Dr Andrew Black, Global Policy Institute, [email protected] and Professor Sam Whimster, Global Policy Institute, [email protected] Rationale for change and reform: Britain is one of the most centralized democracies in the OECD. Resource allocation decisions are centralized in London, and instructions are handed down ‘vertically’ to the devolved nations and [...]
It is fair to say that federalism makes most UK unionists uncomfortable when it is considered at all. It is seen as foreign and alien to the principle of absolute parliamentary sovereignty located in Westminster. In the 1970s the Kilbrandon Commission notoriously dismissed federalism as a constitutional structure for states not [...]
On 29th October 2022, I took part in the Federal Trust’s conference on the future of the United Kingdom. Though the day had a focus on federalism my preferred model leans towards a form of close constitutional confederalism, which neatly deals with the sovereignty aspirations of the home nations in [...]
In this Federal Trust video, our Chairman John Stevens and Director Brendan Donnelly discuss the impact of American politics on Brexit, both historically and in the future. The present Democratic administration is well-disposed to the EU and unenthusiastic about Brexit. But no future Republican administration is likely to support the [...]
Joint event with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and Global Policy Institute 22nd November 2022 Watch the recorded livestream of this event here or in the player below: It was Russian President Putin’s hope that the West would acquiesce in the attack on Ukraine because of the dependency of leading European countries on [...]
In this video, the former head of the European Commission office in Belfast, Geoff Martin, discusses recent developments in Northern Ireland with our Chairman John Stevens. Geoff Martin predicts that new elections for Stormont will make very little difference to the political stalemate in Northern Ireland, for which he principally [...]
In this Federal Trust video, the financial analyst Graham Bishop and the Chairman of the Trust, John Stevens, discuss the likelihood and the significance of the City of London losing its approximately €100 trillion Euro derivatives clearing business to the Eurozone by 2025. Among other implications, the loss of its [...]
In this video, the Trust's Director Brendan Donnelly argues that Liz Truss has done the country a service by exposing the unreality of the philosophy underlying Brexit. Sunak may still believe that he can make Brexit work. But he will have little time to pursue his Brexit-related dreams, given that [...]
Even with the introduction of devolution in Scotland and Wales at the end of the 20th Century, there is a sense that these isles are now approaching a significant constitutional crossroads. Each nation has, in recent decades, developed an individual political culture with clear distinguishing features from the workings of [...]
In this Federal Trust video our Chairman John Stevens and Brendan Donnelly discuss the implications for Brexit of the past turbulent ten days in British politics. They conclude that the failure of the "mini-budget" marks the end of "Singapore on Thames" as a model for Brexit. It is however unclear [...]
