UCL Constitution Unit

This is a recording of a panel session from our conference on the government's constitutional reform agenda. Panellists explored the devolution arrangements in the UK and the future of the Union. Four experts based in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland joined the discussion.

Speakers: 

• Prof Adam Tomkins, Glasgow
• Prof Laura McAllister, Cardiff
• Prof Katy Hayward, Queen’s University Belfast
• Prof John Denham, Southampton.

Chair: Prof Robert Hazell, Constitution Unit, UCL.

Suggested reading: 

• The sovereignty conundrum and the uncertain future of the Union, by Michael Keating on the Constitution Unit blog, published 28 April 2021.
• Five key questions about coronavirus and devolution, by Akash Paun on the Constitution Unit blog, published 31 May 2021.
• The Final Report by the Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland, published by the Constitution Unit on 26 May 2021.
• The Internal Market Bill: implications for devolution, by Nicola McEwen on the Centre on Constitutional Change blog, published 11 September 2020.
• England, Englishness and the Labour Party, by John Denham and Daniel Devine, Political Quarterly, August 2018.
• A Parliament that Works for Wales, by Laura McAllister for the National Assembly for Wales, published 2017.
• ‘Answering the West Lothian Question? A Critical Assessment of “English Votes for English Laws” in the UK Parliament’, Daniel Gover and Michael Kenny, Parliamentary Affairs, 2018.

Links:

Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/constitution-unit

Mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/ucl/constitution-unit

Blog: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit

This is a recording of a panel session from our conference looking at the government's constitutional reform agenda. The panel discussed the government's review of administrative law and programme for reform of human rights and the judiciary.  

Speakers:

• Lord Faulks QC, Chair of Independent Review of Administrative Law
• Prof Kate O’Regan, Director of Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, Oxford
• Joshua Rozenberg QC (Hon), legal commentator and journalist

Chair: Prof Catherine Barnard, UKICE.

The two-day conference was jointly organised with the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Oxford University and UK in a Changing Europe.  This episode was recorded on 17 June 2021. 

Suggested reading: 

• How do you solve a problem like judicial review reform? Constitution Unit blogpost written by Joe Tomlinson and Lewis Graham.
• IRAL: The Panel Report and the Government’s Response, written by Paul Craig for the UKCLA blog.

Links:

Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/constitution-unit

Mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/ucl/constitution-unit

Blog: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit

This is a recording of a panel session from our conference looking at the government's constitutional reform agenda. The panel discussed why political campaigning regulations aren't fit for purpose in a digital era and how regulations should be updated. 

Speakers: 

• John Pullinger, Chair of Electoral Commission
• Dr Kate Dommett, Sheffield
• Prof Rachel Gibson, Manchester.

Chair: Dr Alan Renwick, Constitution Unit, UCL.

The two-day conference was jointly organised with the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Oxford University and UK in a Changing Europe.  This episode was recorded on 17 June 2021. 

Suggested reading: 

• Why we need an independent Electoral Commission, by Alan Renwick and Charlotte Kincaid on the Constitution Unit blog, published 7 October 2020.
• The government’s electoral reform agenda: an assessment, by Alan Renwick on the Constitution Unit blog, published 12 February 2020.
• Constitutional reformers need to tackle six key questions about the regulation of digital campaigning, by Kate Dommett on the Constitution Unit blog, published 18 June 2021.
• Online harms to democracy: the government’s change of approach, by Alex Walker on the Constitution Unit blog, published 13 April 2021.
• The UK Electoral Integrity Bill, policy brief by Toby S. James, Stuart Wilks-Heeg and Alistair Clark, mentioned by Kate Dommett in response to a question on voter ID, published 2 May 2021.
• Increasing Parliamentary Accountability in Electoral Policy, written statement made by Chloe Smith (Minister for the Constitution) on 17 June 2021.

Links:

Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/constitution-unit

Mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/ucl/constitution-unit

Blog: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit

This is a recording of the final panel session from our conference looking at the government's constitutional reform agenda. The focus of the discussion was the balance of power between parliament, the executive and the courts.

Speakers:

• Dominic Grieve QC, former Attorney General
• Peter Riddell, Commissioner for Public Appointments
• Prof Meg Russell FBA, Constitution Unit, UCL
• Prof Tim Bale, Queen Mary, University of London.

Chair: Prof Petra Schleiter, Oxford

The two-day conference was jointly organised with the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Oxford University and UK in a Changing Europe.  This episode was recorded on 18 June 2021. 

