Category: Constitutional Accountability
-
Aradhya Sethia: Constitutional Accountability, Intra-party Processes, and Tortoise Media
*Editors’ note – this post is part of a series on ‘Contemporary Challenges for Constitutional Accountability’. The other posts in the series will be available here.* It is difficult to provide a satisfying account of constitutional accountability in the UK without considering the internal processes of major political parties (especially the governing party and the largest opposition…
-
Leonid Sirota: Tortoise Media: Another Step towards the Political Constitution’s Demise?
At the outset of their judgment for the Supreme Court in R (Miller) v Prime Minister [2019] UKSC 41, [2020] AC 373 (a.k.a. Miller No. 2), Lady Hale and Lord Reed sought to reassure those who might be nervous about its implications: the case, they said, ‘arises in circumstances which have never arisen before and are unlikely ever to…
-
Chris McCorkindale: UK Delegated Law-Making Powers in Devolved Areas: The Accountability Gap
*Editors’ note – this post is part of a series on ‘Contemporary Challenges for Constitutional Accountability’. The other posts in the series are available here.* On 24 October 2023 the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture (CEEAC) Committee of the Scottish Parliament published the second of two reports this session concerned with devolution in the post-EU era.…
-
James Milton: Rule of Law, Political Accountability and the Importance of Culture
*Editors’ note – this post is part of a series on ‘Contemporary Challenges for Constitutional Accountability’. The other posts in the series are available here.* Political accountability plays a key role in the operation of the rule of law. This is the main claim I seek to defend through this blog post. My framework here is that…
-
Leonid Sirota: (How) Can Big Government Be Kept Accountable?
*Editors’ note – this post is part of a series on ‘Contemporary Challenges for Constitutional Accountability’. The other posts in the series are available here.* This project started from an experience that will be familiar to just about any law lecturer: persuading first-year students, bewildered in their first week at university, that your subject means something to…
-
Kate Ollerenshaw: Impact Assessment as an Accountability Mechanism: Past, Present and Future
*Editors’ note – this post is part of a series on ‘Contemporary Challenges for Constitutional Accountability’. The other posts in the series are available here.* Introduction On 19th September, the Government published a revised version of the Better Regulation Framework Manual setting out its new approach to impact assessment for regulatory measures. The system it will replace…
-
Guy Baldwin: The Case for Moderate Constitutionalism in the UK
*Editors’ note – this post is part of a series on ‘Contemporary Challenges for Constitutional Accountability’. The other posts in the series are available here.* Part of the debate around accountability in the UK concerns the judiciary and its relationship with the elected parts of government. A potentially useful concept in assessing this relationship is constitutionalism. This…
-
Stephanie Reynolds and Mike Gordon: Mapping the Overarching Challenges for Constitutional Accountability – Blog Series Introduction
*Editors’ note – this post is part of a series on ‘Contemporary Challenges for Constitutional Accountability’. The other posts in the series will be available here. The UKCLA conference ‘Contemporary Challenges for Constitutional Accountability’ held in September 2023 aimed to reinvigorate the debate relating to the nature and operation of accountability in the UK constitution.…
-
Brian Christopher Jones: Leadership exit points in the UK constitution
The UK constitution contains numerous ways that a serving Prime Minister can be deposed. Although we’ve seen this happen frequently in recent history—and especially over the past year—a wider discussion about these various exit points and their significance for the UK constitution has yet to emerge. But these exit avenues are undoubtedly important. Many world leaders…
-
Cassandra Somers-Joce: Government by WhatsApp: Where are we now?
A new Cabinet Office policy has recently been published which provides guidance on the use of instant messaging technologies, such as WhatsApp, by government officials. The policy discourages the use of non-corporate communications channels (‘NCCCs’), particularly when these platforms are accessed on personal devices. The new policy is a welcome development in the regulation of ‘government by…