Towards New Constitutional Horizons:
Challenges Surrounding the Future Relationship
between a Fragmented United Kingdom and the European Union
Lecturer in Constitutional and Administrative Law, Bangor Law School, Bangor University, Wales, UK
The latest legal and political developments within the United Kingdom suggest that the country is about to embark upon a programme of significant constitutional reform. Such will systematically redefine the relationships between Government, Parliament, and the judiciary; as well as that between Westminster and the devolved UK Nations. In parallel, the traditional paradigms between legal and political constitutionalism will change in the imminent future. However, such developments have the potential to ostracise the devolved administrations. Both Brexit, and divergent responses to the COVID-19 pandemic across the UK Nations, have led to growth in the independence movements in Scotland and Wales. These developments have consequences for the future of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. This article maps proposed new UK constitutional reforms and shifting constitutionalism paradigms; and how asymmetrical quasi-federalism is now becoming likely if the UK Union is to endure and prosper. However, such also concludes that if Westminster relies on legal sovereignty, in forcing its will upon the devolved Nations, such has the potential to further fuel independence movements, particularly from those UK Nations that desire deeper regulatory alignment with the EU.
