With government in the choppiest of political waters, can the British constitution provide a suitably stable platform? Mark Elliott analyses the implications of the general election
That the general election was – ostensibly if spuriously – called in order to facilitate ‘strong and stable’ government is well known. So too is the fact that the plan backfired in spectacular fashion. There are rich seams to be tapped here both by contemporary political commentators and, in due course, historians of ill-judged election campaigns. But what might the lessons and implications of the 2017 general election be from a constitutional perspective? In particular, are recent events evidence of – or likely to precipitate – not just political, but constitutional, instability?