ADMINISTRATION MATTERS? 19 May 2021 At this first event of our new series of webinars on "Federal Futures?" we discussed the changing structures and issues for governments and general public administration in, and between, England, Scotland and Wales. Speakers: ON WALES Dr Catherine Farrell, Cardiff University ON SCOTLAND Dr [...]
The Covid-19 crisis, the Government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda and the SNPs desire for another Scottish independence referendum are together raising issues about the various tiers and responsibilities of UK governments. Professor Colin Talbot, Emeritus Professor of Government at the University of Manchester, will be organising a series of webinars for the Federal Trust on [...]
In this video, our Council member John Palmer and Senior Research Fellow Dr Andrew Blick discuss the threats to the internal cohesion of the United Kingdom arising from Brexit and Covid-19. They believe in particular that it will be difficult to avoid holding a second referendum on independence for Scotland. [...]
In this new video, our Chairman, John Stevens, and Director, Brendan Donnelly, discuss the post-Brexit state of UK/EU relations. They argue that the present British government will generally seek a confrontational relationship with the EU over the coming months. This confrontation will be a source of instability in Northern Ireland and encourage the forces [...]
This article was first published by the Scottish Centre on European Relations The UK government’s integrated defence and foreign policy review is about to see the light of day. Some of its likely approach is already clear. ‘Global Britain’ may be a mixture of post-Brexit ideology, imperial power nostalgia and [...]
In this video, our Chairman, John Stevens, and Director, Brendan Donnelly, discuss the likely future course of EU-UK relations and whether the two are on a collision course. They expect that friction will be the dominant feature of the relationship, and predict that a political force will emerge in the medium term [...]
In this video, Federal Trust Senior Research Fellow Dr Andrew Blick comments on the emerging debate about a more federalised United Kingdom. He argues that the nature of federalism has often been misunderstood in the UK because of the confused and confusing debate surrounding a European “federal superstate.” A growing [...]
Federalism is best defined as a system in which constitutional authority is divided between a ‘federal’ tier of government and a set of territorial ‘states’. It is a comprehensive and symmetrical model in which the entirety (or almost the entirety) of the country is covered by states, which have identical [...]
The UK’s politics failed in the face of Brexit for a mixture of reasons. There were three main causes. First, the ideology and dishonesty at the heart of the pro-Brexiters’ campaigning was, and remains, central. Second, Labour’s opposition to Brexit foundered on internal splits and a leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who [...]
This article was first published by the Scottish Centre on European Relations There is more than a whiff of hysteria in the air about the possibility of the UK fragmenting via Scottish independence and Irish reunification. Two former UK chancellors (one also an ex-prime minister) find the idea that [...]
