Write for us!Devolution
Why World Government Would Be a Bad Idea
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In 1964, the Labour Party manifesto declared an aspiration for a single world government Labour always regarded the cold war strategies as a second best, forced on us by Russia’s obstinacy and remained faithful to its long-term belief in the establishment of east-west co-operation as the basis for a strengthened United Nations developing towards world government. World Government is not a mainstream idea in UK politics – and I can’t imagine today’s Labour Party going there. But within liberal and progressive circles, there’s some sympathy for the concept, presumably motivated by that liberal sense of internationalism and a desire to…
Scottish Independence: A Second Bite of the Cherry or a More Fruitful Pursuit?
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I voted Remain in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Since then, I have come to the conclusion that I was young and naïve back then and didn’t completely understand all the arguments. I most likely voted ‘no’ for sentimental reasons: my heart felt more attached to being part of the UK, than Scotland per se. Fast-forward to today and obviously being a lot more mature and educated on the debate surrounding Scottish Independence, I am still content that I would vote Remain again on the grounds that I don’t believe that the SNP’s argument for Independence is persuasive enough to…
The Death of Local Democracy: How English Planning Reform Is Silencing Communities (and Why Almost Nobody in Power Seems to Mind)
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There is a particular kind of political sleight of hand that works best when performed quietly. Not in the dead of night, not through scandal, but through the patient accumulation of technical changes – each one framed as modernisation, each one a little harder to object to than the last, and each one moving power incrementally away from the people who are most affected by decisions and toward those who have the most to gain from making them. The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 is one of the most significant examples of this in a generation. It received Royal Assent…
Another Referendum?
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The problem of asking people what they want in a referendum is that after the event, those happy with the result declare that the matter now settled and those who do not like the result then want another referendum at a later date. The problem for the Liberal Democrats is the party has held both views at the same time, following the Scottish Independence referendum and then the Brexit vote. In Scotland, the Party was happy with the result after the Independence Referendum, as the party campaigned strongly against independence, although it was estimated that 40% of Liberal Democrat voters…
The Scottish Parliament Election
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The recent elections to the Scottish Parliament saw an increase from 4 to 10 Liberal Democrat MSPs at Holyrood, compared to 58 for the SNP, 17 each for Labour and Reform, 15 Greens and 12 Conservatives. Now the sixth largest party in the Scottish Parliament, the Liberal Democrats have fallen from 17 MSPs in the first Parliament in 1999, when they entered a coalition to form the first devolved government with Labour 27 years ago. In the following two elections the Lib Dems only lost one seat. The party has celebrated this recent result as a great success, but what…
A Liberal Approach to Restructuring Local Government in England
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A few years back I was tasked by my party, namely The Liberal Party, in my capacity as chair of the policy sub-committee, to formulate policies for local governance. This was a subject I had not studied before and I soon realised what a fragmented and disjointed system it is. Hence, the need for reform. England has in some places up to four layers of Local Government (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have one by contrast, namely unitary authorities) but by the same token, England is one of the most centralised states, certainly in Europe if not the OECD.…
