Although the UK Parliament retains unlimited law-making powers in devolved areas, this is tempered by a political rule – the Sewel Convention – that the UK Parliament will ‘not normally’ do so without the consent of the relevant devolved legislature(s). The Convention both facilitates co-operation between the UK and devolved authorities and provides a safeguard for devolved autonomy against unwelcome UK legislation. 

In the pre-Brexit era, the operation of the Convention was mostly uncontroversial, with only one (accidental) breach of the Convention that was quickly remedied. Yet Brexit may have resulted in an increased willingness on the part of the UK Parliament to legislate in devolved areas without consent, causing the devolved governments to lament a 'broken' convention that undermines UK-devolved co-operation and that weakens the safeguards for devolved autonomy. 

At the same time, in many policy areas outside of the Brexit context, devolved consent is routinely given to UK legislation of a technical nature or for pragmatic reasons. According to the UK Government, this demonstrates that the Convention is still working and that controversy can be contained to the 'abnormal' Brexit context. 

Through textual analysis of legislative consent memorandums lodged in the three devolved legislatures and interviews conducted with political actors and officials engaged in the process, this research project seeks to demonstrate, understand and analyse the changing operation of the Sewel Convention, what it means for devolved autonomy and the proper functioning of the UK Constitution, and how (if at all) the Convention might be strengthened following the change of UK Government at the 2024 UK General Election.

• Funder: British Academy
• Law School researcher: Dr Chris McCorkindale (with Prof Aileen McHarg, Durham University)