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SubscriptionsCategory: Constitution
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PM’s Power to Preside Over Breaches of Ministerial Code Should be Removed, Proposes New Bill
‘We can’t continue to have a situation in which the government is allowed to set and mark its own homework’, says campaigner Jennifer Nadel
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Starmer Under Pressure to Commit to PR Voting System and Breaking Up Media Giants from Labour Grassroots
The party’s consultation process for the next manifesto has just closed – as democracy groups call on the Labour Leader to seize the mantle of reform, Josiah Mortimer reports
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‘Anglo-British Unionism Will Not Save the Union’
Only when England can see itself as England will it be possible to challenge the idea that Britain is England, writes former Labour MP John Denham
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Brexit Britain: Half of Brits Would Choose to Leave UK
An exclusive poll for Byline Times finds only a minority of voters would choose to remain in the UK if given the option to emigrate to another country
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Top Parliamentary Standards Official Warns Britain Slipping Into ‘Elected Dictatorship’
An unearthed paper suggests there are fears at the very top of Parliament that democracy is under threat, reports Josiah Mortimer
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Voter ID: Bouncers at the Ballot Box Could Turn Away Thousands in May Elections with No Right of Appeal
Up to two million people could be denied a vote unless they apply for ID – and even those with ID could be turned away by polling staff, reports Josiah Mortimer
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New Report Blows Apart Dominic Raab’s ‘Bill of Rights’
The Justice Secretary’s long and “dangerous” campaign to scrap the Human Rights Act was “pushed forward by parts of the media” smarting from privacy laws
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Keir Starmer Faces Fresh Calls to Back Westminster Voting Overhaul
The Labour Leader is being urged to keep his promises on reforming democracy, Josiah Mortimer reports
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Leaping Over the Lords
Labour’s announcement that it would abolish the UK’s unelected second chamber is a headline-grabbing idea with little thought of the problems involved, writes AC Grayling
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Boris Johnson Continues to Break Ministerial Code, as Constituents Complain of Absentee MP
As the former Prime Minister makes £750k from just three speeches since being ousted from Number 10, his voters feel abandoned
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Gordon Brown: Government Most Corrupt in ‘At Least a Century’
Sam Bright inspects the former Prime Minister’s plans to rewire British politics
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What Now for Scottish Independence?
Barrister Gareth Roberts sets out the options available to Nicola Sturgeon following the UK Supreme Court’s decision that she cannot hold a second independence referendum without Westminster’s approval
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‘The Supreme Court’s Scottish Referendum Ruling Shows the UK is a Prison of Nations’
The Union is not based on consent – European leaders must now make it clear Scotland will be welcomed as the only country to be taken out of the EU against its will, writes Anthony Barnett
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‘Amateur Hour in British Politics’
As more and more ministers are handed top jobs for their loyalty rather than their competence, former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall considers what we can do about this democratic deficit
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The Causes and Consequences of Political Chaos: MPs Versus Party Members
The genesis of the current chaos lies in the main political parties deciding to allow their members to choose their leaders, writes David Keys
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Reform or Ruin: Could Labour Win the Next Election but Lose the Future?
AV Deggar considers the structural changes needed from Labour, if it knocks the Conservatives out of power at the next election
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‘Great British Democracy’: Who Voted for This?
The UK’s political system currently resembles an unelected autocracy rather than a truly representative democracy, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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‘Small Constitutional Changes Could Urgently Address the Big Mess We Find Ourselves In’
Frances Crook, co-convener of the Commission on Political Power, sets out why incremental shifts in the role of monarchy and an over-powerful executive could strengthen democracy in the unlikely event of wholesale reform
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Royal Ideology and the Future of Monarchy
Florence Scott reflects on why it is time to discuss the underpinnings of the British monarchy – Christianity, wealth, class, imperialism
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Is Johnson’s Plan for the House of Lords the Greatest Attack on British Democracy?
