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Safeguarding the Constitution: Key Steps to Strengthen UK Democratic Resilience
By Lisa James, Meg Russell and Alan Renwick, on 23 July 2026
The Constitution Unit today publishes a new report: Safeguarding the Constitution: Key Steps to Strengthen UK Democratic Resilience. In this post its authors, Lisa James, Meg Russell and Alan Renwick, discuss some of the report’s conclusions.
Time to make lobbying more transparent
By Peter Riddell, on 20 July 2026
The Ethics and Integrity Commission has published a report on how to reform how lobbying of government is regulated, reported and monitored. Peter Riddell welcomes many of the findings and recommendations, and urges Andy Burnham to legislate to implement as many of the report’s recommendations as possible, preferably in a broader bill that seeks to make large scale reforms to the wider standards regime.
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Times of transition: Starmer’s record and Burnham’s agenda
By Alan Renwick and Tom Fleming, on 17 July 2026
The past four months have seen nationally important by-elections, local elections in England, national elections in Scotland and Wales, and Keir Starmer’s resignation. In this post, which replicates the lead article of the latest issue of Monitor, Alan Renwick and Tom Fleming reflect on the constitutional successes and failures of the Starmer government, and look ahead to what a Burnham government might bring for the constitution.
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Revising the Cabinet Manual: five constitutional conventions which defy precise definition
By Robert Hazell, on 6 July 2026
The third instalment of this series about the Cabinet Manual discussed what it should say about mid term changes of Prime Minister. The great value of the manual is that it seeks to codify the UK’s core constitutional conventions. But conventions are flexible, they evolve, their scope and application may be contested. In this fourth post, Robert Hazell analyses five key constitutional conventions, and identifies where there is disagreement about how they should operate.
Andy Burnham’s Number 10 should have fewer special advisers
By Robert Hazell, on 1 July 2026
Keir Starmer had 42 Special Advisers in Number 10. The expectation is that Andy Burnham will recruit a similar number. In this post, Robert Hazell argues that to avoid the turmoil of his predecessor Burnham should aim to have fewer, more heavyweight Special Advisers, working more closely with the Number 10 civil servants. Read the rest of this entry »
