News and opinion
Worth the wait? Reforming Intergovernmental Relations
Professor Nicola McEwen examines the long-awaited conclusions to the Joint Review of Intergovernmental Relations. She suggests that the reforms, on paper, could mark a step-change in IGR, but cautions that, effective IGR requires not just a change of machinery and process, but a cultural change too.
The Union Connectivity Review and Unionism
Dan Wincott, Cardiff University and CCC Fellow, examines Sir Peter Hendry's Union Connectivity Review and what it reveals about the Union, covering the ‘Boris Bridge’, connectivity in Wales, and inconsistencies in the Review.
The dilemma of devolution – more powers but potentially worse off
Richard Parry discusses the latest move on Scottish funding policy that highlights the choices inherent in taking on, and paying for, wider devolved responsibilities.
The Supreme Court seeks clear devolution law that may not be there
Richard Parry discusses the judgment on incorporating the rights of the child into Scots law and what this may mean for future devolution cases.
Sovereignty referendums: Common legal and political issues.
In this blog post, Ilker Gokhan Sen - visiting researcher at the University of Bergen Faculty of Law and an alumnus of the 2021 Centre on Constitutional Change Summer School - examines the common legal and political issues around sovereignty referendums.
A League-Union of the Isles of Britain
With the Welsh government today launching its plans for a national conversation on Wales’ constitutional future, Glyndwr Cennydd Jones asks “If we were offered a hypothetical opportunity to constitute Britain from ‘scratch’ once more today, would we consciously choose the model of a centralised unitary state that we have inherited?” This essay extracted from Whose Wales? The Battle for Welsh Devolution and Nationhood: 1880 to 2020 explores this and other questions.
The constitutional prospects of the sixth Senedd
The sixth devolved election in Wales is novel in a variety of ways. It is the first Welsh election in which 16-17-year-olds will participate, yet one taking place amid a global pandemic and ongoing public health measures.
Uncovering the lid on St Andrew's House
As the devolved system attracts unprecedented attention in UK media, Richard Parry discusses the significance of the belated disclosure of sensitive advice at the heart of the Scottish Government.
Constitutionally Sound: Labour and the Union
With Scottish Parliament and Senedd elections in May, are there lessons that the new leader of Scottish Labour can learn from its counterpart in Wales? CCC's Deputy Director, Coree Brown Swan, and former First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones MS, discuss this and much more in the latest episode of our podcast Constitutionally Sound.
