University to lead public debate on constitutional change
Published: 20 May 2015
Three of the University of Glasgow’s senior academics have been awarded £100,000 funding to lead public debate and knowledge exchange on constitutional change in the aftermath of the General Election.
Three of the University of Glasgow’s senior academics have been awarded £100,000 funding to lead public debate and knowledge exchange on constitutional change in the aftermath of the General Election.
The three public policy experts – Des McNulty, Deputy Director of Policy Scotland and formerly convenor of the Finance Committee in the Scottish Parliament; Professor Adam Tomkins, a leading constitutional lawyer who holds the John Millar Chair of Public Law; and Professor Duncan Maclennan, who specialises in urban economics/cities policy and has high level experience in government in Scotland, Australia and Canada - are being funded by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) as Constitutional Change Knowledge Exchange Leadership Fellows.
Under the umbrella of Policy Scotland, the University’s public and social policy hub, the three will lead a series of public engagement events to explore the implications for constitutional change of last year’s Independence Referendum and the outcome of the recent General Election which include the implementation of the recommendations of the Smith Commission and George Osborne’s announcement of more powers for the Manchester city region.
Mr McNulty said: “The political handling of devolution and metropolitan autonomy have become inextricably interlinked, not least as handing over powers to metropolitan areas in England is seen as a key response to Scottish devolution.
Yet those two issues have been dealt with by Whitehall and Westminster as separate exercises, with different timetables and no coherent or unifying principles to underpin them.”
He added: “Piecemeal policy has made an already complex set of constitutional, fiscal and governance issues more challenging. In particular, the constitutional and fiscal implications of City Deals have barely been explored, either by policymakers or researchers. A major exercise in evidence mobilisation is required to support better-informed decisions by policymakers and the public.”
The University of Glasgow team will mount a series of activities, working in close consultation with civil servants of the UK and devolved governments, as well as organisations such as the Core Cities Group and the ESRC itself. The Glasgow academics will also draw on expertise from colleagues from Canada, Australia, the USA and Europe.
The first events are likely to be two mini-conferences in London in June /July entitled “City Deals: progress, problems and prospects” and “Where next for Devolution and Federalism in the UK”. Four further major events are planned between September and December, timed to fit in with parliamentary deliberations. Information about the project will be published on the Policy Scotland website http://policyscotland.gla.ac.uk and via the Policy Scotland twitter account @policyscotland
Find out more
Media Enquiries: Liz.Buie@glasgow.ac.uk/ 0141 330 2702.
First published: 20 May 2015
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