Ben Yong: Making Government Work, or ‘How I learned to stop worrying and love the Centre of Government’
UK Constitutional Law Association
by UKCLA
7h ago
How should the Centre of government (i.e., No 10 and the Cabinet Office) organise itself so that it is effective and ensures effective government more generally? A recent report, Power with Purpose (PWP), by the Commission for the Centre of Government under the auspices of the Institute for Government, reminds us of the difficulties of managing and deploying public power.  PWP seems, at first glance, a rather technocratic report. It recommends changes to the machinery of government—that is, structures, institutional processes and functions, rather than values or people. It expli ..read more
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Conor Crummey : The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill and the Judicial ‘Disapplication’ of Statutes
UK Constitutional Law Association
by UKCLA
3d ago
The myriad problems with the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, as well as the policy that the Bill is supposed to facilitate, have been clearly documented. One common criticism is that the Bill would precipitate a ‘constitutional crisis’ by provoking the courts into refusing to recognise its legal effect. Adam Tucker argues that the Bill’s most problematic sections could very well ‘count as a novel entry in our canon of possible limits of parliamentary sovereignty’. Jeff King argues that the House of Lords would be justified in radical ..read more
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Madeline Gleeson & Theodore Konstadinides: The UK’s Rwanda policy and Lessons from Australia
UK Constitutional Law Association
by UKCLA
2w ago
In November 2023, the Supreme Court of the UK dealt a critical blow to the government’s proposal to send certain asylum seekers to the Republic of Rwanda. In AAA and Others v the Home Secretary, the Court ruled that removal to Rwanda would be unlawful because that country was not, at the time, a ‘safe country’.  The government moved swiftly to address the concerns raised by this judgment, concluding a new treaty with Rwanda which seeks to render Rwanda ‘safe’ by establishing additional safeguards and guarantees. On 22 January 2024, in line with the recommenda ..read more
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Jamie McGowan: The Nobile Officium and Public Law: An Undertapped Resource?
UK Constitutional Law Association
by UKCLA
2w ago
Joanna Cherry KC MP has suggested (here and in parliament), somewhat indirectly, that the nobile officium of the Court of Session might, insofar as it “exists to give remedies where there would otherwise be none”, be exercised to limit the effect of the provisions of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill 2023-24. Notably, she tabled an amendment to prevent the bill from affecting the power of the Court of Session as set out in Article XIX of the Treaty of Union, which preserves the authority and privileges of the Court of Session, including its inherent supervisory jurisdiction a ..read more
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Women in UK Public Law Group
UK Constitutional Law Association
by UKCLA
3w ago
This is a call for women to be involved in the creation of a Women in UK Public Law Group, which will be an inclusive and intersectional network to facilitate mutual support among women in the field of UK public law. We are open to researchers and practitioners (including NGOs, the public sector and beyond) at any stage of their careers. The group will work to bring together women working in this field, to provide academic support and mentorship, co-review, and organise  ..read more
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Ewan Smith and Tom Flynn: “Parity of Esteem? Ní Cheapaim!”
UK Constitutional Law Association
by UKCLA
3w ago
On the fourth of February, Nationalists and Unionists agreed to form a new government in Northern Ireland. For five of the seven years since 2017 Northern Ireland has been governed without ministers. Without political decision-makers, civil servants could only work within the lines of existing policy. This had stark consequences for people in Northern Ireland.  On the fifth of February, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged the Northern Ireland executive to focus on “day-to-day things that matter to people” rather than on constitutional questions. On the eighth of February the S ..read more
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Alan Greene: Agonistic Constitutionalism and Accountability
UK Constitutional Law Association
by UKCLA
1M ago
*Editors’ note – this post is part of a series on ‘Contemporary Challenges for Constitutional Accountability’. The other posts in the series will be available here.* From the rise of so-called ‘illiberal democracies’ following the fall of the Berlin Wall, through the hasty jettisoning of human rights by democracies in the aftermath of 9/11, to the electoral success of right-wing populist movements in the post-2008 financial crisis world, much ink has been spilled writing liberal democracy’s obituary. But while rumours as to its death may have been somewhat exaggerated, it is nevertheless ..read more
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Lewis Graham: Paused Policies, Secret Policies and the Rule of Law: XY v Secretary of State for the Home Department
UK Constitutional Law Association
by UKCLA
1M ago
It is hard to think of a concept with a more contested definition in legal and political circles than “the rule of law”. The question of what content (if any) might be found within it (and indeed, what “it” even is – a political truth? A normative ideal? A mere slogan?) has been taken up, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, by first-year law students, wizened academics, campaigning groups and politicians. If it sometimes seems that a thicker, rights-laden understanding of the term has taken root, detractors are always quick to emerge, eager to remind us of what the rule of law is and what ..read more
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Raffael N. Fasel: Ouster Clauses and the Silent Constitutional Crisis
UK Constitutional Law Association
by UKCLA
1M ago
In a recent comment on the Government’s Rwanda Bill and on speculations about an unprecedented strike down by the Supreme Court, Professor Mark Elliott asked a question that has been on many UK public lawyers’ minds lately: “Are we headed for a constitutional crisis?” This question, to be sure, is not new. However, with a Government and Parliament increasingly willing to act with disregard for cardinal constitutional principles such as the rule of law and with certain judges’ growing outspokenness about their intention to resist further attacks on the country’s constitutional fundamentals, de ..read more
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Events: Public Law Lecture 2024 / Bingham Centre Conference on Brown Commission
UK Constitutional Law Association
by UKCLA
1M ago
***** Constitutional Reform in the UK: A Conference on the Brown Commission Report (Part Two) 1 March 2024 | 09.00 – 17.00  British Institute of International and Comparative Law, Charles Clore House, 17 Russell Square London WC1B 5JP At the end of 2022, the Brown Commission published its final report, ‘A New Britain: Renewing our Democracy and Rebuilding our Economy: Report of the Commission on the UK’s Future‘. Part One of the Conference took place at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford on 5 May 2023. Three panels considered (i) the process of consti ..read more
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