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. [...]
The UK faces various serious difficulties at present that share a common cause. Brexit does not explain each of them in its entirety. But it is fundamental to an understanding of them all. There is already clear evidence of departure from the EU’s inflicting substantial economic damage on the UK. [...]
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 [...]
by John Stevens and Dr Andrew Blick John Stevens is the Chairman of the Federal Trust. He is a former MEP (1989 - 1999). Dr Andrew Blick is Head of the Department of Political Economy and Reader in Politics and Contemporary History at King's College London. He is [...]
by Joyce Quin Photo credit: UK Parliament/ CC BY 3.0 The Rt Hon. Baroness Joyce Quin is a member of the House of Lords. She previously served in both the European Parliament and the House of Commons where she was MP for Gateshead. She was a government minister between [...]
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 [...]
This article was first published by Scottish Centre on European Relations As the start of 2021 looms, the EU and UK have a new relationship underpinned by their new trade and cooperation agreement. This agreement fractures, damages and complicates economic, political and social links between the UK and EU. And, [...]
