Category: Devolution
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Aileen McHarg and Alison L. Young: The Resilience of the (Old) British Constitution
In 2009, Vernon Bogdanor wrote about The New British Constitution. His thesis was that a decade of New Labour reforms had produced a shift in the nature of the constitution, from one based on parliamentary sovereignty, to one based on the ‘sovereignty of the constitution’. Since 2009, further constitutional reforms have been implemented by governments…
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Gareth Evans: The Senedd Election and the Constitutional Prospects for Welsh Devolution
On 6 May 2021, the people of Wales went to the polls in the sixth Senedd election. More so than in previous Senedd elections, the focus of the debate centred around a catalogue of distinctly Welsh political issues, including the constitutional future of the Welsh devolution settlement. Among the constitutional possibilities offered to voters at…
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Stephen Tierney: The Scottish Parliamentary Elections and the “Second Referendum” Debate
The Scottish National Party emerged as the largest party in the Scottish parliamentary elections held on 6 May. It fell short of an overall majority but still won an impressive 64 of 129 seats. Nicola Sturgeon, who will be reappointed as First Minister within the new devolved administration, has reiterated the SNP’s quest for independence,…
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Kathrin Strauss: Ausgleichsmandate for the Scottish Parliament? – Scotland’s mixed electoral system and the Alba Party
Alex Salmond has been a controversial figure (to say the least) in Scottish politics for quite some time. Recently, he sparked further controversy when he introduced his newly founded Alba Party alongside a strategy to secure a supermajority for Scottish independence in the upcoming 2021 Scottish Parliament election. While it is not clear what exactly makes…
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Nicholas Kilford: The UK Internal Market Act’s Interaction with Senedd Competences: The Welsh Government’s Challenge
On its passage through Parliament, the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 (UKIMA) attracted a great deal of criticism, the majority of which was directed towards the – since withdrawn – provisions which purported to break international law (albeit apparently only in a limited and specific way). Another, perhaps initially overshadowed, criticism, now coming to…
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John Harrington, Erin Thomas and Barbara Hughes-Moore: Is there a Welsh Health Law? Values, Divergence and Devolution after COVID-19
Viruses can move the world and COVID-19 has unquestionably tested the United Kingdom’s constitutional settlement. This is not simply a matter of the generic allocation of powers as between London on the one hand, and Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast on the other. It also concerns the content of substantive law in discrete fields. Lawmakers, practitioners…
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Kenneth Armstrong: Governing With or Without Consent – The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020
The United Kingdom Internal Market Act has become law, receiving Royal Assent shortly before MPs and Lords departed the Palace of Westminster for the holidays. The controversial provisions in Part 5 conflicting with the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement and Northern Ireland Protocol – previously discussed by me here – have been removed following the outcome of…
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Keith Bush and Huw Pritchard: Implications of the Independent Review of Administrative Law for Devolved Government in Wales
(The following is an adapted version of part of the response of the Wales Public Law and Human Rights Association (“Public Law Wales”) to the IRAL call for evidence) The Context The devolution of legislative and executive powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has now been a feature of the UK constitution for over…
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Jeff King and Stephen Tierney: The House of Lords Constitution Committee reports on the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill
The United Kingdom Internal Market Bill is something of an imperfect storm, provoking the ire both of the devolved authorities who consider it an unacceptable circumscription of devolved competence and those aghast that the Bill empowers ministers to act contrary to the UK’s international obligations. Today the Constitution Committee reports on the measure and doesn’t…
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Ronan Cormacain: Legislative Competence in Northern Ireland and the Independent Review of Administrative Law
Introduction On 31 July 2020, the Government established an independent panel to take forward its Independent Review of Administrative Law. The terms of reference for this panel are very broad, as pointed out by Elliott and Hemsworth. Given that administrative law is a devolved matter for Northern Ireland, UK wide reform is problematic. The purpose…