News and opinion

Text on graphic reads: Election 2024 analysis: The UK Union may appear restrengthened — but is it really? by Jack Liddall, Politics and International Relations Studies, University of Cambridge

Election 2024 analysis: The UK Union may appear restrengthened — but is it really?

United in their desire to remove Tories from office (apparently using whichever political vehicle necessary), are the people of the UK singing from the same hymn sheet once again?
Taking stock of the 2024 GLA election

Taking stock of the 2024 GLA election: The more things change, the more they stay the same

On the 2nd of May 2024, alongside other regional elections across England and Wales, voters went to the polls to elect the Greater London Authority (GLA) for the seventh time since its creation in 1999 by Tony Blair’s government. 
Cutting through the noise

Cutting through the noise: what do the polls tell us about the election in Scotland?

Is the perception of Scottish polls being "all over the place" accurate?

In this piece, Mark McGeoghegan analyses the diverse data and types of polls available to cut through the noise and identify the underlying trends in Scottish polling without overstating the certainty of the predictions we can make.
A New Parliamentary Institution

A New Parliamentary Institution? The Mother of the House & the Retirement of the Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP

As Mother of the House, Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP gained unprecedented authority and legitimacy, speaking not just as an individual on behalf of women MPs and making feminist claims for women, but speaking as the representative of women MPs – in their name – for feminist ends.

With her retirement, what of the institution Harman made real?
Northern Ireland's Key Constituency Battles in the 2024 General election. With pictures of the author Clare Rice and a footbridge in Belfast.

Northern Ireland’s Key Constituency Battles in the 2024 General Election

Just as in Wales and Scotland, Northern Ireland has its own internal election campaigns in progress, with its political battle lines primarily drawn along specific constitutional lines, and parties within and between them, writes Clare Rice.
How did we get here? The SNP’s unravelling political strategy and the 2024 UK General Election. With an image of the author Mark McGeoghegan, and an yes and no sign from the independence referendum.

How did we get here? The SNP’s unravelling political strategy and the 2024 UK General Election.

For the first time in eight years, Scotland will have an election that is not first and foremost about Scottish secession from the United Kingdom. Mark McGeoghegan writes on the dynamics of the constitutional debate in Scotland and the disarming of the SNP’s most powerful electoral narratives.
Social security in a devolved UK, Realities, risks & opportunities for families. With an image of a family walking along a coastal path.

Social security in a devolved UK: realities, risks & opportunities for families

This month, Dr Hayley Bennett, Prof Ruth Patrick, and Dr Mark Simpson launched their new project, ‘Social security in a devolved UK: realities, risks & opportunities for families’, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. In this blog they introduce the purpose and aims of the project over the next 2 years.
New Caledonia and Unrealized Decolonization

New Caledonia and Unrealized Decolonization

New Caledonia has erupted in violence in recent weeks. At least six people are dead, the related riots have caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, and French President Emmanuel Macron has flown to the other side of the world to soothe the tensions. What is going on?
2024 Catalan election. Is it the end of the ‘Process’, as we know it? With an image of Salvador Illa,

2024 Catalan election: is it the end of the ‘Process’, as we know it?

Last Sunday’s elections in Catalonia resulted in a Parliament without a nationalist majority. There is a real chance of a hung parliament since there are no easily achievable coalitions to sustain a stable government. Here, Núria Franco-Guillén and Ivan Serrano Balaguer explore whether the days of independence mobilisation are over.