In 1991, the former prime minister and peer James Callaghan described Britain’s constitutional arrangements as being constructed ‘on the back of an envelope’. Rather than a criticism, Callaghan argued that to have a single, codified document ‘with every comma and every semi-colon in place…makes for difficulties that common sense can overcome’.
A ‘common sense’ approach to Britain’s constitutional arrangements has occurred over several centuries and has given rise to numerous principles, procedures and rules which govern the relationships between and within political institutions that are neither codified nor legally enforceable yet, through their longevity, are considered binding (Box 1).
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