The English Constitution

Refoundation, restoration, and reform

William Elliot Bulmer

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9781526190024
  9781526190031
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526190017
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

What is England? What is England's place in the United Kingdom – or indeed outside it? How should England be governed? What constitutional foundations are needed to secure English democracy?

In this ground-breaking book, Dr W. Elliot Bulmer makes the case for a written constitution for England. Informed by comparative constitutional scholarship and by practical experience of constitution-making around the world, the book ties together debates on English national identity with discussion on the constitutional future of England. It offers an English solution to the problem of the United Kingdom's constitutional disrepair and a constitutional solution to the problem of England's identity crisis.

Demonstrating that a written constitution both practical in the English context and compatible with the English constitutional tradition, the book includes an example draft constitution inspired by Westminster Model democracies in the Commonwealth.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 The collapse of the unwritten constitution
• 2 Unravelling of the United Kingdom
• 3 Rediscovering England, reclaiming Englishness
• 4 Liberty according to English ideas and on English principles
• 5 Restoration and reform
• 6 Constitution-building and the way forward
• 7 Good government and political culture
• Annex. Draft Constitution
• First Schedule – Oaths
• Second Schedule – Regions, Counties, and Cities
• Third Schedule – Reserved and Devolved Powers
• Fourth Schedule – Entrenched Provisions
• Fifth Schedule – ‘Nolan’ Principles
• Sixth Schedule – The United Kingdom
• Seventh Schedule – Transitional Provisions
• Index