Paul Reid: How Fixed Is a Fixed-term Parliament?
However unexpected the Prime Minister’s call for a general election may be, and however appropriate it may, or may not, be (see Jeff King’s discussion here), it invites the Fixed-Term … Continue reading
Joe Tomlinson: UK Quo Vadis? The EEA as a Workable Framework
On 3 February 2017, the University of Sheffield School of Law—in co-operation with the UK Constitutional Law Association and the European Circuit of the Bar—hosted a seminar. The keynote speaker … Continue reading
Lea Raible and Leah Trueblood: The Swiss System of Referendums and the Impossibility of Direct Democracy
The referendums in the United Kingdom of 2011, 2014, and 2016 have sparked a debate about the merits of direct democracy. In this debate references to the system of referendums … Continue reading
Ewan Smith and Alison Young: “That’s how it worked in 2014, and how it would have to work again”
On the 9th of March, writing for the BBC, Laura Kuenssberg, the political editor of the BBC said “it’s up to the Westminster government to permit another [Scottish] referendum.” Six … Continue reading
Stephen Tierney: A Second Independence Referendum in Scotland: The Legal Issues
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today announced the Scottish Government’s intention to hold a second referendum on independence between the autumn of 2018 and the spring of 2019. The move … Continue reading
Graham John Wheeler: Referendums That Time Forgot
It is well known that the first national referendum in the UK was the 1975 poll on EEC membership. It is also quite well known that A.V. Dicey called for … Continue reading
Joe Atkinson: Parliamentary Intent and the Sewel Convention as a Legislatively Entrenched Political Convention
One interesting finding in Miller is that it appears to recognise the Sewel Convention as a new form of constitutional convention; one that is legislatively entrenched but remains a convention … Continue reading
