The Constitution Unit

Devolution and the future of the Union

Episode Summary

The second panel of day two of our conference on Johnson's constitutional reform agenda explored devolution and the future of the Union with four experts based in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Episode Notes

This is a recording of a panel session from our conference on the government's constitutional reform agenda. Panellists explored the devolution arrangements in the UK and the future of the Union. Four experts based in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland joined the discussion.

Speakers: 

• Prof Adam Tomkins, Glasgow
• Prof Laura McAllister, Cardiff
• Prof Katy Hayward, Queen’s University Belfast
• Prof John Denham, Southampton.

Chair: Prof Robert Hazell, Constitution Unit, UCL.

Suggested reading: 

• The sovereignty conundrum and the uncertain future of the Union, by Michael Keating on the Constitution Unit blog, published 28 April 2021.
• Five key questions about coronavirus and devolution, by Akash Paun on the Constitution Unit blog, published 31 May 2021.
• The Final Report by the Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland, published by the Constitution Unit on 26 May 2021.
• The Internal Market Bill: implications for devolution, by Nicola McEwen on the Centre on Constitutional Change blog, published 11 September 2020.
• England, Englishness and the Labour Party, by John Denham and Daniel Devine, Political Quarterly, August 2018.
• A Parliament that Works for Wales, by Laura McAllister for the National Assembly for Wales, published 2017.
• ‘Answering the West Lothian Question? A Critical Assessment of “English Votes for English Laws” in the UK Parliament’, Daniel Gover and Michael Kenny, Parliamentary Affairs, 2018.