Tag: Smith Commission
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Stephen Tierney: Can the Union Survive the Election?
Thursday’s election leaves the Anglo-Scottish Union on the brink. A combination of the first past the post system and the crystallisation of increasingly sharp attitudinal differences between England and Scotland has produced starkly divergent political systems which are now set to clash in the House of Commons. A revitalised Conservative Party will form a government…
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Manifesto Watch: Aileen McHarg: The Constitutional Implications of the Rise of the SNP
Editors’ note: The blog has asked constitutional lawyers to review the main party manifestos ahead of the May elections, drawing out key constitutional proposals. You can read the other contributions in this series here. The phenomenal rise of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the wake of last year’s independence referendum has been the story…
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Kenneth Campbell QC: The draft Scotland Bill and limits in constitutional statutes
On 22 January, and within the timetable dictated by Gordon Brown, the UK Government’s proposals for ‘an enduring settlement’ between Scotland and the rest of the UK appeared in a command paper containing a draft Scotland Bill. While the political argument about further devolution to Scotland appears likely to focus on the extent of devolution…
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Mark Elliott: A “Permanent” Scottish Parliament and the Sovereignty of the UK Parliament: Four Perspectives
The Report of the Smith Commission for Further Devolution of Powers to the Scottish Parliament has been published. It contains an array of significant proposals concerning the devolution of further authority to the Scottish Parliament. Stepping back from the detail, however, it also contains two — related — proposals that are potentially of constitution significance in bigger-picture…
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Stephen Tierney: Is a Federal Britain Now Inevitable?
The Smith Commission Report issued today promises a restructuring of the United Kingdom which may prove to be more significant than the devolution settlement of 1997-98 itself; the acquisition of extensive tax and welfare powers would make Scotland one of the most autonomous regions in western Europe. Notably the UK’s economic and fiscal coherence has…
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Stephen Tierney: Solomon Grundy Does Constitutional Change: The Smith Commission Timetable to Transform the Scottish Parliament
In the month of November the Smith Commission is set to draw up the most significant programme of constitutional change for the United Kingdom since 1998. Already the period within which citizens could submit their views on this process has passed; the Commission having set a deadline of 5 p.m. on 31 October. Such a…