Suggested reading: 

• The public appointments system is under strain: it needs more clarity and transparency, by Peter Riddell on the Constitution Unit blog, published 16 May 2021.
• The anatomy of democratic backsliding: could it happen here?, by Stephan Haggard and Robert R Kaufman on the Constitution Unit blog, published 10 June 2021.
• The marginalisation of the House of Commons under Covid has been shocking; a year on, parliament’s role must urgently be restored, by Meg Russell, Ruth Fox, Ronan Cormacain and Joe Tomlinson on the Constitution Unit blog, published 21 April 2021.
• The government's proposed Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission: what, why and how?, by Meg Russell and Alan Renwick on the Constitution Unit blog, published 14 February 2021.

Links:

Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/constitution-unit

Mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/ucl/constitution-unit

Blog: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit

This is a recording of a panel session from our conference looking at the government's constitutional reform agenda. The focus of the discussion was the government's review of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act and it's repeal bill: the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill. 

Speakers:

• Lord McLoughlin, Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Review of the FTPA
• Chris Bryant MP, member of Joint Committee on Review of FTPA
• Prof Petra Schleiter, Oxford
• Prof Alison Young, Cambridge.

Chair: Prof Meg Russell FBA, Director of the Constitution Unit, UCL.

The two-day conference was jointly organised with the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Oxford University and UK in a Changing Europe.  This episode was recorded on 17 June 2021. 

Suggested reading: 

• Can Boris Johnson simply repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act?, by Robert Hazell on the Constitution Unit blog, published 5 February 2021.
• FTPA Joint Committee lays down marker for the future, by Robert Hazell and Meg Russell on the Constitution Unit blog, published 12 April 2021.
• Joint evidence submission by Robert Hazell and Meg Russell to the Joint Committee on the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act.
• The Draft Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (Repeal) Bill: Turning Back the Clock?, by Alison Young on the UKCLA blog, published 4 December 2020.
• Repealing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, by Mark Elliott in the Public Law for Everyone blog, published 2 December 2020.

Links:

Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/constitution-unit

Mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/ucl/constitution-unit

Blog: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit

This episode is a recording of the Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland QC MP kicking off our two-day conference jointly organised with the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Oxford University and UK in a Changing Europe with a speech outlining the government's plans for  constitutional reform. The speech was delivered on 17  June 2021. 

Suggested reading:

• All conference outputs such as videos, audio, blogs and reading lists 
• Transcript of the speech by Robert Buckland, published 17 June 2021.
• The UK’s Post-Brexit ‘Constitutional Unsettlement’, by Colm O'Cinneide on Verfassungsblog (referenced in the transcript of the speech), published 16 April 2021.
• Conceptual overreach threatens the quality of public reason, by John Tasioulas on Aeon Essays (referenced in the transcript of the speech), published 29 January 2021.
• Flexing the constitution, response to Buckland's speech by Joshua Rozenberg on A Lawyer Writes, published 19 June 2021.
• Robert Buckland’s call for the courts to narrow their remit is misguided, response to Buckland's speech by Jonathan Jones on the Institute for Government blog, published 19 June 2021.
• Calls for the courts to narrow their remit are deeply troubling, response to Buckland's speech by Jonathan Jones in the Independent, published 19 June 2021.

Links:

Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/constitution-unit

Mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/ucl/constitution-unit

Blog: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit

The Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland published its Final Report on 26 May. The report explores how any potential future referendum or referendums on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland would best be designed and conducted.

The Working Group takes no view on whether such referendums should take place or what the outcome should be. It concludes that referendums should not be called without a clear plan for the referendum processes that would follow, and it identifies difficult issues that need to be addressed. For example, what evidence would inform the decision to call such a vote? Would referendums take place before or after proposals for the shape of a united Ireland had been developed? How would the referendum campaigns be regulated?

This webinar discusses the Working Group’s analysis and conclusions, and considers how debate on these issues is likely to develop. The webinar was jointly hosted with the Democracy Unit, Queen's University Belfast; the Trinity Centre for Constitutional Law and Governance (TriCON), Trinity College Dublin; the Institute for Irish and British Studies (IBIS), University College Dublin; and the Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University, and  includes contributions from the Working Group’s Chair, Dr Alan Renwick, and a panel of distinguished external speakers:

• Professor John Coakley, Queen’s University Belfast and Geary Institute, University College Dublin
• Sarah Creighton, solicitor, writer and political commentator
• Dr Avila Kilmurray, Migration and Peacebuilding Executive at The Social Change Initiative
• Patrick Maguire, Red Box editor for The Times

Chair: Professor Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Professor of Politics at Ulster University and member of the Working Group.

