Building sub-national government
A northern powerhouse, or an unwelcome imposition? Experts respond to George Osborne’s Greater Manchester Mayor proposals
The Chancellor recently announced that in order to help make his “Northern Powerhouse” idea reality that the Greater Manchester City Region would see itself gain an elected, “London-style” Mayor, despite residents of Manchester City Council narrowly rejecting proposals for an Directly Elected Mayor for their local authority in 2011. Democratic Audit asked experts to respond to the […]
The Smith Commission: will greater powers come with greater democratic accountability?
The Scottish independence referendum set in motion a chain of events which looks likely to lead to a greater degree of devolution to Scotland, with a commission chaired by Lord Smith of Kelvin set to report shortly with recommendations for exactly what form the relationship between Holyrood and Westminster should take. Paul Cairney, a noted […]
An English Parliament terrifies the British political and academic elite far more than the thought of Scottish separatism did
The Scottish independence referendum opened up a number of debates around both the future constitutional status of Scotland, but also of England, with improved and empowered local government, reforming the House of Commons, and regional devolution all being mentioned as potential routes forward. Here, Colin Copus argues that all of these fall short of what […]
Europe is witnessing the establishment of a new regional order, built on territories such as Scotland, Catalonia and the Basque Country
This year has seen an independence referendum in Scotland, a contested debate over a proposed independence consultation in Catalonia and growing momentum behind independence movements elsewhere in Europe. Igor Calzada writes that the debates taking place within countries like Spain and the UK offer an example of what he terms ‘post-independence’. He argues that political […]
20 things we learned about democracy in October 2014
What happened in October 2014 that democrats will find interesting? Lots, it turns out, including revelations about the position of names on ballot papers, drones, and of course UKIP. Sean Kippin rounds up 20 interesting pieces of information that made themselves known this month. Similar Posts20 things we learned about democracy in January 2015How democratic […]
Unless greater heed is paid to political economy, devolution could become a red herring of democratisation
Following the Scottish independence referendum, devolution for England is back of the agenda, with regional devolution being revisited as an idea. But are we wrong to equate devolution with democracy, given that most consequential powers will still be in the hands of Whitehall? Craig Berry argues that the inadequate attention paid to political economy risks […]
Now is the right time to introduce tough gender quotas for the Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament has a better record than Westminster in seeing women elected. Despite this, progress of late has stalled, with women’s representation now slipping backwards. Meryl Kenny and Fiona Mackay argue that the current ‘constitutional moment’ in the wake of the Scottish independence referendum provides an opportunity to get serious about the problem, and […]
The cuts in local government funding have had a significant impact on London’s most deprived communities
How has the significant cuts to local authority funding affected front-line services? There had undoubtedly been enormous strain on services and front-line staff, with councils have argued that the limits to efficiency have been reached. Amanda Fitzgerald presents findings from a new report for the Trust for London into the most deprived communities in London. Similar […]
There are large gaps between the parties in their aspirations for what comes next for Scotland
Just three weeks ago the people of Scotland voted to stay in the UK. This week, as Akash Paun explains, the debate on the next phase of devolution began in earnest as Scotland’s five main political parties (the four you would guess plus the Scottish Greens) submitted their proposals to Lord Smith of Kelvin – the one-man commission charged with […]
The UK should take on board the lessons from Spain before embracing English devolution
The UK government has committed itself to solving the so called ‘West Lothian question’ whereby Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs can vote on ‘English only’ issues which have already been devolved to the other three countries. Sonia Alonso writes on devolution in Spain, arguing that the UK should learn from the Spanish experience. She states that […]
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