New edition of Monitor: Starmer's constitutional timidity

The latest edition of the Constitution Unit's regular constitutional review, Monitor, is now available. Published three times a year, Monitor provides a unique round-up and analysis of constitutional developments over the preceding four months.

Monitor 91 is available both online and as a downloadable PDF. Use the online version to find and share the stories that interest you the most or read and print the PDF version.

Among much else, this edition of Monitor covers:

• the vulnerability of a non-statutory Ethics and Integrity Commission and new changes to Business Appointment Rules
• calls for the government to go further on electoral reform
• a shakeup of local government in England, including the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill and proposed abolition of police and crime commissioners
• the relative intransigence of the House of Lords
• proposed changes to citizenship education
• a significant government reshuffle
• the stripping of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's titles, styles and honours
• the political parties' varying approaches to the ECHR
• Lucy Powell's win in the Labour Party deputy leadership election
• choppier waters in Northern Ireland
• constitutional politics in Scotland and Wales and
• the appointment of new Constitution Unit honorary and associate staff.

Monitor's lead story by Meg Russell and Alan Renwick can be found on the Unit's blog. They warn that 'Starmer's government could be seeking to lead, and to set the tone on constitutional standards, in an environment of growing concern about the health of democracy. Instead, changes feel timid and reluctant in the face of serious threats.'