Britain’s parliamentary democracy cannot allow one-party dominance in the way the Prime Minister intends for the upper chamber, says barrister Gareth Roberts
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Boris Johnson’s Most Lasting Brexit Legacy may well be the Break-Up of the UK
Boris Johnson has done more for the independence movement in Scotland and the possibility of reunification for Ireland than either the SNP or Sinn Féin managed in a generation, says Jonathan Lis
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A Graceless Fall: The Dangers That Remain in the Twilight of Johnson’s Reign
Chaotic, self-centred and unpredictable, Boris Johnson is still a constitutional conundrum, says Rachel Morris
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Boris Johnson Will Try to ‘Burn Everything to the Ground’ – Because He Can
As the Prime Minister’s actions have repeatedly shown, elaborate conventions and procedures mask the features that fundamentally undermine democracy in British politics, says Sam Bright
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Boris Johnson: Nowhere Man
With the Prime Minister at last having faced a moment of reckoning, Professor Chris Painter surveys the wreckage of a Government devoid of meaningful purpose on the key public policy issues of the day
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Johnson’s Culture War Against Judges Having a ‘Chilling Effect’ on Rule of Law, Warns Parliamentary Report
Leading MPs and peers express their concerns about the Government’s attacks on the independent judiciary, reports David Hencke
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The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: An Unprecedented Reign – But What Next for 21st Century Britain?
The Queen’s 70 years on the throne have seen Britain undergo extraordinary change – how will the monarchy’s constitutional and societal role continue to evolve in the years ahead?
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A Nation Split on the Monarchy
New polling by Omnisis for Byline Times shows a significant body of support outside England for an elected head of state
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The Boris Johnson Era has Shown how Vulnerable the UK is to Electoral Autocracy
Partygate showed that the UK’s creaking constitution gives little protection against a Prime Minister determined to ignore convention and the rule of law, writes Adam Bienkov
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‘Partygate’ is a Profound Crisis Endangering the Rule of Law in Britain
The bigger story of the scandal of Downing Street lockdown parties is how fundamentally they strike at the foundations of our democracy, says barrister Gareth Roberts
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Constitutional Culture Wars: Johnson’s Next Divide-and-Rule Campaign?
AV Deggar considers how the Vote Leave coalition may react to emboldened separatist forces in Scotland and Northern Ireland
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‘Partygate’ and the Excuse that Doesn’t Excuse a Thing
David Renton explores the concerning and increasing number of laws made by ministers, circumventing the scrutiny of Parliament, during the Coronavirus crisis and Brexit
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Risking Our Democracy
Former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall argues that the time has come for serious discussions about reforming Britain’s political structures
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Boris Johnson’s Lies are Pushing the UK Constitution to Breaking Point
The former Conservative Solicitor General believes ‘good chaps’ in his party should remove the Prime Minister from office
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Resigning Matters: By Failing to Step Down, Johnson has Put Democracy on Standby
Prime Minister Boris Johnson in March 2022. Photo: Alberto Pezzali/PA/Alamy
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Conservatives’ ‘Partygate’ Impunity for Johnson Shows the Entire British Constitution is Now At Stake
If the governing party proves that those in power can get away with anything, the essential contract between leaders and their people will be ruptured for good, says Jonathan Lis
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Above and Beyond the Law: ‘Partygate’ has Fatally Exposed Britain’s Political System
In a succession of scandals, Boris Johnson has opened the floodgates to wrongdoing and impunity by politicians like never before – aided by his lawless friends in the British press and a sclerotic constitution
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Are the Royals Trapped in a Gilded Cage – Or Is Britain?
Is the Royal Family trapped by Britain’s past or is the problem our inability to conceive of a social order without monarchy?
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How Can We Solve the House of Lords Problem?
John Lubbock speaks to parliamentarians about how the Upper Chamber could be reformed to reflect the modern age
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The Outrageous Attempt to Keep Johnson in Power is Britain’s Insurrection
Those still supporting the Prime Minister are engaging in a flagrant attack on British democracy and its constitution, says Brian Cathcart
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Enabling Acts: Citizenship of Quarter of Britons at Risk as Conservatives Construct an Authoritarian Legal Infrastructure
Nafeez Ahmed analyses eight bills which, taken as a whole, reveal an unprecedented and undemocratic ethno-nationalist power grab
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‘Another Country – Not the One I Represented as a Diplomat for 30 Years’
Alexandra Hall Hall, who resigned from the Foreign Office over Brexit lies, now thinks the British malaise is much deeper than that or Boris Johnson
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Liars Policing the Truth: How Johnson Has Exploited the System
Ed Brown explains how vague protocols and informal codes of conduct have been ruthlessly manipulated by the Prime Minister
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When it Comes to Undermining Judicial Independence, are the Conservatives Looking East?
Proposals to allow Government to overrule judicial review findings reflect a growing authoritarian tendency in the Conservatives – just look at Poland and Hungary
