Tag: England
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Elena De Nictolis and Thomas Poole: Fiscal Capacity without Fiscal Autonomy: Regional and Local Fiscal Devolution in the Autumn Budget
Introduction The Burnham government’s ambitious plans to reform local devolution took their first concrete step with the Budget of 28 October. The full plan for devolution will follow in the Rewiring the State Delivery Plan, due before the end of the year. But the Budget already brought significant news on the fiscal powers of English…
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Isabel Taylor: Not So Arcane After All: Archives and the Battle for ‘Ancient Freedoms’ in the Stuart Permanent State of Emergency
In popular consciousness, archivists (when noticed at all, and not confused with Indiana Jones) are usually otherworldly, whey-faced individuals poring shortsightedly over mediaeval tomes, their institutional domains obscure, dusty spaces with little connection to the ‘real world.’ The central role of archives as repositories for important legal records is thereby often overlooked, but this function…
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Aileen McHarg: The Future of the Territorial Constitution under Labour? The Report of the Commission on the UK’s Future
On Monday, the Labour Party published the report of the Commission on the UK’s Future, chaired by Gordon Brown: A New Britain: Renewing Our Democracy and Rebuilding Our Economy. The report focuses on changes that can be delivered within a single parliamentary term, and therefore discusses only those issues which the Commission regards as most…
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Aileen McHarg: What Does the Union Need to Do to Survive?
The victory for the No campaign in last week’s referendum means that, for the foreseeable future, Scotland will remain part of the United Kingdom, and that its (domestic) governance will continue to be split between Westminster and Holyrood. The result was a decisive one in that there was a clear margin of victory, achieved through…
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Paul Reid: Where now after ‘no’? A starter for 10.
It is often said that one of the greatest characteristics of the United Kingdom’s unwritten constitution is its ability to evolve and adapt to change. From the Prime Minister’s statement this morning, it appears that this 307year-old constitution has a lot of evolving to do in a very short space of time. Perhaps a strength,…
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Mark Elliott: Scotland has voted “no”. What next for the UK constitution?
After a very long — and at times electrifying — campaign, a modest but decisive majority of those who participated in the referendum on Scottish independence have voted “no”. In one sense, this is the end of the process — even if, bearing in mind the main UK parties’ still-to-be-fulfilled promises about further devolution, it…
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Mark Elliott: Devolution, the West Lothian Question, and the nature of constitutional reform in the United Kingdom
Earlier this week, the McKay Commission published its Report on the Consequences of Devolution for the House of Commons. The Commission’s terms of reference required it to determine “how the House of Commons might deal with legislation which affects only part of the United Kingdom, following the devolution of certain legislative powers to the Scottish…