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Reposted by Rowan Hall

Zoë Crowther @zoecrowther.bsky.social · 4d

Say hello to literally the only protesters outside Tory conference this year

Two protesters holding up a sign saying “pedestrianise the M6”

Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · 16d

Our excellent (and topical) lunchtime discussion about parliamentary treaty scrutiny.

Constitution Unit superfans may notice that we did some slightly different things today, like shortening the length to an hour and streaming live on YouTube. It should also be out as a podcast episode very soon.

UCL Constitution Unit @conunitucl.bsky.social · 16d

How should the UK's parliaments scrutinise international agreements?

Earlier today we hosted Lord (Peter) Goldsmith, @arabellalaw.bsky.social and @clareadamsonmsp.bsky.social to discuss just this.

A recording is now available on YouTube and should be in our podcast feed very soon.

Watch it 👇

How should the UK's parliaments scrutinise international agreements?

YouTube video by UCL Constitution Unit

www.youtube.com

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UCL Constitution Unit @conunitucl.bsky.social · 24d

How should the UK's parliaments scrutinise international agreements with countries like Mauritius, the US and India?

Next Wednesday, Lord (Peter) Goldsmith, @arabellalaw.bsky.social, @clareadamsonmsp.bsky.social will discuss this at our free, online event.

Sign up 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo....

The Constitution Unit. How should the UK's parliaments scrutinise international agreements? 24 September 2025, 1:00pm–2:00pm. Lord (Peter) Goldsmith KC (Chair of the International Agreements Committee and former Attorney General). Arabella Lang (Head of Public Law at the Law Society and Visiting Fellow at the University of Essex). Clare Adamson MSP (SNP MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, and Convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee). Chair: Lisa James (Senior Research Fellow at the Constitution Unit).

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 25d

My column in tomorrow's paper:

Starmer and Badenoch are handling the far-right march all wrong

A look back to the days of Enoch Powell suggests a better model

www.ft.com

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Alan Renwick @alanrenwick.bsky.social · 29d

Thoughts from me on the UK government's elections policy paper.

In short: many good things, but several points don't go far enough, and there is one big mistake.

UCL Constitution Unit @conunitucl.bsky.social · 29d

NEW BLOG: Government plans for electoral reform are welcome but contain one serious error of judgement

@alanrenwick.bsky.social argues much of what the government proposes is good. But the newly appointed ministers responsible for elections will need to make further progress on some crucial matters

Government plans for electoral reform are a welcome start, but contain one surprising and serious error of judgement

Much of what the government proposes is good. But the newly appointed ministers responsible for elections will need to make further progress on some crucial matters

constitution-unit.com

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Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Sep 7

This is because of the way that the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 was written, before mayors of combined authorities (like Greater Manchester) were introduced!

Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Sep 7

Boris Johnson was able to serve as both Mayor of London and an MP because the Mayor of London is not considered to exercise PCC functions under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 and so that restriction did not apply, instead they are 'The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime'.

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Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Sep 7

Boris Johnson was able to serve as both Mayor of London and an MP because the Mayor of London is not considered to exercise PCC functions under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 and so that restriction did not apply, instead they are 'The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime'.

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Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Sep 7

Clause 16 will also apply to 'double hatting' as both a Mayor of a strategic authority and as a MSP, MS or MLA.

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Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Sep 7

And the reason why section 67 is understood to apply to Andy Burnham is because of article 3 of The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (Transfer of Police and Crime Commissioner Functions to the Mayor) Order 2017, which essentially says that the Mayor is to be treated as a PCC.

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Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Sep 7

You are right: mayors with PCC functions cannot also be MPs (see section 67 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011).

Clause 16 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill will also prevent all mayors and strategic authorities 'double hatting' as MPs.

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Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Sep 5

Noticeably Pat McFadden has not been replaced as Minister for Intergovernmental Relations yet.

The role did lay dormant before, between July and September 2024, when Union and devolution policy was transferred from Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to the Cabinet Office.

Dr Adam Evans @a-b-evans.bsky.social · Sep 5

The list of the government reshuffle appointments (so far) has been published on the Govt website. Douglas Alexander returns as Scottish Secretary (a role he previously held 18 years ago) & Sir Alan Campbell becomes the new Leader of the House (what does that mean for the Modernisation Cttee?)

Ministerial appointments: 5 September 2025

The King has been pleased to approve the following appointments.

www.gov.uk

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Adam Payne @adampayne26.bsky.social · Sep 5

Rayner’s resignation letter

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Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Aug 8

We had so many interesting and thoughtful contributions at our conference in June, which really do help to explain where both the political and expert worlds stand on constitutional reform.

Watch each session 👉 www.youtube.com/playlist?lis....

Listen to each session 👉 linktr.ee/constitution....

UCL Constitution Unit @conunitucl.bsky.social · Aug 8

NEW BLOG: Labour’s Constitutional Agenda in Office: Constitution Unit Conference 2025

@rowaninlondon.bsky.social summarises the contributions of politicians and experts at our annual conference in June. A recording of each session is available in full on YouTube and as episodes of our podcast.

Labour’s Constitutional Agenda in Office: Constitution Unit Conference 2025

The Constitution Unit’s annual conference took place on 18 and 19 June. Politicians and experts, including nine MPs, came together to discuss constitutional paths taken and not (yet) taken by this government. This blog post by Rowan Hall summarises their contributions across the six sessions, which are available in full on YouTube and in podcast form.

constitution-unit.com

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Jacob Gifford Head @giffordhead.co.uk · Jul 29

I think it is hard to underestimate how important this website is for the Rule of Law in the UK. Before 2010, if you wanted to find out what statutes were actually in force you essentially needed a subscription to a very expensive commercial product like Halsbury's Statutes.

John Sheridan @johnlsheridan.bsky.social · Jul 29

Turns out legislation.gov.uk is 15 years old today. How the time flies @jenitennison.com!

Legislation.gov.uk

The official home of UK legislation, revised and as enacted 1267-present. This website is managed by The National Archives on behalf of HM Government. Publishing all UK legislation is a core part of t...

legislation.gov.uk

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Reposted by Rowan Hall

Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · Jul 23

Our grandparents knew titanic warfare, genocide, economic dislocation, smashed cities & hideous disease. They clung to the ideals of liberal democracy as if their lives depended on it

These people have known only peace, prosperity, safety and it has blown their minds. They hunger for dislocation.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · Jul 23

Questions to which the Answer is Not Many

From a Telegraph columnist - who has been on a long journey over the years.

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UCL Constitution Unit @conunitucl.bsky.social · Jul 21

The Backbench Business Committee is 15! 🎂

An important part of the 'Wright reforms', the creation of this select committee with the power to schedule debates in the House of Commons is a key example of our real-world 'impact'. It came about thanks to research led by Meg Russell.

Find out more 👇

UCL research helps give Commons backbenchers greater control over parliamentary debates

The House of Commons' Backbench Business Committee was established in 2010 following research by Professor Meg Russell which suggested that such a committee, with responsibility for programming a new category of backbench business, would open Westminster up to important debates that might not otherwise have taken place.

www.ucl.ac.uk

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UCL Constitution Unit @conunitucl.bsky.social · Jul 17

'They should be the start of an ongoing process of fundamental democratic renewal. And on some of the matters requiring further change, the need for action is urgent.'

Read our Deputy Director, @alanrenwick.bsky.social's, instant analysis of the elections white paper for @uclpolicylab.bsky.social 👇

Plans for electoral reform mark a major step forward in reforming our democracy

Speaking at the civil society summit, Sir Keir Starmer outlined a range of democratic reforms, including the introduction of votes for 16-year-olds. Professor Alan Renwick provides his in-depth…

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Will Jennings 🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · Jul 17

IMO the question of votes at 16 is largely a normative one, but arguments focused on competency are very problematic (surely nobody would argue we should take away the vote as people age and cognitively decline?!).

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Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Jul 15

I would expect no less!

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UCL Constitution Unit @conunitucl.bsky.social · Jul 15

The latest edition of our regular constitutional review is now available!

Monitor 90 describes this government's constitutional reform scorecard as 'mixed'. It says that much remains to be done and progress in some areas has been disappointing.

Read it 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution....

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Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Jul 15

I love the synchronised clerks!

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Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Jul 11

Very few local authorities still use the committee system following the LGA 2000, but abolishing it completely would be getting rid of the system that was universally used. Bristol moved back just last year.

And phasing out executive mayors is getting rid of the big innovation of the LGA 2000!

Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Jul 11

Something else: paid board members and 'commissioners'. Paying politicians is good: it professionalises, attracts and maintains talent and prevents corruption.

