Northern Ireland’s so-called marching season is usually petering out by now. This year looks to be different. On Sunday 27 September, after a 28-year wait and a flurry of last-minute legal challeng…

There is some unreality to the current clamour for reform of Northern Ireland’s devolved government. The three major non-unionist parties, as well as the British and Irish governments, have propose…

On Monday 7th September 2026, Jamaica filed a petition with King Charles asking him to refer three specific questions on transatlantic slavery to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (‘JCPC’…

In Vince v Associated Newspapers [2026] EWCA Civ 899, the Court of Appeal held that an unfair processing compensation claim under data protection law provided redress against the seriously misleadi…

The Scottish Government’s proposals to introduce statutory price caps on essential food items provide a new test of the practical effects of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 (UKIMA) on d…

Wales has done something unusual – it has enacted a duty to prohibit electoral lies before deciding what the prohibition will look like. Since 27 June 2026, section 13 of the Government of Wales Ac…

Professor Se-shauna Wheatle is stepping down as one of the editors of the UK Constitutional Law Association Blog. We would like to thank Se-shauna, on behalf of the wider public law community, for …

Recently enacted clauses expressly include define a “determination” to include a “purported determination” or state that a court may not question a “determination or purported determination”. It is…

In a recent decision, the Upper Tribunal (‘the UT’) has found that the operation of section 44 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘FOIA’) breaches the right to access information under Article…

Reform Party MP Danny Kruger is concerned. The UK, he says, has ‘a bloated, paralysed centre of government and a mutinous bureaucracy’; and that ‘Real power is held not by the elected government bu…

The system which handles appeals against the Home Office’s asylum and immigration decisions looks set, once again, to be overhauled. If enacted, Part 1 of the Immigration and Asylum Bill woul…

Introduction On 19 June 2026, the Outer House of the Court of Session handed down judgment in the case of For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers [2026] CSOH 59 (“For Women Scotland 3”). This piece…

In September 2024, the Government suspended around thirty arms export licences to Israel, having found a clear risk that United Kingdom equipment might be used to commit serious violations of inter…

On 13 July 2026, the Immigration and Asylum Bill is scheduled to receive its second reading in the House of Commons. Public attention has fixed on Part 2 and its Article 8 clauses. This post is abo…

Introduction “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes”. This line is credited to Mark Twain, but the thought is older. Jonathan Swift complained three cent…

The literature on section 2 of the Human Rights Act 1998 has largely been preoccupied with a single direction of travel: how far domestic courts may go beyond the Strasbourg case law, or against it…

This post is part of a series on ‘Economic Aspects of the Constitution’. The other posts in the series will be available here. Whether one subscribes to the notion of the ‘ancient constitution’ or …

Digitalisation has become an inseparable aspect of delivering public services, inspiring conversations around the impacts of digitalisation on citizens and of what it means for states to transition…

As is well known, the group “Palestine Action” has been subject to proscription by the Home Secretary under the Terrorism Act 2000. The Court of Appeal has recently handed down judgment in litigati…

Following the release of the Report by the National Audit Office (‘NAO’) (‘the Report’) on royal residences, it has emerged that King Charles pays the rent on properties occupied by his nieces, Pri…

This post is part of a series on ‘Economic Aspects of the Constitution’. The other posts in the series will be available here. In 1966, as England won their last men’s football World Cup, the …

This post is part of a series on ‘Economic Aspects of the Constitution’. The other posts in the series will be available here. Introduction Section 12 of the Justice and Security Act 2013, the…

It is seldom that the much-mythologised Magna Carta is actually engaged. Yet in A Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland [2026] UKSC 16 (the Deprivation of Liberty Reference) the Su…

This post is part of a series on ‘Economic Aspects of the Constitution’. The other posts in the series will be available here. Fiscal devolution in the United Kingdom (UK) is often examined through…

1. Introduction Recent public law cases concerning dualism––the operative divide between international and domestic jurisprudence––have prompted renewed debate about the constitutional role of judi…

Judges primarily decide cases, but they also make strategic decisions aimed at maintaining the constitutional authority of the judiciary as a whole. Doctrines, bundling, timing, and public engageme…

This post is part of a series on ‘Economic Aspects of the Constitution’. The other posts in the series will be available here. When constitutional lawyers recall the Revolution of 1688 we tend to b…

In this post we differentiate between two types of retrospective rule making (RRM): RRM in the strong sense and RRM in the weak sense. We then argue that both types of RRM may violate the rule of l…

For the first time in the history of devolution, nationalist or independence-oriented parties lead all three devolved nations simultaneously: Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland, Plaid Cymru in Wales, an…

After disastrous local government election results for the Labour Party, speculation has been rife about an internal leadership challenge to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. On Thursday 14 May 2026, th…

UKCLA Early Career Workshop in Constitutional Law and Theory – University of Bristol – 10 June 2026 *Final call for papers – deadline extended to Sunday 24th May 2026* Bristol Universit…

After months of parliamentary debate, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 (‘English Devolution Act’) received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. The Act has important implications…

The Good and Faithful Servants One of the foundational assertions of judicial approaches to legislation in the UK comes from Willes J in Lee v Bude and Torrington Railway Co: We sit here as servant…

On 7 May 2026, the people of Wales went to the polls to elect the seventh Senedd Cymru. For a number of reasons, this was always destined to be a change election in Wales: using a new voting system…

Appointing Supreme Court Justices When a vacancy arises on the UK Supreme Court (UKSC), how is it filled? And what considerations are taken into account when deciding on which qualified candidate t…

On 18 March 2026 the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill became the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026. Following one final vote on the evening of the 10th of March 2026 in the House of …

This post examines questions of accountability, transparency and oversight in the context of the UK government’s proposal for a new Independent Appeals Body for immigration and asylum decisions, re…

Bristol University’s Centre for European and Public Law (CEPL), and Liverpool University’s Public Law Unit are pleased to announce a one-day workshop for PhD candidates and early-career researchers…

Environmental Impact Assessments in the UK increasingly resemble We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. In Michael Rosen’s story, every obstacle presents the same catch phrase: “We can’t go over it. We can’t …

In R v ABJ [2026] UKSC 8 a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the offence of expressing support for a proscribed organisation, as defined in the Terrorism Act 2000, is not a disproportionate interf…

The British Indian Ocean Territory Constitution Order 2004 is legislation made by Royal Prerogative. Section 9 provides that there is no right of abode in the Chagos Islands. In R (Mandarin) v HM B…

Buckingham Palace has finally announced that the King and Queen’s planned visit to the US will indeed go ahead at the end of April 2026. After US President Donald Trump launched a string of verbal …

In 2025, the Student Loans Company reported that graduates in England leave university with an average debt of £53,000, repayable with interest. Understandably, many regard this as unjust when less…

The current government has placed much emphasis on the perceived delays and chilling effects to the delivery of major infrastructure projects as a result of judicial review challenges by project op…

Why is demand important in justice? Justice systems are predominantly analysed in terms of the quality of justice they provide and their level of accessibility. However, justice systems, like all p…

Following the Supreme Court’s decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 (“FWS”), there has been much public debate about the lawfulness of policies adopte…

This post responds to important issues raised by Dane Luo and Gabriel Tan with regard to one of the grounds upheld by the Divisional Court in the judicial review of Palestine Action’s proscription …