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Parliamentary Affairs Advance Access published online on May 10, 2008
Parliamentary Affairs, doi:10.1093/pa/gsn018
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© The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government; all rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

The Constitution of the United Kingdom

Alexandra Kelso

P. LeylandThe Constitution of the United Kingdom, Hart Publishing, 2007.

E. WicksThe Evolution of a Constitution, Hart Publishing, 2006.

N. KnightGoverning Britain Since 1945, Politicos, 2006.

K.D. EwingThe Cost of Democracy, Hart Publishing, 2007.

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The election of the Labour government in 1997 marked a new phase for constitutional politics in Britain. Those in favour of constitutional reform had for a long time been singing the same song repeatedly. This was a song which lamented the accretion of executive power, which regretted the overly centralised nature of the state, and which bemoaned the distortions of representative democracy and the highly limited opportunities for popular participation in politics. After 18 years in opposition, at the sharp end of a political system which seemed exclusionary, distant and unfair, the Labour Party became committed to addressing the worst aspects of a malfunctioning constitution. The party pledged in its 1997 manifesto that it was committed to democratic renewal through decentralisation. The party's plans to ‘clean up politics’ incorporated the removal of the hereditary peers from the House of Lords, the reform of party funding, devolution of power to Scotland . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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