A year ago, The Constitution Society commissioned a large-scale poll investigating how the public would respond to a formal electoral pact between the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party. It predicted that at the height of the … [Read more...] about Electoral pacts and the UK constitution: an update one year on by Andrew Blick
The May elections have prompted increased interest in the idea of an electoral pact between Opposition parties, aimed at defeating the Conservatives. It seems likely that an agreed objective of this kind of a pact would be electoral reform, moving to … [Read more...] about Electoral pacts and the constitution by Andrew Blick
This report examines the interaction between organisational structures within Britain's two major political parties, assessing the influence this can have on political direction and behaviours. The UK's arcane electoral system has resulted in the … [Read more...] about The Inner Workings of British Political Parties by Ben Westerman
With a new Prime Minister taking office today, The Constitution Society is publishing a pamphlet providing a timely discussion of the nature of the British Premiership. A little over 50 years ago in 1965 the journal Parliamentary Affairs published … [Read more...] about The Power of the Prime Minister: 50 Years on
The general election of 2015 answered conclusively, to the surprise of most commentators, the question, ‘Who governs Britain?’ by yielding a single-party government with an overall majority in the House of Commons. But it did not answer two of the … [Read more...] about The Crisis of The Constitution : 2nd Edition
The political commentariat comprehensively failed to predict either the Conservative victory in the May general election or the emergence of Jeremy Corbyn as the eventual victor of the Labour leadership contest. Following a perhaps inappropriately … [Read more...] about Labour and the electoral system: The myth of defeat and the chimera of victory
Repeal of the Human Rights Act, its replacement with a British Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, and withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights are core parts of the constitutional programme of the newly-elected … [Read more...] about ‘Common Sense’ or Confusion? The Human Rights Act and the Conservative Party
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Reform, Decentralisation and Devolution in the UK has published its paper 'A Parliament for Reform 2015-2020' The paper includes the following proposed wording for inclusion in the manifestos of all parties at … [Read more...] about A United Kingdom Constitutional Convention
In recent years, MPs from the main political parties have become increasingly rebellious, defying their Whips on a regular basis. While this trend has been thoroughly analysed, the reasons behind it and the consequences of it have not received … [Read more...] about The slow death of the ‘Efficient Secret’: The rise of MP independence, its causes and its implications
A common complaint about the constitutional reform programme pursued by the Labour governments of 1997–2010 was that it was disjointed. The same problem has recurred under the Coalition since 2010, even in those bits of ‘the biggest shake up of our … [Read more...] about Electoral Collision Course? The Boundaries and the Register After May 2015
This publication was produced in partnership with Unlock Democracy. The pamphlet argued that, whatever the result of Scotland’s independence referendum, careful constitutional thinking would be needed. It examined how such constitution-making should … [Read more...] about After the Referendum, Options For a Constitutional Convention
Democratic legitimacy and the concentration of power Diagnosing the problem There is a very widespread view in Britain that our political culture is dysfunctional. According to the survey carried out for the Hansard Society’s 2013 Audit of … [Read more...] about Unconstitutional Democracy?
