This week’s rebellion by Conservative backbenchers may have been thwarted, but a referendum on withdrawal from the Union is still likely to take place this Parliament. Not the European Union (though if treaty renegotiation is back on the agenda this cannot be ruled out), but the Union of England and Scotland, which has lasted...
The eagerly-awaited Commission on Devolution in Wales will get to work in the next few weeks, following the announcement by Secretary of State Cheryl Gillan on 11 October. This development comes at a time when the Scotland Bill, which will transfer further tax-raising and borrowing powers to Edinburgh, is being examined in the House of Lords,...
At a joint Constitution Unit/Institute for Government seminar on 11 July I developed three propositions: The Conservatives are just as much a party of constitutional reform as the Lib Dems, but this has never been acknowledged, not least by themselves. Nick Clegg in taking the lead on the whole of the government’s constitutional reform...