In this video the former First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, discusses with Brendan Donnelly and Glyndwr Cennydd Jones current thinking in Wales on the UK’s constitutional future. All three participants drew attention to the apparent contradiction between claims of Welsh and Scottish sovereignty on the one hand and the [...]
In this Federal Trust video Professor Sam Whimster and Dr. Andrew Black argue in favour of a radical overhaul of the relationship between the central British government and regional/local authorities. In recent years, the UK has become a more centralised political system, not least through the financial dominance of the [...]
Devolution at national level acknowledges that today’s UK is a construct of formerly discrete entities whose diverse histories and identities are enduringly recognised at an institutional level. Decentralisation within England, by contrast, involves the reorganisation of power within one territory of significant population size (c. 56 million) in order better [...]
In this video, former member of the Welsh Senedd David Melding discusses with Brendan Donnelly the advantages of a federal structure for the United Kingdom. Devolution was an honourable attempt to reform the governance of the United Kingdom. It has not however led to greater constitutional stability. Federal structures for [...]
In this new essay for the Federal Trust, our Council member and former member of the Welsh Senedd David Melding argues that federal structures are the best way of preserving the constitutional and geographical integrity of the United Kingdom. In a federal UK, powers and responsibilities would be transparently and [...]
In this recorded session, Professor Jim Gallagher and Glyndwr Cennydd Jones explore the successes and challenges of the devolution arrangements since 1999; the need for change and reform of the UK constitutional landscape; and the opportunities presented by models of federalism and confederalism. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE or in the [...]
In this video, our Chairman John Stevens and Director Brendan Donnelly discuss the recent secret meeting of Labour and Conservative politicians with a view to "making Brexit work". They conclude the Conservative representatives were driven to this meeting by their private realisation of Brexit’s failings; while the Labour Party is [...]
There is a mystery for me in contemplating the political career of Nicola Surgeon. I first faced this during the 2015 General Election, which I spent largely in Scotland, campaigning for Unionist friends. I was hoping to see the “No” campaign victory in the 2014 referendum (in which I was [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
