A collaboration of academics and parliamentary practitioners has resulted in a new book, the second edition of Exploring Parliament, which seeks to make what can sometimes seem like an arcane and impenetrable institution more comprehensible to students and the general public alike. In this post the book’s editors, Cristina Leston Bandeira, Alexandra Meakin and Louise Thompson, explain why the book is necessary, and what readers can expect from its second incarnation.
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The constitutional landscape: new report on options for reform
Today the Constitution Unit publishes a wide-ranging new report. The Constitutional Landscape: Options for Reform briefly summarises 31 areas of constitutional policy, describing the current state of affairs and the options for reform. In this post Lisa James, one of the report’s authors, explores its contents.
Continue readingShould we be worried about the decline of parliamentary scrutiny?
Complaints about declining standards of government scrutiny by parliament have been commonplace in recent times – particularly during the troubled years of Brexit and Covid. But how can such claims be objectively assessed, and crucially, have scrutiny standards since recovered? Constitution Unit Director Meg Russell addressed these questions in a recently published journal article, summarised here. She concludes that there is significant cause for concern, and that standards actually worsened under Rishi Sunak, once the Brexit and Covid crises were over. To reverse the decline, both government and parliament need to act.
Continue readingThe role of parliament during the Brexit process
Constitution Unit Director Meg Russell is one of the authors of a new UK in a Changing Europe report, The Brexit Files: From Referendum to Reset, which was published today. In this post, Meg examines the role of parliament in the withdrawal process, and argues that the sidelining of parliament that was seen throughout the Brexit process continued throughout the Johnson and Sunak premierships. She concludes that MPs must work to ensure that the current government’s commitment to greater parliamentary scrutiny is given full effect and parliament’s reputation with the public is rebuilt.
Continue readingThe Canadian Prime Minister’s request for prorogation was neither ‘illegal’ nor unconstitutional
On 6 January, the Governor General of Canada granted a request for a two-month prorogation of parliament. A legal challenge was soon launched to have it declared unlawful. Steven Chaplin argues that the prorogation is perfectly proper, that it is highly unlikely that a Canadian court will rule it to be unlawful, and that comparisons with the Boris Johnson prorogation request in 2019 and the subsequent ‘Miller 2’ case do not hold up.
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