Tag: Nat Le Roux
Over-mighty executive: since 1997, Britain has been drifting towards elective dictatorship
Since 1997, simple parliamentary majorities have been used to radically alter the constitutional make-up of the UK. Devolution and the creation of the Supreme Court have transformed the country’s institutions. Nat le Roux argues that this is evidence of a growing imbalance of power. The executive can change the institutions of state at will – often […]
The EU referendum and some paradoxes of democratic legitimacy
Referendums are potentially destabilising in parliamentary democracies because they generate alternative, competing sources of legitimacy, writes Nat le Roux. A majority of elected representatives may hold one view on a matter of national importance, and if a referendum demonstrates that a majority of the public hold the opposite view, which manifestation of democratic legitimacy should […]
Labour must make an electoral reform pact to win in 2020
Nat le Roux argues that a one-off electoral reform pact between Labour and some or all of the minor parties in 2020, with a common manifesto commitment to introduce a new voting system, would likely result in a broad-left coalition government. Otherwise Labour may spend a generation in opposition. Similar PostsGeneral election 2019: a postcode […]
Elective dictatorship? The democratic mandate concept has become dangerously over-extended
Against the background of a general breakdown of public confidence in the political elite, politicians on both left and right have seen themselves not as part of a broader governing elite but as outsiders, empowered by their democratic mandate to shake up government and make it more responsive to the wishes of the people. Nat le Roux argues that taken […]
The Wright reforms changed Parliament, but there remains scope for further reform
The Reform of the House of Commons Committee (also known as the Wright Committee) suggested a number of changes which have, since their implementation, had a tangible effect on the relationship between Parliament and the executive. Despite this, there is still scope for further reform on select committees, Scotland, the right of recall, and the House […]
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