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Tag Archives: Council of Europe

The Constitution Unit turns 25!

Posted on June 15, 2020 by The Constitution Unit

0_25 years image - Copy

This year, 2020, marks a full 25 years since the foundation of the Constitution Unit. It has been a hugely eventful period, both in terms of real-world constitutional change and controversies, and in terms of the Unit’s own work. To mark our silver anniversary, we are celebrating some of the key ways in which the Unit has contributed to public debates, and helped to inform policy change, over this period. What better way to celebrate 25 years than with 25 of our most notable achievements?

Note that this post reproduces the text from a new page on our website celebrating our 25 years. That contains a full set of 25 images, so some readers may prefer to access the website version.

1. Hitting the ground running

Robert Hazell founded the Constitution Unit in 1995, with funding from six charitable trusts, to help with detailed planning for big constitutional reforms following a possible change of government. The initial research team included Graham Leicester (from the Foreign Office), Nicole Smith (Home Office) and Katy Donnelly. The Unit published seven book-length reports the following year: the first on how to prepare and deliver a big constitutional reform programme, and others on devolution to Scotland, Wales and the English regions, reform of the House of Lords, human rights legislation, and the conduct of referendums (the latter recommending the establishment of an Electoral Commission). From 1997, the new Labour government began to implement its constitutional reform programme, which often reflected Unit recommendations. Responding to the intense reform activity in government, the Unit published 17 further reports in 1998 and 20 more in 1999.

2. Monitor goes to print

In September 1997 the Unit published the first issue of Monitor, its regular bulletin of constitutional news. Monitor continues today to provide an essential digest of political and constitutional changes three times a year, valued by over 4800 subscribers – if you are not among them, you can sign up here. 

3. Reform of the House of Lords

From its earliest years, the Unit has fed in regularly to debates about reform of the House of Lords. It published ten briefings for the Royal Commission on the Reform of the House of Lords in 1999, several of them authored by the Unit’s future Director Meg Russell and drawing on analysis of overseas experience. In 2000, she published the book Reforming the House of Lords: Lessons from Overseas. This body of comparative research has influenced debates on second chamber reform in various other countries as well as the UK – including Canada, Italy and Japan. Meanwhile Meg’s 2013 book The Contemporary House of Lords is today’s definitive work on the chamber, underpinned by research funded by the ESRC.

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Posted in Brexit, Constitutions and constitution making, Devolution, Elections and referendums, Europe, Events, Freedom of information, Government, International, Judiciary and human rights, Monarchy, church and state, Parliament, Parties and politicians, Public Engagement and Policy Making | Tagged 20th Anniversary, 25 years, Akash Paun, All women shortlists, Backbench Business Committee, Baroness d'Souza, Ben Seyd, Ben Yong, Bernard Jenkin, boris johnson, Brexit, Cabinet manual, Catherine Haddon, Citizens' Assembly on Brexit, Constitutional Futures, Constitutional Futures Revisited, Council of Europe, Daniel Gover, Democracy Matters, Doing Democracy Better, Dominic Grieve, Electoral Commission, English devolution, expenses scandal, Gordon Brown, Graham Gee, Graham Leicester, Hilary Benn, House Full, House of Lords, house of lords reform, human rights, hung parliament, Independent Commission on Referendums, Jenny Watson, Jo Murkens, Judicial independence, Kate Malleson, Katy Donnelly, Labour party, Leanne Wood, Legislation at Westminster, Lord Bingham, Lord Irvine of Lairg, Lord Speaker's Committee on the Size of the House of Lords, Making Minority Government Work, Mark Chalmers, Michael Keating, Michela Palese, minority government, misinformation, Monitor, MPs expenses, Nicky Morgan, Nicola Sturgeon, Nicole Smith, Northern Ireland, Options for an English Parliament, PACAC, Patrick O'Brien, Peter Jones, Politics of Judicial Independence, referendums, Reforming the House of Lords: Lessons from Overseas, Replacing the Lords: The Numbers, robert hazell, Robin Cook, Royal Commission on the Reform of the House of Lords, Ruth Davidson, Scotland, Scottish Independence, Stephen Sedley, The Contemporary House of Lords, The Mechanics of a Further Referendum on Brexit, Tony Wright, Vernon Bogdanor, Wales, women MPs, Women's representation in UK politics, Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland, Wright Committee, Wright report

