News and opinion

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 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.

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.

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.

John Denham, University of Southampton examines English identity and British unionism in the wake of Brexit - are we likely to see a change to the system of governance in England?

Katy Hayward, Queen's University Belfast discusses the implications of the Northern Ireland Protocol and what this might mean for Northern Ireland's place in the Union.

Covid-19 and Brexit have engendered a precarious and rather fragile territorial politics, and 'the tumultuous nature of current politics in Wales means that what was inconceivable is now conceivable' according to Laura McAllister, Cardiff University. Taken from UK in a Changing Europe's 'Brexit and Beyond' report, Laura discusses the past, present and future of Welsh territorial politics.

Nick Pearce, Director of the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Bath, evaluates the idea of a Royal Commission on the Constitution, but the UK has been here before - are there lessons to be learned from the Kilbrandon Commission?

Following Labour leader Keir Starmer’s speech on devolution, Graeme Roy and Stuart McIntyre of the Fraser of Allander Institute suggest that, without a massive u-turn in economic philosophy, the promised ‘radical reform to economic and political devolution’ is unlikely to produce proposals for meaningful change.