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Sceptical Perspectives on the Changing Constitution of the United Kingdom

Sceptical Perspectives on the Changing Constitution of the United Kingdom

Author: Richard Johnson; Yuan Yi Zhu
Publisher: Hart Publishing
ISBN: 9781509963744

Published In: October 2024
Format: Paperback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only
Hardback Edition ISBN: 9781509963706

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This book examines the far-reaching changes made to the constitution in the United Kingdom in recent decades. It considers the way these reforms have fragmented power, once held centrally through the Crown-in-Parliament, by means of devolution, referendums, and judicial reform. It examines the reshaping of the balance of power between the executive, legislature, and the way that prerogative powers have been curtailed by statute and judicial ruling. It focuses on the Human Rights Act and the creation of the UK Supreme Court, which emboldened the judiciary to limit executive action and even to challenge Parliament, and argues that many of these symbolised an attempt to shift the 'political' constitution to a 'legal' one.

Many virtues have been ascribed to these reforms. To the extent that criticism exists, it is often to argue that these reforms do not go far enough. An elected upper chamber, regional English parliaments, further electoral reform, and a codified constitution are common tonics prescribed by commentators from this point of view. This volume adopts a different approach. It provides a critical evaluation of these far-reaching reforms, drawing from the expertise of highly respected academics and experienced political figures from both the left and right. The book is an invaluable source of academic expertise and practical insights for the interested public, students, policymakers, and journalists, who too often are only exposed to the 'further reform' position.

Introduction - The Case for the Political Constitution, Richard Johnson (Queen Mary, University of London, UK) and Yuan Yi Zhu (University of Oxford, UK)

Part I : The Political Constitution and the Law

1. A (Brief) Case Against Constitutional Supremacy, Brian Christopher Jones (University of Sheffield, UK)

2. Judicial Encroachment on the Political Constitution?, Carol Harlow QC (LSE, UK)

3. Legislative Freedom and Its Consequences, Richard Ekins (University of Oxford, UK)

4. A Great Forgetting: Common Law, Natural Law, and the Human Rights Act, Michael Foran (University of Glasgow, UK)

5. The Nightmare and the Noble Dream: Politics and the Law, Rt Hon Sir Robert Buckland QC MP (Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, 2019-21)

Part II: Westminster and Whitehall

6. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act: Out, Out Brief Candle, Robert Craig (University of Bristol, UK)

7. The Role of the House of Commons: A sceptical View on Progress, Tony McNulty (Queen Mary, University of London, UK)

8. The House of Lords: A Sceptical View of Big Bang Reform, Philip Norton, Lord Norton of Louth (Hull, UK)

9. Accountability and Electoral Reform, Jasper Miles (Queen Mary, University of London, UK)

10. Delegated Legislation in an Unprincipled Constitution, Hayley Hooper (University of Oxford, UK)

11. A Defence of the Dual Legal-Political Nature of the Attorney General for England and Wales, Conor Casey (University of Liverpool, UK)

12. The Public Appointments System, John Bowers QC (University of Oxford, UK)

13. Standards and the British Constitution, Gillian Peele (University of Oxford, UK)

Part III: Beyond Westminster and Whitehall

14. Devolving and Not Forgetting, Vernon Bogdanor (King's College London, UK)

15. Scottish Secession and the Political Constitution of the United Kingdom, Peter Reid and Asanga Welikala (both of University of Edinburgh, UK)

16. Northern Ireland's Constitutional Position in the United Kingdom, Kate Hoey, Baroness Hoey of Lylehill and Rathlin (Chair of the Northern Ireland Select Committee, 2019)

17. The European Union and the British Constitution, Joanna George (University of Cambridge, UK) & Rt Hon Gisela Stuart, Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (Chair of Vote Leave)

18. Against (Many Kinds of) Representation, Richard Tuck (University of Harvard, USA)