Profound constitutional change will be the drumbeat of this parliament. The two unions that define the country – the United Kingdom and the European Union – will be tested and reshaped. Debates over devolution and our place in Europe will be matched by parliamentary contest over issues such as the Human Rights Act, potentially far-reaching boundary changes, and the broader, never-ending struggle between the legislature and executive over the exercise of power. Added to this, formal politics and the UK’s democratic structures continue to list dangerously, a 20th-century edifice failing to keep pace with the fluidity and heterogeneity of the 21st.
Given these vitally important issues for our democracy, it would seem appropriate that such measures receive full, cross-party scrutiny in parliament. Yesterday, however, we learned that the government disagrees. By refusing to re-establish the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee (PCRSC), they are denying parliament the opportunity to examine such issues in depth, and so provide a much-needed form of public accountability and scrutiny on how our democracy will evolve.
