Tag: EVEL
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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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Robert Brett Taylor: The West Lothian Question, EVEL and the 2017 General Election
Despite losing their majority in the general election on 8th June, the Conservative Party remains the largest party in the Commons. Consequently, Theresa May is seeking to form a minority government with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and is currently in talks with them to finalise a ‘confidence and supply’ agreement. Such…
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Mark Elliott and Stephen Tierney: House of Lords Constitution Committee Reports on ‘English Votes for English Laws’
The House of Lords Constitution Committee (‘the Committee’) today issues its report on ‘English Votes for English Laws’ (‘EVEL’). The report examines the new arrangements for the passage of legislation introduced by the Government in July 2015 and agreed by the House of Commons twelve months ago. The Committee was asked to review the constitutional…
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Barbara Guastaferro: Disowning Edmund Burke? The Constitutional Implications of EVEL on Political Representation
“Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates” but rather “a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole” (E. Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol, 3 November 1774). With these…
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Thomas Fairclough: Constitutional Change, Standing Orders, and EVEL: A Step in the Wrong Direction?
In their 2015 General Election manifesto the Conservative Party promised to end the “manifest unfairness” whereby Scotland could decide its own laws within areas of devolved competence only to have Scottish MPs able to have a say on similar matters that affect only England (or England and Wales). Whilst this is a problem in relation…
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Christine Bell: A Modest Proposal: Power-sharing for the UK
This blog argues that the UK is moving towards a form of consociational (political power-sharing) constitutional settlement. I consider whether embracing and developing its silent consociational elements could form the basis for a more coherent and stable new devolution settlement. What is consociationalism? Sometimes called ‘power-sharing’, Arendt Lipjhart has identified 4 classic elements to consociational…
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Paul Reid: ‘English votes on English law’: Just Another Running Repair
It has taken a while, but we have a solution to the West Lothian question, so we are told. English votes, on English law. By amending the Standing Orders of the House of Commons, English (or, where appropriate, English and Welsh) MPs will have to approve English (or English and Welsh) only provisions in Grand…
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David Feldman: ‘England’ as a Legal and Constitutional Notion
Proposed changes to devolution arrangements in the UK have given rise to the idea of restricting parliamentary votes on ‘English laws’ to ‘English’ M.P.s (‘English votes for English laws’, or EVEL). But the legal and constitutional meanings of ‘English’ are unclear. At an artificial level, in relation to voting in the House of Commons, it…
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Paul Scott: The Upper Chamber and the Territorial Constitution
Editors’ note: This post is based upon a conference paper presented at the UKCLA conference ‘Debating the Constitution after the General Election’ held at the University of Manchester on 24 June 2015. A key feature of constitutional reform since 1997 (though we might plausibly, perhaps, remove that final qualification) is the discrete nature of the…