Early devolution

You say that "the establishment of the Scottish Parliament … was a ground-breaking constitutional initiative that paved the way for the creation of the Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies" (Leader, 3 March).

Not so. Scotland was not the first experiment in devolution in the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland has had its own parliament continuously since the Government of Ireland Act of 1920, bar the recent period when it was suspended. Northern Ireland enjoys a wider range of devolved powers than does Scotland.

ANNE W KERR

Park Place

Dunfermline