Politics in Northern Ireland has long been dominated by two alternative constitutional visions: remaining part of the United Kingdom, or unifying with Ireland. In this post – part of the Unit’s new and updated briefing series on key constitutional topics – Lisa James, Conor J. Kelly and Alan Renwick discuss Northern Ireland’s distinctive politics and political structures, and explain the UK government’s role in supporting long-term stability.
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A report on Reform of Stormont: Options for Discussion, by Conor Kelly, Alan Renwick and Alan Whysall, is published by the Constitution Unit today. Possible changes to the devolved government institutions are increasingly being talked about in Northern Ireland. The report presents a comprehensive analysis of reforms that have been proposed. It does not advocate for or against any of them, but rather aims to encourage a wider, more coherent and informed debate. Here, Alan Whysall summarises what is at stake.
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Today the Unit published Monitor 89, providing an analysis of constitutional events over the last four months. This post by Alan Renwick and Meg Russell, which also serves as the issue’s lead article, highlights welcome action by the government on devolution, commitment to the rule of law and the removal of hereditary peers from the House of Lords, but calls for stronger action on wider Lords reform, progress on the promised Ethics and Integrity Commission, and action on the pre-election pledge to strengthen parliamentary scrutiny of legislation. It warns that the governments of the UK must strive to maintain healthy checks and balances, avoid polarisation, and foster open political discourse at a time when events in the US are showing the dangers of not doing so.
Continue readingToday 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 readingConor J. Kelly and Etain Tannam discuss the new Irish coalition’s programme for government and what it means for UK-Irish relations. They conclude that while the disagreements between London and Dublin that characterised the Brexit period are dissipating and political relationships have noticeably improved in recent years, several challenges remain which will require strict adherence to the structures of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.
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