Leicester researchers to explore Parliament and the Brexit process
A team of three of our academics has secured funding for their research project, ‘Parties, Parliament and the Brexit Process’, which will explore how Parliament has responded to Brexit and how effective is its legislative response.
Professor Adam Cygan from Leicester Law School, who is leading the project, Dr Richard Whitaker and Dr Philip Lynch from the School of History, Politics and International Relations have secured a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council for a project funded as part of the ESRC’s The UK in a Changing Europe Initiative
The project combines an institutional analysis - looking at procedures, practices, rules and structures within Parliament - with an examination of the strategic behaviour of individual MPs, parties and the executive. Internal party divisions, emerging cross-party alliances and the differing preferences of MPs on issues arising from Brexit will affect how, and how well, Parliament scrutinises the process of leaving the EU. The effectiveness of this scrutiny, plus the nature of party cooperation and contestation during the initial period of the Brexit process will then also impact upon the transfer of EU competences back to Westminster and to what extent Parliament will remain ‘Europeanised’ and seek to retain existing regulatory norms and standards post-Brexit.
In carrying out this research the project team will work in partnership with the Industry and Parliament Trust, to engage with parliamentarians, policy makers, business and civil society to identify the political and legislative priorities and challenges that emerge during the Brexit process.