Links:

Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/constitution-unit

Mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/ucl/constitution-unit

Blog: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit

The future of the Union here in the UK – that is, the union of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland – is very much in the news. In Scotland, many opinion polls over the past year (though not so much over the last few months) have suggested majority support for independence, and political parties that want another referendum on the issue secured a majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament elections last month. In Wales, support for independence seems to have grown, though still at a far lower level. And in Northern Ireland too, there has been a rise in talk of a referendum – a referendum, that is, on whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom or become part of a united Ireland.

In this episode we’re going to focus on Northern Ireland. If there were a referendum on the constitutional question there, how would it best be designed and conducted? Who would get to vote? What would the question on the ballot paper be? Would there need to be a referendum in the Republic of Ireland as well? Who would work out designs for a united Ireland? Would they do so before a referendum, or only afterwards, in the event that the vote went in favour of unification?

It turns out that many of these questions haven’t previously been answered. Indeed, many haven’t been thought about very much. A landmark agreement was reached in 1998 between the British and Irish governments and most of the political parties in Northern Ireland – an agreement known variously as either the Belfast Agreement or the Good Friday Agreement. That brought an end to a quarter century of violent conflict in Northern Ireland and led to the creation of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the current arrangements for power-sharing government. It also included some provisions for a possible future referendum. But it left many questions unanswered.

Well now the Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland has published a major report that seeks to fill that gap. Comprising twelve academics from six universities, including Dr Alan Renwick and Professor Robert Hazell of the Constitution Unit, the group – which is impartial as to whether there should be a referendum or what the outcome should be if there is one – has looked into all the questions I just raised, and many more. It finds that referendums on this topic may be required in the coming years, but would carry significant risks. Conducting them well would be vitally important. And careful thought is needed as to what that would mean. 

Host: Dr Alan Renwick

Professor Katy Hayward 

Dr David Kenny 

Dr Etain Tannam

Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland (report)

Links:

Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/constitution-unit

Mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/ucl/constitution-unit

Blog: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit

Most countries have a document call the Constitution – a legal text setting out basic principles of how that country is governed. And in most of those countries there’s a constitutional court (or supreme court) that determines whether the ordinary laws passed by the legislature are compatible with the Constitution and that strikes them down if it concludes they are not.

The UK, famously, has no such capital C Constitution – no codified rulebook. And the courts here in the UK can’t (at least formally) strike down laws on the basis that they contravene higher law.

So what kind of constitution do we have? Well, it’s often said that, in contrast to the legal constitutions found in many other countries, the UK has a political constitution – a constitution whose norms are enforced in the realm of politics rather than in the realm of law.

But many think that the UK’s political constitution is today under threat, with potentially serious consequences for the polity’s ability to serve all those who live within it.

So, ‘Does the UK still have a political constitution?’ To answer this question one of the leading experts on constitutional theory, Professor Richard Bellamy, joins the podcast. Richard, who is Professor of Political Science here in the UCL Department of Political Science, is the author of ten monographs – the most relevant of which to our conversation today is Political Constitutionalism: A Republican Defence of the Constitutionality of Democracy, published by Cambridge University Press.

Host: Dr Alan Renwick

Guest: Professor Richard Bellamy

Links:

Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/constitution-unit

Mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/ucl/constitution-unit

Blog: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit

Westminster and Holyrood have both been engulfed by scandals over ministerial behaviour in the past year. The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) has launched a further review, Standards Matter 2, to evaluate the institutions and processes that uphold standards of conduct in Westminster and beyond. Sir Alex Allan, former Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests, discusses the standards regime in Westminster and Whitehall; discussing the standards regime in Scotland we have Susan Deacon, former Minister for Health in Scotland, and former chair of the Scottish Police Authority; and Richard Thomas CBE, Member of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, discusses recent evidence submitted to the CSPL and PACAC on this topic.

Speakers: Sir Alex Allan, former Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests; Susan Deacon, former Minister for Health in Scotland, and former chair of the Scottish Police Authority; and Richard Thomas CBE, Member of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments and former Information Commissioner

Chair: Professor Robert Hazell, The Constitution Unit

Links:

Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/constitution-unit

Mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/ucl/constitution-unit

Blog: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit