Devolution and Drugs: the Case for Welsh Autonomy

The regulation of drug prices is an excellent example of the type of tensions that are emerging inthe UK's new system of multi-level governance. Both the benefits and regulatory burden of thePharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) are regionally concentrated. However, thoseregional concentrations are not coterminous. The PPRS as an industrial policy supports jobs,primarily in the south east and east of England. However, Wales (along with Scotland andNorthern Ireland) bears a relatively greater share of the regulatory burden of the PPRS by virtueof prescribing more medicines. The potential for Welsh autonomy in this area is considered, interms of economic, administrative, and political constraints.[...]