Government

As the Labour Party faced down a significant rebellion of its backbench MPs on welfare reforms recently, attention turned to parliamentary arithmetic as people tried to work out exactly what kind of majority Keir Starmer had in Parliament. Under … [Read more...] about Look out behind you! The payroll vote in government

Since the beginning of the second Trump premiership, import tariffs have been a near-constant feature of global news. The US has implemented sweeping increases on import tariffs as part of an aggressive trade policy. The detail of the tariffs has … [Read more...] about Trump’s Tariff War: How are Tariffs Set in the UK?

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Politicians lying is the oldest ethical question in the book. In February, though, the Welsh Parliament’s Standards Committee recommended that political candidates who deliberately mislead the … [Read more...] about Truth, Lies, and Who Decides

The Facts  On Saturday, 12 April 2025, Parliament was recalled to enact “emergency legislation” conferring upon the Government powers take control of British Steel’s blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, to prevents its Chinese owners from shutting … [Read more...] about Anything but Ironclad: Enacting the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025 

Back in July 2024, during the state opening of Parliament, the Prime Minister pledged to enact primary legislation to introduce a new statutory duty of candour on all public servants and authorities. The proposed legislation – referred to … [Read more...] about Implementing the Hillsborough Law: Pragmatism or Betrayal?

English devolution has long been presented as decentralising political power. More often, it simply reinforces Westminster’s control. While the Labour Party was elected last year promising to take power away from SW1, early signs are that the Party’s … [Read more...] about Labour’s English Devolution Plans Risk More of the Same

If you ask any first-year constitutional law student which branch of government makes and amends the laws, they will (probably) dutifully answer – the legislature. Such is the received wisdom, but I would challenge them (and others) to think again … [Read more...] about The Hidden Threat: How Henry VIII Powers Weaken Democracy

The decision of the Labour Government to effectively close down NHS (England) came as a surprise to many. Although Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, had indicated he wanted to curtail NHS(E), outright abolition was not … [Read more...] about NHS (England): The Death of the Government “Agency”?

King Charles has now met with two Canadian prime ministers in the space of a few weeks. First, he entertained outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on 3 March at Sandringham during the hastily arranged Ukraine Summit in London. The readout from the … [Read more...] about The UK, Canada and the King’s Divided Loyalties

I have a special interest in privacy – back in the 1980s my father’s love letters to my mother, penned in Margaret Thatcher’s England, would arrive in Poland with a censorship stamp from the communist government. Now, with Clause 122 of the Online … [Read more...] about Online Safety Act: Privacy Threats and Free Speech Risks

Although the international norm, the courts’ power of judicial review has long been a source of political frustration, dissension and tense debate in Britain. This became particularly acute first during the dispute over Brexit in 2016-19, and more … [Read more...] about The demise of the NIMBYs, or inconsequential reform?

A policy is not a law. Instead, it operates as guidance as to how the discretion of a public authority will be exercised. But is it possible, as a matter of law, for the courts to hold a government to the word of a policy it has made where that … [Read more...] about Can the Courts Hold the Government to the Word of a Policy?