Brexit will test the UK’s constitutional framework to the limits, a new think tank report says
Brexit will test the UK's constitutional and legal frameworks to the limit as the public have unleashed "a process as complex as it is unpredictable", a think tank has said.
A report out from The UK in a Changing Europe, commissioned by the Political Studies Association, says British politics is "being reshaped" and "our institutions tested" as it gears up for Brexit negotiations next year.
Theresa May has said she will trigger Article 50 – the process of negotiating the exit from the EU – in March of next year.
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"The Brexit process will test the UK’s constitutional and legal frameworks and bureaucratic capacities to their limits – and possibly beyond," the report from a group of academics said.
The government will also produce a bill designed to transfer EU laws into British laws. The report goes on to say that this will be the biggest challenge for the UK in the coming years. "Taken together, this body of work is widely regarded as the largest legislative task the UK Parliament has ever undertaken," it says, and it is likely to take more than two years to complete.
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The Civil Service will be stretched and will require further resources to implement new regimes once the UK has left the EU, it added. This will all cause a headache for the devolved parliaments as they will need to decide where key decision-making on domestic policies will take place.
Many parts of the report stress the uncertainty of the current political climate.
"It is not clear if parliament will have a say on whether Article 50 will be triggered, let along how politics will shape the Article 50 process, at the end of which Parliament will have to be consulted," it concludes.