Brexit and the UK Parliament: Challenges and Opportunities

Lynch, Philip; Whitaker, Richard; Cygan, Adam

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-06043-5_3

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Not only were they likely to provide the strongest evidence of any Brexit effect, but such files characterised the 2017–2019 parliamentary session, lasting (unusually) 2 years in order to get the Brexit legislation through, in what came to be known as the ‘Brexit Parliament’ (cf. Lynch et al, 2019: 54). While the majority of parliamentary activity was focused on activities other than Brexit, it has been shown that, beyond Brexit legislation, the government dealt with specific areas of policy rather than broader reforms and major bills (Institute for Government, 2020).…”

Section: Executive–legislative Relations: the Constrained Dominance O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Back to the Westminster model? The Brexit process and the UK political system

Baldini

Bressanelli

Massetti

2021

International Political Science Review

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This article investigates the impact of Brexit on the British political system. By critically engaging with the conceptualisation of the Westminster model proposed by Arend Lijphart, it analyses the strains of Brexit on three dimensions developed from from Lijphart’s framework: elections and the party system, executive– legislative dynamics and the relationship between central and devolved administrations. Supplementing quantitative indicators with an in-depth qualitative analysis, the article shows that the process of Brexit has ultimately reaffirmed, with some important caveats, key features of the Westminster model: the resilience of the two-party system, executive dominance over Parliament and the unitary character of the political system. Inheriting a context marked by the progressive weakening of key majoritarian features of the political system, the Brexit process has brought back some of the traditional executive power-hoarding dynamics. Yet, this prevailing trend has created strains and resistances that keep the political process open to different developments.

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Section: Executive–legislative Relations: the Constrained Dominance O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Back to the Westminster model? The Brexit process and the UK political system

Baldini

Bressanelli

Massetti

2021

International Political Science Review

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“…That gave the government a majority of four seats, but in reality it was 11 because Sinn Féin’s MPs do not take their seats in the Commons (Hayward, 2020). In 2017, almost 90% of MPs were Conservative or Labour, and while other parties had some influence, they tended to split along left–right and pro-/anti-Brexit lines (Bale, 2020; Lynch, 2020; Russell, 2021; Whitaker, 2020). Numerous MPs would subsequently switch parties, join new ones or become independents at a higher rate than usual, primarily related to Brexit but also reflecting Labour’s factional conflicts (Table 1).…”

Section: British Parties Factions and Brexit Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That set the scene for a struggle between Leavers and Remainers in the UK parliament over what type of deal to seek from the EU. The hung parliament of 2017–2019 contained (1) a large minority of pro-Remain opposition MPs seeking a second referendum; (2) a smaller minority of mainly Conservative ‘hard’ Brexiteers; and (3) loyalist government MPs and pragmatic opposition MPs prepared to settle for a ‘soft’ Brexit, where the UK would leave the EU but retain strong ties (Bale, 2020; Lynch, 2020; Russell, 2021; Whitaker, 2020). Such settings are usually ripe for a middle-ground compromise, given the lack of support for more polarised options.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Was There a Hard Brexit? The British Legislative Party System, Divided Majorities and the Incentives for Factionalism

2022

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The UK parliament of 2017–2019 had to decide what form of Brexit, if any, it would accept in the government’s negotiations with the EU over a withdrawal agreement. Despite a large majority of MPs having supported Remain in the 2016 referendum, with most opposed to a ‘hard’ Brexit of looser ties between the UK and the EU, all attempts to pass a ‘soft’ Brexit failed. The final withdrawal agreement reflected a hard Brexit that was closer to the preferences of a 28-strong group of Eurosceptic Conservative MPs than to those of any other party or faction in a 650-seat parliament. This article identifies the two-party system for government as a crucial variable in explaining this unexpected outcome. Governments seek majorities from among their own MPs rather than relying on the uncertain support of the opposition. This not only makes party cohesion vital, but also creates leverage for organised factions to hold sway.

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“…While May embarked on a negotiation process aimed at producing a withdrawal bill mutually acceptable to the UK and the EU (Walker 2019), an election in June 2017 meant to strengthen her hand instead resulted in a hung parliament. Anti-Brexit Conservative MPs leveraged the political situation, pressuring the government to allow a "meaningful vote" for Parliament on any negotiated deal (Lynch, Whitaker, and Cygan 2019). This resulted in considerable executive-legislative tensions regarding the ability to determine UK foreign policy, shifting ultimate authority for a Brexit deal from the comparatively fleet decisionmaking of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to the cadenced, contemplative, and rule-bound procedures of Parliament.…”

Section: Decision Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreign Policy in the Fourth Dimension (FP4D): Locating Time in Decision-Making

Beasley

Hom

2021

Foreign Policy Analysis

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While international relations scholarship has taken a “temporal turn,” foreign policy decision-making (FPDM) research reveals little explicit theoretical attention to time. Time is an important aspect of several prominent frameworks, yet these either fail to make explicit their conception of time or fail to reflect upon the implications of their temporal assumptions and understandings. We address this lacuna by developing a timing perspective on FPDM. We present the central features of this perspective, including the nature of timing agency, temporal motivations, the timing of decision-making processes, and timing as a foreign policy tool. Illustrated with empirical examples, we show how timing plays out in FPDM and helps to shed new light on our understanding of crises and ways decision-makers may grapple with them. We conclude by considering the theoretical and empirical benefits and challenges of bridging FPDM with theoretical approaches to time.

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Brexit and the UK Parliament: Challenges and Opportunities

Cited by 15 publications

References 8 publications

Back to the Westminster model? The Brexit process and the UK political system

Back to the Westminster model? The Brexit process and the UK political system

Why Was There a Hard Brexit? The British Legislative Party System, Divided Majorities and the Incentives for Factionalism

Foreign Policy in the Fourth Dimension (FP4D): Locating Time in Decision-Making

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