In this episode, longtime openDemocracy contributor Adam Ramsay discusses his book Abolish Westminster, arguing that “Westminster” is a metonym for Britain’s whole constitutional order parliament, Whitehall, the judiciary, the monarchy, the Lords, and the union and that it was built to run an empire rather than democratically govern today’s UK. Drawing on Scotland’s experience, he says progressive politics are repeatedly thwarted by an English electoral pattern that has long delivered Conservative rule, despite similar issue preferences across nations; devolution has mitigated harms in Scotland, including lower child poverty and a less punitive benefits system. Ramsay contends devolution is temporary and easily overridden, critiques Britain’s unresolved post-imperial identity and racialized Englishness, and reads Reform’s rise as nostalgia for an imagined pre-decline state.
He proposes breaking up the UK so its nations can pursue democratic renewal, with England forced into constitutional reform.
Creators and Guests
Aman Sethi
Aman Sethi is editor-in-chief of openDemocracy. Before joining us he was deputy executive editor at HuffPost. Before that he was the executive editor for strategy at BuzzFeed, editorial director with Coda Media, editor-in-chief of HuffPost India, associate editor with the Hindustan Times, and foreign correspondent (Africa) and Chhattisgarh correspondent with The Hindu.
Harry Beney
Harry Beney spent thirty years as a leading television cameraman, editor and director, collecting a BAFTA and an International Emmy along the way. That background means every camera angle, every lighting decision, every edit design is backed by decades of professional broadcast knowledge.