An Elected Upper Chamber of the Devolved Nations and English Regions 30th January 2023 WATCH THE RECORDING HERE Or in the player below Britain's sufferance of an unelected House of Lords has expired. Reforms have been promised since 1911, but now Sir Keir Starmer has declared an incoming Labour government, [...]
In this video, our Council member, financial expert Graham Bishop, reviews the prospects for the City of London after Brexit. He argues that the British government's "Edinburgh reforms", designed to help the City, are little more than pro-Brexit propaganda. They will usually make little difference and in some cases risk [...]
In this new Federal Trust video, Brendan Donnelly argues that the so-called "Brexit Freedom Bill" is both pointless and dangerous. It seeks to repeal thousands of British laws simply because they have a European origin; and it opens the door to the abolition of rights and standards previously guaranteed by [...]
In this video, the Federal Trust's Chairman John Stevens and and its Director Brendan Donnelly discuss the impact of the war in Ukraine on the European Union. They argue that the war has tended to make Europe more integrated, but it has also exposed flaws in the Union's decision-making process [...]
In a new video discussion with our Director Brendan Donnelly, our Chairman John Stevens points to Brexit and other divisions already tearing the Conservative Party apart. He argues that the Reform Party will be able to exploit these divisions, particularly if Nigel Farage becomes its leader. If, moreover, the Reform [...]
In this video, our Director Brendan Donnelly argues that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt realise Brexit is in trouble. The suggestion that the UK might enjoy a "Swiss-style" relationship with the EU is however unrealistic. Neither the EU nor the Brexiteer's European Research Group (ERG) would ever permit it. The [...]
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 [...]
