Unit in the News: Processes of Brexit

Constitution Unit members have appeared frequently in the media in recent weeks to discuss the processes that will be involved if the UK is to leave the European Union following the referendum on 23 June:

• In the days before the referendum, Alan Renwick discussed implications of Brexit on the Guardian Politics Weekly Podcast (20 June).  He also explored the role of undecided voters in the referendum on the BBC Radio 4 PM programme (21 June, starting at 50:14) and the BBC World service (21 June).
• On the referendum day, Alan Renwick set out what would happen following a Leave victory in an article in the Telegraph: "What happens after a Leave victory?" (23 June).
• As the votes were being counted, Alan Renwick offered instant reflections on the implications of the Leave victory on ITV's referendum night programme (23-24 June).

• Alan Renwick has subsequently discussed Brexit processes on the BBC News channel (25 June), BBC World News channel (25 June), BBC Radio Wales's Good Morning Wales programme (27 June), BBC Radio 4 World Tonight (28 June, starting at 33:35), BBC Radio London's Vanessa Feltz Breakfast Show (29 June), BBC Radio 4 Westminster Hour (3 July, starting at 29:30), and a variety of local and international news outlets.

Alan Renwick has subsequently discussed Brexit processes on the BBC News channel (25 June), BBC World News channel (25 June), BBC Radio Wales's Good Morning Wales programme (27 June), BBC Radio 4 World Tonight (28 June, starting at 33:35), BBC Radio London's Vanessa Feltz Breakfast Show (29 June), BBC Radio 4 Westminster Hour (3 July, starting at 29:30), and a variety of local and international news outlets.

• Robert Hazell has made similar appearances on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme (26 June), BBC2's Victoria Derbyshire show (27 June), and various international outlets.
• Writing in Newsweek on 27 June, Alan Renwick examined the question of whether the Scottish Parliament could veto Brexit.
• The Constitution Unit's work in setting out the processes of Brexit has been cited widely in newspapers and news websites including the Guardian, Washington Post (also here), USA Today, Daily Mail, China Post, and Canada's iPolitics.  

Another theme in our media appearances has been the quality of the debate during the referendum campaign and the ways in which this could be addressed:

• Following on from a post on the Constitution Unit blog on 8 June on this subject (also published by Newsweek), Alan Renwick appeared on the BBC's Week in Parliament programme (10 June, starting at 8:56).
• Alan Renwick coordinated a letter to the Telegraph on 14 June calling for a "review ways to strengthen campaign truthfulness without curtailing legitimate free speech"; this letter was signed by over 250 political scientists and academic lawyers.
• The Constitution Unit issued a further call for an inquiry into referendum conduct on 24 June.  
• Alan Renwick elaborated upon this point with co-authors Matt Flinders and Will Jennings in their chapter in the online volume EU Referendum Analysis 2016: "Calming the storm: fighting falsehoods, fig leaves and fairy tales".
• These calls have been picked up by, among others the Guardian and Civil Service World.

Constitution Unit experts have also spoken about the rules for any Labour leadership election and the constitutional implications of a Labour split:

• Following Meg Russell's blogpost on 29 June on how a Labour split would affect the distribution of power, Alan Renwick discussed these issues during his Westminster Hour appearance listed above.
• Javier Sajuria analysed the importance of leadership election rules for shaping the current crisis within the Labour Party in a blogpost (5 July) that was picked up by a Guardian editorial on 6 June.

Where to read more

In the weeks preceding the referendum, the Constitution Unit held a series of seminars and published a series of briefing papers on the constitutional consequences of Brexit for the UK, the EU, and other member states.  The briefing papers and videos summarising the seminars are available here, as is a video of our final EU Referendum Debate, held a week before the vote.

We continue to publish posts relating to Brexit in the Europe section of the Constitution Unit's blog.