The UK’s constitution is not working

When there is no proper accountability and transparency, government policymaking becomes sloppy

New by me, at @FT

https://www.ft.com/content/27e55f9b-018e-4f52-80c7-97844629f351

"The UK constitution is drifting into the arena of the unwell..."

Many thanks to my lovely editors at @FT for allowing that allusion to a certain film.

I am on favour of a working constitution, codified or not

A codified constitution, in principle, is neither good nor bad - and in practice can be quite bad

My view is that the 'codified' debate is a distraction from seeing how things can be improved without codification https://twitter.com/JackDG511/status/1307367534212141057

We do have a constitution - quite a detailed one, set out in numerous Acts of Parliament, other legal instruments, books of authority and so on, regulating executive, parliament, judiciary, etc

Do not confuse not having a constitution with not having a 'codified' one https://twitter.com/honestman2709/status/1307368038170230787

The piece in summary

On the 'big clashes' - the constitution still does work - Miller I and II, the Benn Act, etc

It is the small things, which are accumulating, where the constitution is not working

On of the ironic and unintended consequences of not having a codified constitution is that any attempt to discuss how to improve our constitutional arrangements often becomes an abstract debate about codification, and nothing practical actually gets done

The codification debate is our way of *not* thinking usefully about our constitutional problems

A form of avoidance

"This is the most blinkered, short-sighted and vacant piece I have read on the British constitution in a long time."

This is the sprit!