Political Parties

When a government implements a manifesto pledge through legislation, the legal position is straightforward: the result is an Act of Parliament like any other. The harder question is whether its electoral pedigree should matter. Does the fact that a … [Read more...] about What is the Constitutional Status of Manifesto Commitments?

The Labour Party’s decision to prevent Andy Burnham, the directly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester, from standing as a parliamentary candidate in the forthcoming Gorton and Denton by-election has largely been treated as an episode of internal … [Read more...] about Our Elections are in a Chokehold: The Burnham Example

Party conferences are weird things. Part political rally, part fund-raiser and part HR team-building exercise, they arguably fulfil none of these functions satisfactorily. And depending on one’s motivation for attending, the same conference can … [Read more...] about The Constitution at the Conferences: our Annual Review

Last month, ahead of the party’s annual conference, Nigel Farage MP announced that he intends to ‘give up ownership of Reform UK’. This news follows a period of sustained media interest in, and scrutiny of, Reform’s atypical legal status. Unlike … [Read more...] about How to Constitute a Political Party

The starting gun on the next general election has yet to be fired, but party apparatchiks have already spent years fighting a hidden campaign: not over votes, but cold, hard cash. As party HQs woo the wealthy, party members across the country have … [Read more...] about Reforming Party Funding: No Silver Bullets