Constitution

In his 1952 book, In Place of Fear, the Labour politician Aneurin Bevan described how as a ‘young miner in a South Wales colliery, my concern was with the one practical question: Where does power lie in this particular state of Great Britain, … [Read more...] about Andy Burnham and a Written Constitution: Is the Time Arriving?

There are not one, but two, spectres haunting British government (to paraphrase Marx and Engels). They are two sometimes obscure but very real views on the way the British constitution is supposed to work. The first, and usually dominant, view is … [Read more...] about Westminster vs Whitehall: Who will win?

Introduction My name is Keegan Clay Shepard and I am a Research Fellow at the Constitution Society where I am exploring the concept of democratic accountability within the NHS. In this blog I discuss the open consultation aimed at influencing … [Read more...] about Strengthening Democratic Accountability in the NHS: Opportunities in Constitutional Reform

Less than a week after the broadcast of the ITV drama, Mr Bates vs. The Post Office, the Government announced new legislation intended to quash the convictions of hundreds of Post Office employees who were wrongly prosecuted and convicted of … [Read more...] about The Post Office Bill: Constitutionally Unusual, but not Inappropriate

Five years ago, when I was working full-time at the Constitution Society, we received an unusual missive in the post. A man had written to us explaining that as the UK government had failed to uphold the rights established by the Magna Carta, it had … [Read more...] about The rise of constitutional conspiracism

In 1647 the Putney Debates brought people together to discuss the future of democracy following the victory of the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War. On 24th March 2023, The Constitution Society brought together academics and constitutional … [Read more...] about Conference review – A crisis in UK democracy?