Scotland’s plans for doing referendums better: an assessment

Posted on June 25, 2019 by The Constitution Unit

alan.jfif (1)Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, recently announced plans for new rules on referendums and for a citizens’ assembly on Scotland’s constitutional future. Drawing on his recent research, Alan Renwick assesses the proposals. He argues that they are useful first steps towards enhanced democratic practice, and he urges all sides to engage constructively in strengthening them further.

The Scottish Government has recently proposed two important constitutional innovations. First, it has introduced a bill designed to regulate the conduct of any future referendum called by the Scottish Parliament. Second, it has announced a citizens’ assembly to encourage constructive public discussion of Scotland’s constitutional future. Opposition parties may be wary of these proposals, seeing them through the lens of the debate for and against Scottish independence. But the proposals deserve to be assessed on their own merits. Whatever our view of independence, no one can deny that active debate on this question exists. It is in everyone’s interests that that debate be conducted fairly and honestly.

Much of my recent work at the Constitution Unit is relevant to the proposals. In conjunction with the Independent Commission on Referendums and the Council of Europe, I have examined the principles and rules that should shape referendum conduct. In the Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit, my colleagues and I considered how such deliberative institutions can best be designed and operated. My recent report with Michela Palese on Doing Democracy Better explores ways of fostering better information and discussion during referendum campaigns. In what follows, I draw on these projects – as well as the work of the Electoral Commission and others – to assess the Scottish government’s proposals and consider what further steps may need still to be taken.

Referendums Bill – an important step forward…

The Referendums (Scotland) Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament by Cabinet Secretary Mike Russell on 28 May. It does not call any referendum. Rather, it is intended to provide the framework for any future referendum that might be called by the Scottish Parliament on any matter. It covers the rules for triggering such a vote, conducting the campaign, and running the poll itself.

The mere fact of establishing a standing framework of referendum rules is a welcome step forward. Scotland currently has no such framework, meaning that all the rules have to be created afresh when a referendum is called. That is in contrast to the UK as a whole, where referendum rules were established by the Political Parties, Elections, and Referendums Act (PPERA) 2000. The danger created by having no standing framework is that the rules can be manipulated by those in power to enhance their chances in a particular vote. Last year’s Independent Commission on Referendums suggested that Scotland might introduce such a law. The change also fits with the principle that basic referendum rules should be settled well before any actual vote. This is enshrined in the Code of Good Practice on Referendums produced by the Council of Europe’s legal wing, the Venice Commission, and was endorsed earlier this year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Continue reading →

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Posted in Devolution, Elections and referendums, Public Engagement and Policy Making | Tagged 2016 EU referendum, Alan Renwick, citizens' assemblies, citizens' assembly, Citizens' Assembly on Brexit, Code of Good Practice on Referendums, confirmatory referendum, confirmatory vote, Council of Europe, Doing Democracy Better, Electoral Commission, Independent Commission on Referendums, Michael Russell, Michela Palese, Mike Russell, Nicola Sturgeon, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act, PPERA, referendums, Referendums (Scotland) Bill, Scottish government, Scottish Independence, Scottish independence referendum, scottish parliament, Second Scottish independence referendum, secondary legislation, SNP, Venice Commission

The Constitution Unit Website

Monitor 82: Achieving a new normal for the constitution?

Parliament’s Watchdogs: Independence and Accountability of Five Constitutional Regulators

Northern Ireland’s Political Future

Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Democracy in the UK


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