Write for us!Written constitution
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…
Speaking About Democracy in the House of Lords
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I spoke in the House of Lords on Monday about the irony of raising issues of democracy in what is now an entirely appointed chamber. My expectation when I entered the House in 1999, as a nominee of Paddy Ashdown, was that I would only serve for a few years before contesting elections for membership of the House in the promised, but never delivered, phase two of reform, promised after Tony Blair and Labour won the 1997 general election. Reform has been extremely slow I never thought that it would take 29 years to complete phase one, with the removal…
How Not to Make a Magna Carta
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A “New Magna Carta” was one of Ed Davey’s brand-new announcements at his speech to the Spring Conference on Sunday (15 March 2026). Let’s set aside the obvious question of how this has suddenly appeared as a new LibDem policy proposal without any consultation with the membership, and what this means for internal party democracy. After all, few Liberal Democrats would disagree with the principle of a written constitution. And it is certainly consistent with liberal values. But was what Ed was proposing really a good idea? I’m going to say no. It looks to me like he has taken…
