of what kind of local authorities should be in Scotland tomorrow, beyond the confines of the Community Empowerment Bill currently going through Scottish Parliament.