As Andy Burnham’s new government prepares to face scrutiny from MPs for the first time, Tom Fleming outlines ten key issues and questions facing parliament in the weeks and months ahead.Parliament will return from its summer recess next week, and
The Constitution Unit today publishes a new report: Safeguarding the Constitution: Key Steps to Strengthen UK Democratic Resilience. In this post its authors, Lisa James, Meg Russell and Alan Renwick, discuss some of the report’s conclusions.The past decade has
The Ethics and Integrity Commission has published a report on how to reform how lobbying of government is regulated, reported and monitored. Peter Riddell welcomes many of the findings and recommendations, and urges Andy Burnham to legislate to implement as many of the report’s recommendations as possible,
The past four months have seen nationally important by-elections, local elections in England, national elections in Scotland and Wales, and Keir Starmer’s resignation. In this post, which replicates the lead article of the latest issue of Monitor, Alan Renwick and Tom Fleming reflect
The third instalment of this series about the Cabinet Manual discussed what it should say about mid term changes of Prime Minister. The great value of the manual is that it seeks to codify the UK’s core constitutional conventions. But
Keir Starmer had 42 Special Advisers in Number 10. The expectation is that Andy Burnham will recruit a similar number. In this post, Robert Hazell argues that to avoid the turmoil of his predecessor Burnham should aim to have fewer,
Important constitutional conventions around mid-term changes of Prime Minister have not yet been written down. In the latest in our mini-series of blog posts on the government’s planned update of the Cabinet Manual, Peter Riddell examines what the revised Manual should
Peter Riddell’s blog on 5 June welcomed the government’s change of heart in deciding to revise and update the Cabinet Manual, and outlined some of the key issues involved. This post by Robert Hazell explores in greater depth the process to be followed by the Cabinet
The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) has the vital role of overseeing Britain’s intelligence and security services. In a report published by the Constitution Unit today, Andrew Tyrie assesses the ISC’s powers and finds that the framework of
This week, the Prime Minister announced that the Cabinet Manual will be updated. In this post, Peter Riddell welcomes this news, explains the background, and discusses some of the challenges that drafters will face – arguing that wide consultation can
