VIDEO: Dr Alan Renwick & Katie Ghose - A Constitutional Convention for the UK: What Form Should It Take?
8 December 2014
Speaker: Dr Alan Renwick & Katie Ghose
12th November 2014
Four of the five main UK political parties have voiced support for a constitutional convention based on popular participation. But what form should such a convention take? There are a variety of possible models and some would work much better than others. This presentation will set out criteria that can be used to evaluate the options and then draw on evidence from recent reform processes - notably in Canada, Iceland, and Ireland - to see which options are more or less likely to meet those criteria in the UK.
Dr Alan Renwick is Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Reading. He is an expert on processes of electoral and constitutional reform. His pamphlet, After the Referendum: Options for a Constitutional Convention was published by the Constitution Society in April.
Katie Ghose is the Chief Executive of the ERS. A campaigner and barrister with a background in human rights law and immigration, she served as a Commissioner on the Independent Asylum Commission from 2006-2008, where she helped to conduct the biggest ever independent review of the UK asylum system leading to the government's commitment to get rid of the detention of children in immigration centres.
Further Reading
- Alan Renwick's Pamphlet: After the Referendum: Options for a Constitutional Convention
- Event blog summary by Sonali Campion: Imagining a constitutional convention for the UK
- Robert Hazells's Blog: You want a constitutional convention? This is what you need to think through first
- Meg Russell's Blog: An English Constitutional Convention could benefit both main parties in the face of the UKIP threat