Today, the Unit published Monitor 87, providing analysis of constitutional events over the last four months. This post by Meg Russell and Alan Renwick also serves as the issue’s lead article. It discusses the Labour landslide at the general election and the new-look House of Commons; the constitutional changes we can expect from the new government (such as House of Lords reform, measures on standards, and increased devolution in England); and unexpected changes in political leadership in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It also warns that aspects of the election campaign show that the divisive politics plaguing the UK has not gone away. And it commits the Unit to work hard to inform the new government, new opposition parties and wider public about the constitutional challenges ahead.

Since the last edition of Monitor was published four months ago, the face of UK politics has radically changed. Most obviously, a general election was unexpectedly called, and the dramatic results delivered a Labour landslide and therefore a change of government. Former Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer is now the UK’s Prime Minister, while former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is (at least for now) Leader of the Opposition. The Shadow Cabinet has very largely become the Cabinet, while many members of Sunak’s government lost their seats, as did former Prime Minister Liz Truss.

The Labour manifesto (analysed alongside others on the Unit blog) promised various constitutional changes, some of which were reflected in the King’s speech given on 17 July. The government promises reform of the House of Lords, with a first session bill to remove the hereditary peers; it is committed to reforming appointments and shrinking the size of the chamber, before turning to larger-scale reform. It also promises quick action on changes to the territorial constitution, with a new Council of the Nations and Regions, and further devolution within England. The speech reiterated plans to act on the integrity of elections and encourage participation – the manifesto pledged to extend the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds, and improve electoral registration. As for the manifesto commitment to create a new Ethics and Integrity Commission, legislation on the detail of this is expected later – the Unit published a report on the options in March. Beyond legislation, the government has committed to creating a new House of Commons Modernisation Committee – a topic on which the Unit likewise issued a report, in June.  

Political rhetoric and behaviour can be as important as structural reform in defining the constitutional framework. Here, many signs from the new government have been good. Starmer has repeatedly emphasised his commitment to a ‘politics of public service’ and a need to ‘do politics differently’. He drew attention to his day one meeting with the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests, who polices the Ministerial Code, and has pledged to strengthen that role. He immediately chose to tour the devolved nations and to convene a meeting of English mayors – promising a ‘reset’ in relations with other levels of government. Starmer made a point of sending a message to the civil service, emphasising that it has his confidence, support and respect. The new Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, pledged at her swearing-in ceremony to be ‘a champion for the rule of law, and our judiciary’. The new Leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, has stated a commitment to improve parliamentary scrutiny, which was reiterated by the new Attorney General on taking office. All of these actions seem deliberately designed to define the new government against its predecessor. The messages are very welcome, but the government will of course be judged on its actions as well as its words, and will be held to those words in future.  

The mood at Westminster post-election was at least initially convivial. In his response to the King’s speech, Rishi Sunak gracefully congratulated Starmer. He promised to ‘not oppose for the sake of it’ and that the Conservatives would be a constructive opposition. The new House of Commons has seen a degree of renewal unprecedented since the Second World War, with 335 new members – i.e. a majority of the total. Even Conservative frontbenchers acknowledge that the UK has just witnessed an ‘electoral tsunami of biblical proportions’. The political balance has been turned on its head, with 411 Labour MPs and only 121 Conservatives. This will present a challenge for the induction of new members, and for the management of opposition. The main opposition party is unusually small, while the Liberal Democrats and others make up 49% of the opposition total. The Greens took a record four seats, while Reform UK took five, and six very unusually went to independents. 

Despite the post-election mood, rhetoric during the campaign itself was far less cordial, and raised various concerns. Numerous candidates reported experiencing abuse and intimidation during the campaign. The Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, expressed grave concern, and several inquiries are ongoing. The main parties did not always set the best example, engaging in negative campaigning and sometimes personal attacks that contrasted sharply with the civility of post-election discourse. Misleading claims were common, and experts said that none of the parties adequately acknowledged the difficult choices that lay ahead. This demonstrates that the divisive politics plaguing the UK, and numerous other countries around the world, has very far from gone away.  

Beyond Westminster, there has also been much change. In Scotland, Humza Yousaf was forced out as First Minister, to be replaced by SNP veteran John Swinney. In Wales, Mark Drakeford was replaced on his retirement as First Minister by Vaughan Gething. But Gething too stepped down, following allegations about campaign funding, to be succeeded by Eluned Morgan. In Northern Ireland, Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson was also forced to resign. The key challenge of supporting stable and effective government in Northern Ireland at UK level now passes to new Secretary of State Hilary Benn, and was the subject of another recent Unit report.  

Political and constitutional developments have kept the Unit itself very busy. A series of commentaries on the manifestos, and other election-related content can be found on our website. During the campaign we also hosted our annual conference, with sessions reflecting on the future agenda regarding constitutional standards, devolution, House of Lords reform and the rule of law. Recordings of these and of our subsequent event on lessons from the election are available to watch or listen to. In the coming months we will continue to work hard to inform the new government, new opposition parties and wider public about the constitutional challenges ahead. 

The latest edition of Monitor is available in both HTML and PDF formats.

About the authors

Meg Russell FBA is Professor of British and Comparative Politics at UCL and Director of the Constitution Unit.

Alan Renwick is Professor of Democratic Politics at UCL and Deputy Director of the Constitution Unit.

Featured image: Prime Minister Keir Starmer (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by UK Prime Minister.