KembaraXtra - Legal Terms - Sewel Convention

The Sewel Convention is a constitutional convention under which the UK Parliament will not normally legislate on matters devolved to Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland without the consent of the relevant devolved legislature.

The convention originated during the passage of the Scotland Act 1998, when Lord Sewel stated that Westminster would not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without the agreement of the Scottish Parliament. Similar practices have subsequently developed in relation to the Welsh Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Where the UK Government proposes legislation affecting devolved matters, the relevant devolved legislature considers a Legislative Consent Motion (LCM), commonly referred to as a Sewel Motion. If approved, the devolved legislature formally consents to Westminster legislating in that area.

The convention received statutory recognition through section 2 of the Scotland Act 2016, which provides that:

“it is recognised that the Parliament of the United Kingdom will not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without the consent of the Scottish Parliament.”

Despite this statutory recognition, the Supreme Court confirmed in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2017] UKSC 5 (Miller No. 1) that the Sewel Convention remains a political convention rather than a legally enforceable rule. Accordingly, the courts cannot compel Parliament to comply with it.

The Convention therefore plays a significant constitutional role in maintaining cooperative relations between Westminster and the devolved legislatures while preserving the legal doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty.