UK constitutional reform
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 9:05 pm
Many historical philosophers had an interest in constitutions, and it's a longstanding aspect of political philosophy.
For instance, Plato and Aristotle considered the relative advantages and disadvantages of different forms of government. Aristotle and his students allegedly wrote descriptions of more than 170 different constitutions, including The Constitution of the Athenians. Plato's Republic is, in a way, an attempt at producing a constitution for a new type of society. John Locke actually wrote a constitution for the Colony of Carolina, and we all know that his Two Treatises of Government later influenced the Framers of the United States Constitution.
The UK is currently in a period of constitutional instability and there is quite widespread dissatisfaction with its political institutions. It used to be a unitary state, until in 1997 substantial powers were devolved to elected parliaments in Wales and Scotland (and later, to Northern Ireland). Since then the whole structure has begun to look lopsided and shaky. There is dissatisfaction with the First Past The Post voting system, and there are complaints about the unelected House of Lords. There is unhappiness with the way the voters in individual parts of the union can be outvoted on important questions by those in other parts (notably England, which contains about 80% of the UK's population). There is a renewed push for Scottish independence, despite the proposal being defeated in a referendum in 2014. Many in Scotland and elsewhere have suggested turning the UK into a federal union, partly to save it from collapse.
There are several groups now pushing for a new constitutional settlement on federal lines, but they have differing ideas and little public visibility. If there is to be fundamental constitutional reform, surely that should arise out of an open public debate? How would such a debate be structured, in order to be open to all, but also constructive, so that it didn't become a useless cacophony? I don't know. But a philosophy forum seems like a good place to kick off a conversation about a topic with lots of philosophical points of interest.
Below are various links to groups either calling for UK constitutional reform or offering platforms for debate of UK constitutional matters. Please feel free to add extra links on this subject, or to pitch in with any relevant ideas that occur to you.
Groups talking about constitutional reform include:
Constitution Reform Group:
https://www.constitutionreformgroup.co.uk
A group including politicians of different parties which has been pressing for federal reform and tried at least once to introduce legislation in parliament.
The Labour Party has quite a lot of people pressing for reform, including an official Labour constitutional commission:
https://labourlist.org/2021/01/constitu ... ederal-uk/
https://labourlist.org/2020/12/keir-sta ... ommission/
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... orm-for-uk
https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/ ... ttenev.pdf
Gordon Brown:
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/u ... ed-kingdom
(An article with the personal ideas of the former Prime Minister, but he is also involved in advising Labour's constitutional commission.)
The UK Govt is also considering constitutional issues:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56193743
There are also various academic forums:
The Constitution Society:
https://consoc.org.uk
("The Constitution Society is an independent, non-party educational foundation which works to promote informed debate about constitutional reform. We take no position on specific reform proposals but advocate better legislative standards and oppose ill-considered, piecemeal change.")
The Constitution Unit, University College London:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/
UK Constitutional Law Association:
https://ukconstitutionallaw.org
For instance, Plato and Aristotle considered the relative advantages and disadvantages of different forms of government. Aristotle and his students allegedly wrote descriptions of more than 170 different constitutions, including The Constitution of the Athenians. Plato's Republic is, in a way, an attempt at producing a constitution for a new type of society. John Locke actually wrote a constitution for the Colony of Carolina, and we all know that his Two Treatises of Government later influenced the Framers of the United States Constitution.
The UK is currently in a period of constitutional instability and there is quite widespread dissatisfaction with its political institutions. It used to be a unitary state, until in 1997 substantial powers were devolved to elected parliaments in Wales and Scotland (and later, to Northern Ireland). Since then the whole structure has begun to look lopsided and shaky. There is dissatisfaction with the First Past The Post voting system, and there are complaints about the unelected House of Lords. There is unhappiness with the way the voters in individual parts of the union can be outvoted on important questions by those in other parts (notably England, which contains about 80% of the UK's population). There is a renewed push for Scottish independence, despite the proposal being defeated in a referendum in 2014. Many in Scotland and elsewhere have suggested turning the UK into a federal union, partly to save it from collapse.
There are several groups now pushing for a new constitutional settlement on federal lines, but they have differing ideas and little public visibility. If there is to be fundamental constitutional reform, surely that should arise out of an open public debate? How would such a debate be structured, in order to be open to all, but also constructive, so that it didn't become a useless cacophony? I don't know. But a philosophy forum seems like a good place to kick off a conversation about a topic with lots of philosophical points of interest.
Below are various links to groups either calling for UK constitutional reform or offering platforms for debate of UK constitutional matters. Please feel free to add extra links on this subject, or to pitch in with any relevant ideas that occur to you.
Groups talking about constitutional reform include:
Constitution Reform Group:
https://www.constitutionreformgroup.co.uk
A group including politicians of different parties which has been pressing for federal reform and tried at least once to introduce legislation in parliament.
The Labour Party has quite a lot of people pressing for reform, including an official Labour constitutional commission:
https://labourlist.org/2021/01/constitu ... ederal-uk/
https://labourlist.org/2020/12/keir-sta ... ommission/
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... orm-for-uk
https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/ ... ttenev.pdf
Gordon Brown:
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/u ... ed-kingdom
(An article with the personal ideas of the former Prime Minister, but he is also involved in advising Labour's constitutional commission.)
The UK Govt is also considering constitutional issues:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56193743
There are also various academic forums:
The Constitution Society:
https://consoc.org.uk
("The Constitution Society is an independent, non-party educational foundation which works to promote informed debate about constitutional reform. We take no position on specific reform proposals but advocate better legislative standards and oppose ill-considered, piecemeal change.")
The Constitution Unit, University College London:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/
UK Constitutional Law Association:
https://ukconstitutionallaw.org