Nyatanga, Darryn
(2023)
The impact of Brexit on the UK’s devolution settlement: the constitutional implications and pathways to reform.
PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
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Abstract
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union (Brexit) continues to dominate legal, political, and academic debates. The decision left the UK facing challenges from two unions: the departure from the EU and the future certainty of its own Union. With a particular focus on the latter, questions on the future feasibility of the UK’s territorial constitution have become of great concern. Thus, this thesis explores the constitutional implications of Brexit on the internal territorial dynamics within the UK. It will be highlighted throughout the thesis that Brexit has had asymmetrical effects in each territory. More significantly, these effects have been the central catalyst behind the current period of constitutional unsettlement in the UK. In addition, it will also be evidenced within the thesis that the UK Government’s attempts so far to mitigate (or often ignore) these effects have thus far failed - demonstrating how difficult it now is to manage internal territorial dynamics within the UK post – Brexit. Reflecting upon these points, the main research question for this thesis is ‘What constitutional implications has the UK’s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit) had for the UK’s devolution settlement and territorial constitution?’ In response to this question, the prevailing argument in this thesis is that Brexit has exposed and exacerbated differential constitutional challenges in each of the UK’s territories. Combined, and at times in isolation, these challenges have brought into question the future of the UK’s territorial integrity. Thus far, there has been a systematic failure to mitigate these effects, and the continuation of the status quo is increasingly becoming untenable. This, therefore, provides sufficient evidence for the need to start considering alternative means to resolve the current period of constitutional unsettlement and deal with the effects of Brexit. Within the space created for constitutional reform proposals, the thesis argues that one possible way forward is to introduce symmetrical (at the centre) and asymmetrical (among the constituent units) constitutional reforms under a ‘hybrid federal’ framework. In concluding the thesis, it will be acknowledged that given the many different actors, at different levels, with different objectives, it is challenging to provide universally accepted constitutional reforms and solutions to the problems identified. Nevertheless, as the ‘midwives of constitutional reform’, the ultimate decision on whether to change course and what that new course may look like remains with the UK Government. What remains unambiguous for now is that the effects of Brexit have tested the limits of the UK’s constitutional order and that maintaining the status quo is increasingly becoming untenable – further edging towards a constitutional crisis. This will only intensify the need for an alternative way forward that could look like the above proposal.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Law and Social Justice |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Feb 2024 16:02 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Feb 2024 16:03 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03176803 |
| Supervisors: |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3176803 |
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