Constitutions are about political power. Where it is; who gets it; and what can – and should – be done with it. Constitutions deal with people who hold public office, and the relationship between those offices, and with the rest of us. They tell … [Read more...] about Your Constitution
A key theme in the debate about the governance of Northern Ireland is the interpretation of the concept of consent, which lies at the heart of the 1998 Belfast/Good FridayAgreement. Consent is fundamental to any stable form of government, and what … [Read more...] about The Constitutional Status of Northern Ireland: Consent, Acquiescence, Subjugation, Indifference
This report examines the potential impacts of the Elections Act 2022 and the introduction of the requirement to show ID to vote in Great Britain. The importance of electoral integrity became part of the debate surrounding UK elections following the … [Read more...] about An accident waiting to happen? Voter ID in the 2023 English local elections
Conventions play an important role in many aspects of the UK constitution. Covering the period up to the end of 2019, this paper considers the. operation of conventions within the UK Parliament. It concludes that, in recent years, many … [Read more...] about Parliamentary Conventions by Jacqy Sharpe
A Constitution Society report, ‘Good Chaps No More? Safeguarding the Constitution in Stressful Times’ by Andrew Blick and Peter Hennessy argues that recent turbulence affecting the British system of government has revealed flaws that require urgent … [Read more...] about Good Chaps No More? Safeguarding the Constitution in Stressful Times by Andrew Blick and Peter Hennessy
How resilient is our constitution? This question is becoming one of increasing pertinence in the UK. All democratic systems have within them protective mechanisms. One objective of these devices is to prevent abuses, such as violations of the rule of … [Read more...] about Populism and the UK Constitution by Andrew Blick
Professor Gordon Anthony presents his new paper considering the role that the Sewel Convention plays under the UK constitution and its relevance to Brexit. The paper discusses how the convention can be understood in terms of competing views about … [Read more...] about Devolution, Brexit, and the Sewel Convention
This paper examines the uncodified constitutions of both United Kingdom and New Zealand, focusing and comparing the duties of constitutional stewardship for state and public sector bodies. Despite the absence of written or codified constitutions, … [Read more...] about Constitutional Stewardship: a role for state or public sector bodies?
Who governs Britain? That is the question being put to the voters on 7th May. But there are other questions lurking in the background, constitutional questions, that are the subject of this pamphlet. The first of them is – how is Britain to be … [Read more...] about The Crisis of the Constitution: The General Election and the Future of the United Kingdom