I am concerned that different types of deputy mayors and commissioners does not help accessibility though. How about 'assistant mayor'?

4A. Remuneration of constituent members
Mayors often appoint constituent council members to carry out vital work for the Strategic Authority in areas such as housing and transport. However, the majority of Strategic Authorities are currently unable to pay members for this work. Members should not be expected to do important work for free, and constituent councils should not foot the bill for work done in service of another body. The Bill will change this so that constituent council members can be paid by the Strategic Authority. The level of pay will be determined by the Strategic Authority’s independent renumeration panel.

4B. Commissioners
In addition to allowing Strategic Authorities to remunerate members, Mayors will also be able appoint and remunerate ‘Commissioners’ to lead on 1 of 7 ‘areas of competence’, to increase capacity for strategic authorities and give the mayor more flexibility in how they choose to deliver for their area. They will not be members of the Strategic Authority, and will be similar to the Mayor of London’s existing powers to appoint Deputy Mayors, which will remain for London. If they choose to appoint them, Mayors will determine the portfolios of the Commissioners so they are tailored for their authorities. They will also be able to delegate some functions to a Commissioner.

Where a Mayor exercises the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner function they will continue to be able to appoint a Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime to provide leadership and to either ask them to take on the same role for Fire or appoint a separate Public Safety Commissioner to take on Fire responsibilities. In areas where the Mayor does not hold the Police and Crime Commissioner function, they can still appoint a Public Safety Commissioner but they will have no role in the work undertaken by the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Additional technical details will be provided in statutory guidance.

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Rowan Hall @rowaninlondon.bsky.social · Jul 11

An interesting feature of the English devolution bill that I think has been underdiscussed: the abolition of the committee system and seeming phase out of executive mayors for local authorities.

Maybe this uniformity will help with accessibility, but I hope that it will be brought up in parliament!

1B. Local authority governance
Previously, councils in England were able to choose between 3 different governance models: Mayor and Cabinet, Leader and Cabinet, and the committee system. As a result, councils are left with complicated governance arrangements.

The Bill will move away from this arrangement by abolishing the committee system and preventing the creation of any new local authority Mayors. Those councils operating a committee system will move to operate a leader and cabinet model, whilst the remaining councils with existing Mayors will have the option to continue with an elected Mayor, or transition to a leader (and therefore the leader and cabinet model) should they wish.

The committee system can be unclear, duplicative and wasteful. Requiring all councils which operate the committee system to transition to the leader and cabinet model (which the vast majority of councils currently operate) will simplify the governance system and ensure all councils operate an executive form of governance. This will provide clarity on responsibility and accountability and improve efficiency in decision making. To avoid the potential confusion caused by the establishment of new Mayors for Strategic Authorities and for councils, we will prevent the establishment of any new council mayoralties, but we will not abolish the existing 13 council mayoralties.

For the majority of councils this means no change, as around 80% of councils already operate a Leader and Cabinet model, and the majority of councils currently operating a committee system would be moving to leader and cabinet as part of local government reorganisation.

Councils still operating the committee system who are not part of local government reorganisation will be given one year from the date of the legislation coming into force to make the transition.

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UCL Constitution Unit @conunitucl.bsky.social · Jul 10

The government has announced that the voting system for mayoral and PCC elections will be changed back to SV.

Our Deputy Director, @alanrenwick.bsky.social, said last year that the switch to FPTP in 2022 harmed democracy and called for it to be reversed 👉 constitution-unit.com/2024/05/24/t....

5. Voting system

Currently, Mayors and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are elected using the First Past the Post system. When voting under this system, each elector casts a single vote for their preferred candidate, and the candidate with the most votes is elected.

This is a simple voting system but it can lead to individuals being elected with only a small proportion of the total votes cast. The government believes that Mayors and PCCs should be elected with a greater consensus among their electors. Therefore, the Bill will change the voting system for these types of elections to the Supplementary Vote system.

When voting under the Supplementary Vote system, each elector selects their preferred candidate, and they can also select a second preference if they wish. When the votes are counted, if a candidate receives more than 50% of the first preference votes they are elected. If not, then the top two candidates with most first preference votes go through to a final round, and the other candidates are eliminated. If the votes for any of the eliminated candidates selected a second preference for either of the remaining candidates, then they are reassigned to that candidate. The votes are then recounted, and the remaining candidate with most votes is elected.

This process will ensure that a winning candidate will need to receive a broader level of support.

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