If anyone in the Labour Party was worrying about the outcome of referendums for regional assemblies then fear not because according to The New Republic – we already have regional assemblies!
Since Tony Blair became prime minister, the U.K. has become a quasi-federal state, with separately elected assemblies and parliaments in the three non-English parts of the kingdom (Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland) and with less-powerful regional assemblies throughout England.
That’s according to Jacob T. Levy is Assistant Professor of Political Science and the College at the University of Chicago, and the author of The Multiculturalism of Fear (Oxford 2000). He writes regularly at volokh.blogspot.com
In fairness, despite this blunder, Levy’s article is worth a read and he goes on to make some interesting points about constitutional change in the UK.
As I have said before I think we should eventually move to becoming a federal state and the absence of a written constitution does make the process difficult but not impossible.
The best way to ressolve these constitutional issues is to create a Constitutional Convention that can deal with the power-relations between the component parts of the UK and between the future federalised state and the EU. And I think it might be a good idea to put it down on paper.
