Tag: Sean Swan
Scotland will continue to be a psephologist’s delight for the foreseeable future
The Scottish Parliament election is next month, with the SNP looking set to increase their majority in the Holyrood Parliament, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats looking likely to suffer further losses following 2014’s independence referendum. Here, Sean Swan looks over the forthcoming contest, reflecting that Scotland will continue to delight psephologists owing to its […]
A response to Chuka Umunna: The dominant equality issues of today need to be understood in terms of economics, interests and class
Sean Swan recently wrote an article for Democratic Audit in which he argued that the concept of class is absent from contemporary UK political debate, even though inequality in Britain is reaching new heights. Chuka Umunna, who was quoted in the piece, responded. Here, Sean continues the debate, and argues that the dominant equality issues of today […]
The concept of class is absent from political debate, even as inequality in Britain reaches new heights
In a recent statement, Labour’s Chuka Umunna seemed to suggest the BAME population form one homogeneous political group in the UK. Sean Swan argues this view is not only inaccurate but it perpetuates the perceived significance of ethnicity and diverts attention from more rational political cleavages. He writes that if Labour is to compete effectively […]
The best of Democratic Audit’s 2015 Devolution coverage
In the wake of the Scottish referendum, the debate around devolution in the UK, and in England more narrowly, has intensified. This post features some of Democratic Audit’s best 2015 analysis of national, regional and sub-regional devolution. Similar PostsEngland’s local elections 2018: the unusual case of Sheffield City Region’s mayoral contestThe current talks in Northern Ireland exemplify […]
If bombing the Middle East was the way to peace, it would be the most peaceful place on Earth
MPs yesterday voted to deploy bomb attacks against ISIS/Daesh strongholds in Syria, in response to their attack on Paris earlier this month. Here, Sean Swan argues that this is midguided, and despite the understandable yearning to be seen to ‘do something’, the Middle East has been bombed by the West before without achieving the desired results, and […]
Once again the Constitution seems vulnerable to piecemeal reform arising out of sectional party interest
On Monday the House of Lords voted against changes to tax credits. In doing so, Osborne and Cameron have argued they have broken a constitutional convention, raising “issues that need to be dealt with”. But Sean Swan questions these claims by highlighting that neither the Parliament Act nor the Salisbury Doctrine has been breached as […]
The Northern Ireland Secretary’s suggestion that Stormont’s impasse could be solved by the return of London rule is dangerous and wrong
Northern Ireland’s politics are in the midst of a crisis fuelled by the UK government’s austerity programme, and continued tensions over the presence of paramilitary forces linked to Sinn Fein. The Conservative Government’s Theresa Villiers has suggested that the reimposition of direct rule from Westminster could be a way out of the impasse. Sean Swan […]
Overcoming the UK’s constitutional crisis may require the development of more flexible relationships between the constituent nations
That the UK is in the midst of an ongoing constitutional crisis can no longer be doubted, with question marks hanging over Scotland’s membership of the union, as well as the UK’s membership of the European Union. Sean Swan looks at the parallels with a previous constitutional crisis, and makes the case for rethinking the […]
An invitation to adventurism: the Fixed-term Parliaments Act can and will crucify a minority government
A spirited argument has broken out on Democratic Audit UK and on other blogs regarding the implications of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act for what kind of Government may emerge from the General Election. In a previous blog, Colin Talbot argued that a minority government could govern relatively comfortably given the Act, which makes bringing […]
The SNP’s exponential rise is throwing the British system of government into turmoil
The General Election of 2015 looks set to be an exceptionally good one for the SNP, who look set to not only supplant Labour as the largest party north of the border, but to rout it. Sean Swan argues that this could see considerable change in the way British politics is conducted in future, particularly […]
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