The Constitution Society is delighted to announce that Clare Salters has joined its board of trustees. Clare is a former senior civil servant with particular experience working on constitutional issues and Northern Ireland. She is a panel member at … [Read more...] about The Constitution Society appoints Clare Salters as new trustee
Introduction The Judicial Review and Courts Bill was laid before Parliament in July 2021 and is currently at the Report stage in the House of Commons. It represents the most recent reform intended to improve administrative efficiency in the … [Read more...] about The Judicial Review and Courts Bill: how much space is left for the rule of law?
Introduction In part one of this blog I discussed two issues of current concern in Cardiff Bay, the Cooperation Agreement between the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru, and the work being undertaken to reform the Senedd’s electoral system and … [Read more...] about Recent developments and future prospects in Welsh devolution: part two
Introduction For well-understood reasons given the history of Northern Ireland and the prevailing political circumstances in Scotland, discussion by journalists and academics of constitutional developments in the UK tends to focus on prospects for … [Read more...] about Recent developments and future prospects in Welsh devolution: part one
The Constitution Society is delighted to announce that Professor Tom Hickman QC has joined its board of trustees. Tom is a leading public and constitutional law barrister at Blackstone Chambers and Professor of Public Law at University College London … [Read more...] about The Constitution Society appoints Tom Hickman as new trustee
Introduction We live in constitutionally interesting times. Over the last seven years a series of events have tested the strength of the British constitution. The Union has found itself under increasing strain, with the 2014 Scottish … [Read more...] about The political constitution: an idea worth protecting?
Earlier this week, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (and shadow minister of too many things to list) Angela Rayner gave a speech at the Institute for Government (IfG) outlining the party’s plans to clean up politics. Rayner attacked the current … [Read more...] about Labour’s plans to clean up politics
Professor Andrew Blick is joined by Dr Lisa Claire Whitten, Research Fellow on the ESRC-funded project ‘Governance for a ‘place between’: the Multi-Level Dynamics of Implementing the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland’ based at Queen’s University … [Read more...] about In conversation with Lisa Claire Whitten
The word corruption has not often been used in UK politics over the past two decades, but the Owen Paterson affair has brought it fully into play. Chris Bryant, Chair of the Parliamentary Standards Committee described Mr Paterson's lobbying as … [Read more...] about Is Britain ‘politically corrupt’?
Beyond the arguing over the correct form of address for the Irish president – or should that be President of Ireland – and legal challenges over luminations at Belfast City Hall (neither example is surprising), perhaps the biggest surprise of … [Read more...] about Northern Ireland: a century of uncertainty
A distinguished panel at Public Law Project’s recent conference on accountability and the constitution considered the issue of treaty accountability in the UK - a topic that without a developed field of foreign relations law in the UK can often fall … [Read more...] about Treaty accountability
On Monday 8 November, Parliamentary skirmishes between the government and the Lords over the legal enforcement powers of the new Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) concluded with a Commons victory for the government. The Environment Act … [Read more...] about Certainty versus legality: loading the dice against upholding the law
