This book considers what Britain might learn from Westminster-derived constitutions around the world. The book begins by identifying the deep constitutional crisis of the British body-politic and attempts to introduce a remedy in the form of new constitutional settlement founded upon a written constitution. It explains that the 'unwritten constitution', which grew up over the centuries from a hotchpotch of statutes, judicial decisions, disputed conventions, and traditions has reached the end of its useful life. The book emphasizes the revival of the British democracy through a written constitu ... More

This book considers what Britain might learn from Westminster-derived constitutions around the world. The book begins by identifying the deep constitutional crisis of the British body-politic and attempts to introduce a remedy in the form of new constitutional settlement founded upon a written constitution. It explains that the 'unwritten constitution', which grew up over the centuries from a hotchpotch of statutes, judicial decisions, disputed conventions, and traditions has reached the end of its useful life. The book emphasizes the revival of the British democracy through a written constitution, a supreme and fundamental law that is founded upon a broad political and societal consensus. It reviews constitutional proposals that reflect the 'Charter 88 agenda', which has motivated constitutional reformers in Britain for the last three decades. The book traces the decline and fall of the British constitution over the space of 80 years. It describes Britain's current constitutional crisis as the final unravelling of what might be termed the 'Hanoverian constitutional settlement'. It then makes a case for a new written constitution. It emphasizes how a written constitution does not need to be contained in one document but must have a bounded set of such laws that are distinguished from other laws and whose status as the supreme and fundamental law is known, declared and explicit. Exploring the principles of Westminster Model constitutions and their impact on democracy, human rights and good government, the book builds to a bold re-imagining of the United Kingdom's future written framework.