The Joint Committee on the Fixed-term Parliaments Act reported on 18 March 2021. What follows is a brief summary of its core conclusions. As I have said previously on this blog, it is essential that the Committee’s recommendations and view of the … [Read more...] about Report of the Joint Committee on the Fixed-term Parliaments Act: summary note
The future of the UK Union is of increasing salience for British policy-makers. Against the backdrop of the twin crises of Brexit and coronavirus, speculation about its break-up has become widespread. With support for Scottish independence … [Read more...] about Union at the Crossroads: Why the British state must overhaul its approach to devolution
In keeping with the 2019 Conservative manifesto pledge to prevent judicial review from becoming ‘politics by another means’, the Independent Review of Administrative Law’s (IRAL) remit was extended to ‘addressing the appropriate constitutional place … [Read more...] about ‘Don’t Stand So Close to Me’: the Faulks report and judicial overreach
In the maelstrom of British politics over the last five years constitutional debates over relatively ornate details of public law have entered popular parlance. Discussion on the limits of the Royal Prerogative and prorogation have filled social … [Read more...] about The Lord Advocate: a need for reform or reflection?
Philip Rycroft is former Permanent Secretary (2017-2019) at DExEU. From June 2015 to March 2019 he was head of the UK Governance Group in the Cabinet Office, with responsibility for advising ministers on all aspects of the constitution and … [Read more...] about The Dunlop Review: implications for the Union?
A year ago today, the country was put into lockdown. The aim was to hold back the COVID pandemic and to prevent it from spreading through the population beyond the inevitable. This was, said the Prime Minister, the biggest ever peacetime challenge to … [Read more...] about Is the constitution able to learn from mistakes?
Lord Clement-Jones CBE is the House of Lords Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Digital and former Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence (2017-2018). Algorithms in the public sector have certainly been much in the … [Read more...] about Tackling the algorithm in the public sector
The Johnson Government and its MPs have little in common with the former Conservative Party. Worryingly, from a civil service perspective, it has much more in common with the Scottish National Party. The SNP came to power in Scotland having had … [Read more...] about The Conservatives and the SNP: more in common than meets the eye?
A Joint Committee of both Houses is at present inquiring into the government’s introduction of a Bill to repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 and the consequences that will flow from that. The Committee plans to report to both Houses by the end … [Read more...] about Fixed-term Parliaments Act: considerations for the Joint Committee
The British constitution was, as recently as in the 1960s, ‘almost universally regarded as well-nigh perfect.’ Since then, however, it has been ‘substantially transformed’ from ‘order’ to ‘mess.’ So according to the late Anthony King, in his The … [Read more...] about Britain is not a well governed country
Rt Hon Lord Tyler CBE, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson, Political and Constitutional Reform One might have hoped – with Trump’s exit – that his UK protégés might have given up the tricks of the Trump playbook. However, take a look behind the Brexit … [Read more...] about Parliamentary sovereignty or elective dictatorship?
The Constitution Society is supporting a new initiative: the United Kingdom Constitution Monitoring Group (UKCMG). The UKCMG was formed in 2020 in the light of sustained controversies surrounding arrangements for the governance of the UK. Its … [Read more...] about NEW INITIATIVE: United Kingdom Constitution Monitoring Group
