This is a new blog about institutional aspects of devolution in the United Kingdom (and decentralised and federal systems) in other countries. The aim is to bring a degree of constitutional and institutional expertise to debates about devolution and ‘territorial politics’ in the UK.
About me: I am a sort-of academic, associated with the University of Edinburgh and the Constitution Unit at University College London. I am a non-practising solicitor admitted in England and Wales, and have written a good deal about devolution, with an emphasis on intergovernmental relations and how devolution affects the UK state at the centre. I’ve also done a good deal of work on devolution in Wales. Friends say I have a unique knowledge of how devolution affects all parts of the UK. I have advised two House of Lords select committees on aspects of devolution – the Constitution Committee for its inquiry on Devolution: Inter-Institutional Relations in the United Kingdom in 2001-03, and more recently the ad hoc committee on The Barnett Formula. I am also constitutional adviser to Tomorrow’s Wales/Cymru Yfory.
