News and opinion
'Fractured Union' with Michael Kenny
We are delighted to host Prof. Michael Kenny for the launch of his latest book, Fractured Union: Politics, Sovereignty, and the Fight to Save the UK (Hurst).
A Week That Changed Scottish Politics? From Humza Yousaf to John Swinney
Mark McGeoghegan writes on how Humza Yousaf’s termination of the Bute House Agreement (BHA) was rooted in broader political processes affecting the Scottish independence movement, which continue to be relevant beyond its collapse for his successor as First Minister, John Swinney.
The SNP’s slow route to building independence
Richard Parry discusses how the SNP is generating a large volume of material in their ‘Building a New Scotland’ series while facing challenges on the use of civil service time to do it and on the uncertain political and legal route to independence
What Kilts Might Reveal: A Discussion of Scottish Government Bonds Part 2
Humza Yousaf has claimed that a Scottish bond issue would ‘demonstrate the credibility to international markets that we will need when we become an independent country’. This is questionable for several reasons.
What Kilts Might Reveal: A Discussion of Scottish Government Bonds
Read the first of Iain Hardie’s two-part analysis on the Scottish Bond Issue.
Gordon Brown’s long-run themes pose challenges for Labour
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
Guest Blog – A New Britain
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.
Unhelpful Clarifications
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.