Tag: Dave Richards
By pre-announcing his resignation, David Cameron has made himself something of a “lame duck”
David Cameron announced prior to the last General Election that he intended to retire as Prime Minister, using an odd analogy about a breakfast cereal in doing so. Here, Kingsley Purdam, Dave Richards, and Nick Turnbull argue that Cameron has inadvertently created a situation similar to that faced by second term US presidents, that of […]
The demise of the Parliament’s Political and Constitutional Reform Comittee: executive power is again predominant
Just how strong is the Conservatives mandate? With only 24.7% of eligible voters opting to support them, perhaps not as strong as their majority might suggest. One of their first moves has been to abolish the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, a key organ of democracy in the struggle to improve British […]
How to address the pathologies of the British political tradition in an age of disengagement and distrust
There is undoubtedly a major issue of political disengagement between voters and Westminster’s system of government. However, the Westminster political class appears to regard the solution to the current maladies as finding ways to reinforce the existing system, rather than embracing the need to re-think the current nature of politics. It is clear that many of […]
Book Review: Devolution and Localism in England by David M. Smith and Enid Wistrich
Tracing the development of decentralisation policies through regional policies up to and including the 2010 General Election and the radical shift away from regionalism to localism by the new Coalition Government thereafter, the authors consider some of the key policies of the incumbent Coalition Government such as City Regions and Localism. This book is a much-needed contribution […]
The Universal Credit fiasco shows that we need a new model of Ministerial accountability
The Government’s Universal Credit scheme looks to be unravelling, with the Public Accounts Committee recently levelling a series of withering criticisms at the Department for Work and Pensions. Dave Richards and Martin Smith argue that the Secretary of State’s decision to pin the blame for these failures on his departmental officials marks the culmination of a long term blurring […]
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