The 2019 Conservative Party manifesto contained a number of constitutional policy commitments – on Brexit, UK institutions, elections, civil liberties, and devolution. As the manifestos for this year’s general election emerge, Lisa James assesses the delivery record of the 2019–24 Conservative governments against the pledges made in 2019. 

The 2019 Conservative Party manifesto contained a wide-ranging set of constitutional commitments. Since its publication much has changed – the UK has left the EU, experienced a global pandemic, and had three Prime Ministers and five Chancellors of the Exchequer. But delivery against manifesto commitments still matters, so with the 2019–24 parliament dissolved, now is the time to reassess the pledges that were made. 

Getting Brexit done 

The single highest profile – and titular – pledge of the manifesto was of course the promise to ‘get Brexit done’. The election followed a period of parliamentary deadlock, and the negotiation of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. The manifesto pledged to pass this deal, limit the length of the ‘transition period’ for negotiating new trade arrangements, end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over the UK, and end the supremacy of EU law. 

The Brexit deal was rapidly passed following the Conservative general election victory, and the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020. The pledge not to extend the transition period beyond the end of 2020 was also kept. The deal largely removed ECJ jurisdiction from the UK, but the court retained a continuing role in relation to Northern Ireland as a result of its treatment under Johnson’s Brexit deal (discussed further below). The supremacy of retained EU law (a special category of legislation derived from the UK’s EU membership) was ended by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023. 

UK institutions 

The most eye-catching pledge regarding UK institutions was for a Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission, to be established within a year, to ‘look at the broader aspects of our constitution’. This explicitly included ‘the relationship between the Government, Parliament and the courts; the functioning of the Royal Prerogative; the role of the House of Lords; and access to justice for ordinary people’. The role of the security services, and an ‘update’ of the Human Rights Act were also mentioned. 

The commission never took place, and the pledge was formally dropped in December 2020. Instead, Johnson’s government established two targeted independent reviews. The Independent Review of Administrative Law considered judicial review, and subsequent legislation made some changes to the scope of judicial review and potential remedies. The Independent Human Rights Act Review found the system to be overall working well, though it recommended some reforms. The government’s response was the controversial Bill of Rights Bill, going well beyond the independent review’s recommendations. This was first paused by the Truss government, and then ultimately dropped by Rishi Sunak after its champion Dominic Raab resigned from government amid a bullying scandal. Nonetheless, Sunak’s government has repeatedly passed legislation – particularly relating to immigration – which experts consider to violate the UK’s human rights obligations. Sunak has also suggested an openness towards leaving the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Beyond these reviews, there was little progress in this area. A change to the prerogative was made by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, which repealed the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 and restored the power to call elections to the Prime Minister – itself the topic of a standalone manifesto pledge (and a recent Unit blogpost). But there was no wider assessment of the functioning of the prerogative, or systematic consideration of, for example, the role of the House of Lords. 

Elections 

The manifesto made various pledges regarding electoral administration and voter rights – including the introduction of voter ID, plus measures to limit postal vote harvesting and end the 15-year limit on voting for expats. The Elections Act 2022 implemented these changes; it also introduced limits on donations by foreign third parties, in line with the manifesto commitment to prevent foreign interference in elections. A Defending Democracy Taskforce was established in 2022 to prevent foreign interference in UK democracy (though a recent letter by the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy outlined remaining concerns in this area). A pledge to ‘ensure we have updated and equal Parliamentary boundaries’ was not wholly in the government’s gift – referring to the work of the independent Boundary Commissions, long established in law. But legislation passed in December 2020 smoothed the process of implementing the Commissions’ proposals. 

Two pledges suggested continuity: to maintain the voting age at 18, and to ‘continue to support’ First Past the Post (FPTP). On the second of these, the Johnson government went considerably further, using late-stage amendments to the Elections Bill to extend FPTP to mayoral and Police and Crime Commissioner elections (which analysis shows benefited the Conservative Party). 

The manifesto also pledged to ‘ensure no one is put off from engaging in politics or standing in an election by threats, harassment or abuse’. The Elections Act created new provisions relating to intimidation of candidates or office-holders, so offenders could themselves be barred from elective office, and clarified that threatening behaviour toward voters should be considered ‘undue influence’. Subsequently, the Electoral Commission produced updated guidance. Despite these measures, the Electoral Commission found high levels of candidate abuse in the May 2024 elections. 

Civil liberties 

The most specific pledges on this front concerned the press. The manifesto pledged to repeal section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which – though never brought into force – required newspapers not registered with a government-approved regulator to pay all costs in cases brought against them, regardless of the outcome. This was delivered through the Media Act 2024, passed during the ‘wash-up’ shortly before dissolution. The manifesto also pledged not to proceed with stage 2 of the Leveson Inquiry into phone-hacking (intended to examine the relationship between journalists and the police). 

