The report of Labour’s Commission for the UK’s Future relaunches themes on devolution and constitutional reform that its former Prime Minister tried to pursue in government. Richard Parry discusses how it might impact on Keir Starmer’s ultra-cautious pursuit of power

Since Brexit 2016, we seem to have entered a battle of sovereignties – Scottish and British – between two apparently antithetical conceptions of sovereignty, reflected in political struggles between nationalists and unionists. But can we be sure that this is a binary divide? Or do we nowadays live in a post-sovereignty world, as the late Neil MacCormick argued?

The Labour Party’s Commission on the Future of the UK has published it report, ‘A New Britain: Renewing Our Democracy and Rebuilding our Economy'. In this guest blog, Jim Gallagher, adviser to Commission, sets out the transformative effect that it could have for the UK’s territorial constitution.

The Supreme Court judgment on the legality of a Scottish independence referendum can be broken down into three elements. Two are unsurprising but the third is very problematic.

In rapid Court verdict on legislative competence, the justices assert that even referendums that do not directly change the law have political legitimacy. Richard Parry discusses the political implications and the balance of victory and defeat for both sides

EVENT - 22 November 2022

As we emerge from Brexit and the Covid crisis, and in the midst of the cost-of-living crisis, are the powers of the Scottish Parliament still fit for purpose? Is there a more optimal balance of powers for Scotland within the Union? Is federalism a viable option for the UK, and what would it look like? Alternatively, what would it mean for Scotland to be independent in today’s world? What would be the economic and political challenges facing Scotland were it to become an independent country?