The future of the UK as a union is under threat because of piecemeal devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, a group of peers has said.

The House of Lords constitution committee called on ministers to “focus more on the union” and urged a review of the Barnett formula, which calculates the spending allocations for the different nations of the UK.

It predicted full fiscal autonomy for the constituent nations would “break the union apart” and called for any new independence referendum to be set out in primary legislation made by Westminster. “Any future devolution must not be at the expense of the stability, coherence and viability of the union,” the peers said.

The Scottish National party dismissed the report as irrelevant, saying it was “crystal clear that the Barnett formula will remain”.



David Cameron has ruled out changing the funding arrangements, despite complaints from some Conservative MPs that the allocation is weighted against people living in England.

The committee is chaired by Ian Lang, a former secretary of state for Scotland, who held out against devolution under John Major before losing his seat in the 1997 election. He subsequently warned that devolution was threatening the union.

“Since 1999, devolution has been largely demand-led and piecemeal,” Lord Lang said. “The committee saw no evidence of strategic thinking about its cumulative impact on the union as a whole.

“The government does not seem to recognise the pressures being placed on the UK by the ad hoc, reactive manner in which devolution has taken place, and continues to take place. It’s now time to focus more on the union.”

The committee report says: “We believe that the four nations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are stronger united than apart. The union has brought stability, peace and prosperity to the United Kingdom. Yet today, the union is under threat.”

Pete Wishart, an SNP MP and shadow leader of the House of Commons, said: “This report indicates a spectacular failure of the committee to grasp devolution, and its recommendations would break the vow and promises made to the people of Scotland during the [independence] referendum campaign.

“This House of Lords report is irrelevant and adds nothing to the debate. The decisions about the future of the government of Scotland should rightly be made by the people who live and work here.

“Decisions about Scotland’s future should not be left to a group of cronies and politicians who have been rejected by the electorate and have no democratic accountability whatsoever.

“Peers live in a privileged, ermine-clad bubble with absolutely no accountability whatsoever and they might do better to debate their own abolition instead of hours wasted on how they think democracy will work better for the rest of us.”