This research, led by Prof Michael Kenny, examines the institutional innovations and policy questions reshaping the UK’s territorial constitution, from the strains of post-Brexit devolution and the centre’s approach to the nations since 1999 to the new intergovernmental structures, including the Council of the Nations and Regions, now seeking to hold the Union together.
Growing out of a number of different pieces of research conducted by Prof Michael Kenny and various colleagues in the Bennett School, this project considers some of the most important institutional innovations and policy questions which are challenging and reshaping the UK’s territorial constitution at a pivotal moment in its historical development. The intellectual framework for this work was set out in Kenny’s book: Fractured Union – Politics, Sovereignty and the Fight to Save the UK (Hurst Publishers, 2025).
It also encompasses research he has conducted (with Jack Sheldon) on the increasingly strained relations between devolved governments and the UK’s central government which emerged in the aftermath of Brexit (When Planets Collide: The British Conservative Party and the Discordant Goals of Delivering Brexit and Preserving the Domestic Union, 2016–2019 – Michael Kenny, Jack Sheldon, 2021), and the incoherent ways in which Northern Ireland was handled by Westminster during this crisis (Full article: ‘A place apart’, or integral to ‘our precious Union’? Understanding the nature and implications of Conservative Party thinking about Northern Ireland, 2010–19). Together with Philip Rycroft, former Permanent Secretary of the Department for Exiting the EU, he published an influential paper highlighting the cultural and strategic deficiencies of the British centre’s approach to devolution since 1999 (Union at the Crossroads: Can the British state handle the challenges of devolution? – Bennett School of Public Policy).
More recently, Kenny has completed an in-depth, comparative study of the new model of inter-governmental interactions which was introduced in the UK in 2022 (with Alex Walker), with findings due to be published in 2027.
This follows on from their analysis, in partnership with PolicyWISE, of the role and potential of the Council for Nations and Regions, which was introduced by the Starmer government following its election in 2024 (A more collaborative way of governing? Why the UK’s Council of the Nations and Regions matters – Bennett School of Public Policy). This publication looks at how the Council might be further developed; where it fits within the wider architecture of UK intergovernmental relations; and how it can contribute to better relations between central government, the devolved governments, and the English ‘metro’ mayors.
Image by Number 10: https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/55414125885/in/photostream/, OGL 3, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
