Brevia Consulting is providing a weekly round-up and analysis of the UK headlines. This week, read about the Supreme Court’s ruling on the issue of the Scottish Government legislating for a second independence referendum, recent criticism of the Home Office’s migration policy, and Gordon Brown’s soon to be published review into constitutional reform.
HOLYROOD CANNOT LEGISLATE FOR INDYREF2—SUPREME COURT
The UK Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to legislate on areas of the constitution.[1] The Scottish Government had brought the case to test whether an ’advisory’ referendum could be legislated for by Holyrood. The Court rejected the argument that any referendum would be merely ’advisory’ as it would have ’important political consequences relating to the union and the UK Parliament’ – matters reserved to Westminster.[2] Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who had planned to hold indyref2 on 19 October 2023, said she would respect the judgement.[3] However, the ruling moves the debate firmly back into the political sphere and the SNP are likely to push the ’democracy denial’ line to try and agitate for electoral support.
GOVERNMENT FAILING ON ITS MIGRATION POLICY
The shortcomings of the Government’s migration policy were highlighted this week after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published its estimates for UK international migration. The ONS estimates that net migration has reached 504,000 for the year ending June 2022, the highest number on record.[4] These findings came only a day after Home Secretary Suella Braverman faced the Home Affairs Committee, where she admitted that the UK has failed to control its borders.[5] During this same evidence session, Braverman floundered when pressed by Tim Loughton MP on the lack of safe and legal routes available to asylum seekers fleeing persecution, eventually conceding that migrants can submit an asylum application ‘if [they] are able to get to the UK’.[6] Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described Braverman’s comments as ‘shameful’.[7]
LABOUR TO UNVEIL PLANS FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
Keir Starmer is set to back sweeping constitutional changes by endorsing the recommendations of a review by Gordon Brown into constitutional reform.[8] Starmer commissioned Brown to write the review in order to fulfill his Labour Leadership campaign pledge of ‘radical devolution’.[9] These changes will include banning second jobs for MPs, extending devolution by giving devolved assemblies further powers and rolling out new devolution deals for English regions, strengthening the Electoral Commission, and replacing the House of Lords with an elected chamber.[10] However, the report will not endorse greater fiscal devolution, such as giving further tax-raising powers to cities or regions.[11] Starmer publicly supported the abolition of the House of Lords this week, as he complained that Boris Johnson has given peerages to ‘lackeys and donors’.[12]
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Notes
[1] The Supreme Court, ‘REFERENCE by the Lord Advocate of devolution issues under paragraph 34 of Schedule 6 to the Scotland Act 1998’, 23 November 2022, Link
[2] The Supreme Court, ‘JUDGMENT: REFERENCE by the Lord Advocate of devolution issues under paragraph 34 of Schedule 6 to the Scotland Act 1998’, 23 November 2022, Link
[3] Nicola Sturgeon, Twitter, 23 November 2022, Link
[4] ONS, ‘Long-term international migration, provisional: year ending June 2022’, 24 November 2022, Link
[5] BBC, ‘Suella Braverman: We have failed to control our borders’, 23 November 2022, Link
[6] House of Commons, ‘Home Affairs Committee Oral Evidence: The work of the Home Secretary’, 23 November 2022, Link
[7] Yvette Cooper, Twitter, 23 November 2022, Link
[8] Financial Times, ‘Labour plans to shake up UK by extending devolution’, 22 November 2022, Link
[9] Keir Starmer, ‘My pledges to you’, Link
[10] Financial Times, ‘Labour plans to shake up UK by extending devolution’, 22 November 2022, Link
[11] Ibid.
[12] The Observer, ‘Keir Starmer: I will abolish House of Lords to ‘restore trust in politics’’, 19 November 2022, Link
