TV debate woke us up to devolution

As England starts to realise the amount of power devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Britain will change

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• • Timothy Garton Ash
  • guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 April 2010 14.00 BST
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Nick Clegg may have triumphed in the first debate, but more significant were Alastair Stewart's reminders to viewers of devolved powers. Photograph: Reuters

Beyond Nice Nick's personal triumph, there were two things about yesterday's TV debate that may end up changing British politics forever.

One is the broad church of the liberal centre-left, or Lib-Lab. Gordon Brown's "I agree with Nick" was tactical, but also often true. When he said Nick Clegg supported him on democratising parliament, what that meant was that Labour is running to catch up with the Liberals on constitutional reform. One reason David Cameron came off worse was that, again and again, this was two against one, Lib-Lab scissors on the Con in the middle. Sooner or later, this convergence of the liberal centre-left will prevail. And it will, to coin a phrase, break the mould.

The other mould-breaker was revealed not by any of the three would-be PMs, but by ITV's rather twitchy moderator, Alastair Stewart. As the discussion turned from health to crime to education, he kept reminding viewers that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had their own policies in these areas – and would have their own separate debates. In other words, half of what matters most to most voters has been devolved.

This is something 13 years of New Labour really has changed.

Immediately afterwards, the leaders of the Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru piled in to point this out. Most people in England have not fully woken up to this yet, but they – we – are waking. A small indication is the fact that English votes for English laws made it into the top five in Power2010's polling on the political reforms people want. As England awakes, Britain will change.

Nice Nick's triumph may not last until 6 May, nor translate into more Lib Dem seats under the present electoral system. But if, in 2020, we have a federal Britain with a coalition government, then think back to last night. You first saw it there.