Key points:
- The tumultuous past decade in UK politics has demonstrated the need to better protect the constitution.
- This new report makes 28 recommendations across seven topic areas for how to safeguard the UK constitution and protect the integrity of our democracy.
- Many reforms can be quickly implemented by the government alone or through non-legislative parliamentary processes, some can be added to existing legislative plans, while others will need government reviews and future legislation.
Read the report
Read Safeguarding the Constitution: Key Steps to Strengthen UK Democratic Resilience.
Access the PDFRead a summary
Read a summary of the report on our blog by Lisa James, Professor Meg Russell and Professor Alan Renwick.
Access the blog postRead the recommendations
Read Safeguarding the Constitution: Key Steps to Strengthen UK Democratic Resilience's recommendations.
Access the PDFConstitutions provide the rule-book by which politics is played. However, a new report published by the UCL Constitution Unit argues that the tumultuous last decade in UK politics has shown the limitations of depending on conventions and restraint in politics, and spotlighted constitutional loopholes that could be exploited by an unscrupulous government. In addition, it suggests the UK has seen an intensification of longer-running democratic concerns, and new developments which also require a response.
Safeguarding the Constitution: Key Steps to Strengthen UK Democratic Resilience, by Lisa James, Professor Meg Russell and Professor Alan Renwick, sets out some reforms that should be prioritised to address known constitutional loopholes and vulnerabilities, enable the constitution to meet the needs and challenges of contemporary politics and society, and support citizens to participate effectively in democracy. It focuses primarily on topics where the Unit has recently carried out detailed work.
The new report does not set out a programme for radical constitutional reform. Andy Burnham’s government will have many things that it wants to do, including in the constitutional arena, and government resources and legislative time will be limited. Instead, the report presents a list of 28 ‘must do’ changes to safeguard, or ‘future-proof’, the constitution and protect the integrity of UK democracy.
The report covers seven topics: safeguarding parliament, improving scrutiny, protecting ethics regulators, increasing transparency, strengthening elections, updating political finance rules and improving the information environment. It says that many of its 28 recommendations can be quickly implemented by the government alone or through non-legislative parliamentary processes, while others can be added to existing legislative plans, and government-initiated reviews and future legislation are needed to advance some changes.
A full list of recommendations, divided by topic area, can be found below:
1. The Prime Minister’s power to appoint to the House of Lords should be limited, by introducing a cap on the size of the chamber and requiring fair political balance in appointments.
2. House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) recommendations against nominees on propriety grounds should be made binding.
3. The House of Commons should be required to approve proposed prorogations and dissolutions of parliament.
4. The House of Commons should be given the power to recall itself from recess.
5. A confirmatory vote on the weekly Commons agenda should be introduced via changes to standing orders.
6. House of Commons standing orders should be amended to reduce government control over the allocation of opposition and backbench time, and to ensure that the allocation of opposition time reflects the distribution of seats between opposition parties.
7. A thorough review of the scrutiny procedures for delegated legislation should take place. Its recommendations should then be implemented by standing order and legislative change.
8. All bills that would benefit from it, including constitutional bills, should be subject to evidence-taking in a public bill committee in the House of Commons; parliament should monitor and report on adherence to this norm.
9. Public bill committees should be improved, to encourage greater involvement from expert MPs, invitation of evidence from a wider range of stakeholders, and greater deliberation.
10. The active consent of the House of Commons should be required in order to enter into, exit from, or substantially modify international agreements.
11. The ethics regulators which currently lack it should be provided with a statutory underpinning.
12. A more robust appointments process that prioritises independence over ministerial discretion should be developed for key constitutional bodies.
13. Lobbying transparency rules should be made tighter and more consistent, through amendments to the Lobbying Act 2014.
14. Government transparency data should be published more regularly and in more accessible formats.
15. A new edition of the Cabinet Manual should be published, as promised by the Starmer government, and a process for regular future updating should also be established.
16. Parliamentary data on adherence to scrutiny standards should be proactively gathered and published in a central and easily accessible format.
17. Any review of the electoral system for the House of Commons should build in wide and deep public participation, and draw on expert analysis. Any final decision should be based on a clear indication of public consent.
18. The Representation of the People Bill should be amended to prohibit a single-party majority on the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, and to provide for the appointment of lay members.
19. Boundary Commission governance should be strengthened through formalising the Speaker’s non-participation in boundary reviews, and requiring commissioners to be politically impartial.
20. The legislative framework for elections should be consolidated.
21. A donations cap should be introduced, with the first step being a review to determine the correct level at which to set this for different types of donor.
22. The promised review of spending limits is welcome but should be carried out in parallel with work on donation caps; that exercise should seek to develop a fair and balanced system of political finance regulation that can command cross-party and public support.
23. The government should revisit the idea of online harms, and require platforms to consider and mitigate democratic risks. Further measures should apply during election campaigns.
24. The law around deepfakes should be clarified.
25. The new BBC charter should task the organisation with supporting democratic health.
26. An independent democratic information hub should be created, with a limited remit at first.
27. School-based citizenship education, and lifelong civic education, should be regarded as a key element of creating a healthy democracy.
28. Relevant public bodies should seek to promote public understanding of UK democracy.
The report’s lead author, Lisa James, discussed some of the report’s key conclusions at a recent Unit event asking what is next for constitutional reform in the UK. This is available to watch on YouTube or listen to in podcast form, including on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Key links:
- The Constitution Unit – find out more about the UK’s leading research centre on constitutional change.
- Safeguarding the UK Constitution: Essential Steps for a More Resilient Democracy – read the report
- Safeguarding the UK Constitution: Essential Steps for a More Resilient Democracy: List of Recommendations – read the report’s recommendations.
- ’Safeguarding the UK Constitution: Essential Steps for a More Resilient Democracy’ – read a summary of the report on our blog.
- What next for constitutional reform in the UK? – watch or listen to our most recent event, featuring Lisa James.
- Constitutional Principles and the Health of Democracy – find out more about the project which this report forms part of.
Short-form videos:
- ’What is constitutional resilience?’ – watch Lisa James discuss the report in a short-form video.
- ’Why does the constitution need protecting?’ – watch Lisa James discuss the report in a short-form video.
- ’What opportunities does the Burnham government have to strengthen democracy?’ – watch Lisa James discuss the report in a short-form video.
In the media:
- ’Safeguarding the constitution’ – read Joshua Rozenberg’s write-up of the report in A Lawyer Writes.
- ’Classless chaps’ – read coverage of the report in POLITICO’s London Playbook.
- ’The steps Burnham can take to safeguard our constitution’ – read Lisa James’s opinion article about the report in PoliticsHome.
- ’Can we safeguard our constitution before the next general election?’ – read David Allen Green’s write-up of the report in Prospect.
