Joint Ministerial Committee (United Kingdom)

In 1999, devolved administrations were created in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland by the United Kingdom parliament. The Joint Ministerial Committee was created in 1999 by Tony Blair's Labour government, and sought to act as a focus for the coordination of the relationships between the four administrations. ==Terms of reference==

The terms of reference for the JMC were: • To consider non-devolved matters which impinge on devolved responsibilities, and devolved matters which impinge on non-devolved responsibilities. • Where the UK government and the devolved administrations so agree, to consider devolved matters if it is beneficial to discuss their respective treatment in different parts of the UK. • To keep the arrangements for liaison between the UK government and the devolved administrations under review. • To consider disputes between the administrations. == Membership ==

Before it was replaced, the membership of the JMC Plenary (JMC(P)) was: • Prime Minister and Minister for the Union, who acts as chair of the JMC. • Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Minister for Intergovernmental Relations • First Minister of Scotland • First Minister of Wales • First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland The following were also permitted to attend sessions of the JMC: • Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom or First Secretary of State (if in office) • The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs • The secretaries of state for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. • Other Secretaries of State when issues relating to their remit are discussed. == Meetings ==

Since its creation in 1999, there had been several different JMC meeting formats.). The JMC Plenary meetings were intended to occur at least once every year. However, no plenary meetings were held between 2002 and 2008. However, following the Scottish National Party's victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election this was no longer the case. So JMC Plenary meetings were re-established, though on an ad hoc basis. However, these proposals were vetoed by Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness. however this did not occur, and the 19 December 2018 meeting remained the final plenary. ==See also==