The pledge to ‘champion freedom of expression and tolerance, both in the UK and overseas’ is difficult to measure, but recent legislation that created new restrictions on protest, including new protest-related offences, has been widely criticised for restricting freedom of expression and assembly. The government also passed the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, which imposes new free speech duties on universities.  

Devolution to Scotland and Wales 

The record in this area is chequered, with relationships between the UK government and the devolved nations since 2019 marked by growing tensions.  

One headline policy pledge was to continue opposing a second Scottish independence referendum. Here the UK government’s approach was consistent: a December 2019 request by then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was refused by Johnson, and the UK government successfully opposed the Scottish government in a Supreme Court case over where the power to call a referendum lies. 

The manifesto also pledged to ‘realise the benefits of four nations working together as one’, and to ‘carefully consider’ the recommendations of the Dunlop Review into Union capability. Johnson’s government was criticised for taking more than a year to publish the review and the government response, which were released simultaneously. The House of Lords Constitution Committee welcomed aspects of this response, but pointed out that various recommendations had gone unanswered. New arrangements for intergovernmental relations were set out in 2022. These were cautiously welcomed by the Scottish and Welsh governments, who nonetheless warned that their success would depend heavily on UK government behaviour. Throughout the last parliament, the UK government has been accused of engaging in ‘muscular unionism’, and has repeatedly broken the Sewel convention by legislating in devolved policy areas without devolved consent – over Brexit, but also in various other areas. Committees in the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd have expressed concerns about this, and about an overall pattern of less consensual behaviour. 

Northern Ireland 

When the manifesto was published Stormont had been in suspension since 2017, and Boris Johnson’s EU Withdrawal Agreement, which created different post-exit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland to Great Britain, was bitterly opposed by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).  

The manifesto pledged to ‘continue to work with all sides to re-establish the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly’. This was delivered in January 2020, when the institutions were restored as a result of talks with the five main Northern Ireland parties, jointly convened by the UK and Irish governments. In February 2022 the Assembly and Executive again collapsed, over DUP opposition to the continuing application of the Withdrawal Agreement. They were re-established in January 2024. Contrary to the approach suggested by the manifesto, the deal brokered this time was not between ‘all sides’, but followed a bilateral negotiation between Sunak’s government and the DUP.  

Responding to the DUP’s displeasure with the Brexit deal, the manifesto pledged to ensure ‘unfettered access’ for Northern Ireland traders and producers to Great Britain. Various changes have been made since, notably by the 2023 Windsor Framework. The government now says that ‘almost all traders’ in Northern Ireland enjoy unfettered access, but some problems remain.  

The approach to implementing the manifesto commitment to ‘seek better ways of dealing with legacy issues that provide better outcomes for victims and survivors and do more to give veterans the protections they deserve’ proved controversial. The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 granted conditional immunity to those suspected of Troubles-related crimes, and ended ongoing inquests. It attracted opposition from the Irish government, victims’ groups, and the main Northern Ireland political parties, and is currently subject to legal action. 

Finally, the manifesto promised to devolve corporation tax to Northern Ireland. Enabling legislation had passed under the Cameron government, but commencement had been delayed until the Northern Ireland Executive was on a sustainable financial footing. Given the institutions’ suspension for much of the time since, this has not taken place. The 2024 Conservative–DUP deal committed to a ‘rapid, focused process’ to achieve it.  

English devolution 

The manifesto contained two key commitments relating to government in England. First, a straightforward pledge to maintain the existing Cameron-era policy allowing residents to veto ‘excessive’ council tax rises. This policy remains in place, though the government has raised the excessiveness threshold for some councils in particular financial distress. 

Second was a commitment to an English devolution white paper, as part of an ambition for ‘full devolution across England… so that every part of our country has the power to shape its own destiny’. This was never published in the promised form, instead being rolled into the 2022 Levelling Up white paper. This established a three-level approach to devolution, and invited specific regions to negotiate new or deepened deals. Though this extends the geographical scope of English devolution, the ambition of ‘full devolution’ remains some way off. A 2022 PACAC report considered the white paper’s devolution provisions insufficient to address the governance challenges of English devolution. 

Conclusions 

The governments of 2019–24 can point to delivery on several fronts. Various specific manifesto pledges – e.g. those on Brexit, electoral law, and media law – have been implemented. But the promise of a Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission, and a fresh approach to English devolution, suggested wider but unfulfilled ambitions to reimagine the relationships between various parts of the state. Finally, the strained relationship with the Scottish and Welsh governments, and ongoing controversy over the government’s approach to Northern Ireland, shows that the question of how manifesto pledges are delivered can matter just as much as whether they are honoured. 

The Constitution Unit blog will be publishing blogs regularly throughout the election period about the constitutional issues raised by events of the campaign, including analysis of the parties’ manifestos. Sign up via the box in the left-hand sidebar to receive email notifications when a new post goes live.

About the author

Lisa James is a Research Fellow at the Constitution Unit. 

Featured image: Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, with Kwasi Kwarteng (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by UK Prime Minister.