In 1987 Tony Blairs New Labour won a landslide victory in the British elections. To show it meant business, the new government immediately embarked on a major legislative programme, granting devolution to the outlying «Regions» joined with England in the UK. The cabinet papers concerned with this initiative have just been released, and Peter Raina is publishing them, with brief commentaries, in two volumes. This one concerns Scotland and Wales. The papers show just how much interdepartmental work was involved in this comparatively modest exercise, and how dependent ministers were on the Civil Service and their legal teams. They also raise questions which have recently been much amplified. The drive for devolution had contradictory aims - to offer more self-sufficiency and foster development; but also to take the sting out of nationalist movements, so as to preserve the Union. Readers can judge how democratic and how fruitful the scheme really was.

Peter Raina read Modern History at St Catherine´s College, Oxford. Later he worked on various aspects of British history in Oxford, as Senior Research Associate, the Graduate Centre, Balliol College; Honorary Member of High Table and Member of the Senior Common Room, Christ Church; Associate Member of Nuffield College; Honorary Member of the Senior Common Room, Magdalen College; Visiting Research Scholar, Faculty of History. He has also been a Visiting Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Studies, London; the Centre of International Studies, Cambridge; and the Centre for International Studies, LSE. He was granted High Table Privileges at Peter House and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He is a Life Member, Clare Hall, Cambridge and a Knight Companion Grand Cross of the Order of St Stanislas.