News and opinion

Jonathan Evershed, University College Cork, discusses the UK government's plans for the centenary of Northern Ireland arguing that Boris Johnson has raised the stakes of what was already likely to be a politically difficult commemoration.

In a chapter for the Oxford Handbook of Scottish Politics, Coree Brown Swan of the Centre on Constitutional Change explores the question of Scottish independence, asking how independence in 2020 might vary from previous iterations.

On 20th August, The Oxford Handbook of Scottish Politics was published, edited by CCC Director Michael Keating. In this introduction to the handbook, Michael argues that Scottish politics no longer needs to be seen as exceptional to matter.

The Scottish Conservatives have a new leader, but it will be difficult for the Scottish Conservatives to revive their success of 2016. Alan Convery, University of Edinburgh, the party are still dealing with the aftershocks of Brexit.

Does Johnson have an appetite to unpick devolution asks Dan Wincott as he evaluates communications, intergovernmental relations and devolution from a Welsh perspective during the current public health crisis.

Has the Conservative Party abandoned its unionist heritage to focus on other goals? Michael Kenny and Jack Sheldon, University of Cambridge, explore how the Union featured in the Conservative Party's elites during Theresa May's premiership, and argue that a more assertive and self-conscious type of unionism has displaced the more pragmatic unionism of previous decades.

CCC Co-Director, Nicola McEwen discusses the proposals set out in the UK Government's recent white paper on the Internal Market, and explains how these could have a profound impact on devolution in the UK.

CCC's Michael Keating responds to the release of the UK Government report on the internal market.

Richard Parry provides an update on policy relating to coronavirus in Scotland and the UK, reviewing how Nicola Sturgeon is coming from a position of political and epidemiological strength.