Andrew Blick outlines some of the constitutional issues to which the question of a second EU referendum gives rise. He writes that unless these matters are given serious consideration in advance of such a decision, the repetition of the exercise is unlikely to improve matters and might even aggravate them.
The idea of a second EU referendum of some kind, […]
Government runs roughshod over Parliament, as the 2017 election demonstrates. But the Fixed-term Parliaments Act remains on the statute book. Graham Allen and Andrew Blick explain what improvements can be made to the law and the democratic motivations behind them.
Whether one extracts pleasure, dismay or bewilderment from the result of the recent General Election, certain observations are clear. While […]
The ease with which an early election has been called has raised questions about the purpose of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act. Andrew Blick outlines the key legal aspects that must be reviewed – including the regular length of a parliament – so that the public will still get to elect their MPs relatively frequently, but not on a timetable […]
With the SNP surging in Scotland and the break up of the union as plausible as it has ever been. What are the different options for configuring the UK state? In this article, Andrew Blick writes about what the constitutional future might look like.
Inbuilt within the United Kingdom is the potential for instability. It is a multi-nation state, like Belgium, Canada, Spain […]
What influence does Magna Carta, signed 800 years ago at Runnymede by King John, continue to have over UK democracy and governance? A lot, according to Andrew Blick, who points out that taken as a whole, it is a surprisingly enduring document which still influences our political and democratic choices to this day.
Even after eight centuries, Magna Carta is a contemporary document. The 800th anniversary […]
The trial of Andy Coulson makes it abundantly clear that aides can tarnish the reputation of those they serve. Andrew Blick and George Jones examine the history of aides who have caused trouble for Prime Ministers and, drawing on their recent book, make a series of recommendations about how prime ministers should construct and handle their teams. In his 1513 […]
A new book by Andrew Blick and George Jones, At Power’s Elbow, examines the people that have served as assistants to prime ministers. This article provides a summary of the main themes and some answers to questions that are explored in detail in the book. Our new book is about the characters who formed the network of assistants to prime ministers […]
Last night, in a highly unusual move, the House of Commons voted against the UK’s intervention with military force in the on-going conflict in Syria, the first time a prime minister has lost a vote on military action since 1782. As part of Democratic Audit’s 2012 audit of UK democracy, Stuart Wilks-Heeg, Andrew Blick, and Stephen Crone considered Parliament’s powers in this area. Although Parliament has […]
What is the point of petitions in British politics?
Brexit was not the voice of the working class nor of the uneducated – it was of the squeezed middle
Britain’s wartime generation are almost as pro-EU as millennials
How effective is Parliament in controlling UK government and representing citizens?
Exploitable loopholes: how the self-employed non-resident status can be a route to child maintenance evasion
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