Yesterday, I participated in a webinar to mark the publication of a book called The Parliamentary Battle Over Brexit And The Constitution. The book charts the fierce arguments that took place over the role of the UK’s political institutions and asks whether what happened demonstrated fundamental flaws in the UK constitution and whether there were ways that things could have been handled better. It also ponders whether lasting political damage has been caused by the tensions that occurred. If you watched Boris Johnson squirming and squealing over his partygate lies in front of the privileges committee on Wednesday afternoon, I suspect you will agree with me that the answer to that last question is obvious.

Politicians who frame policy and make laws based on prejudice or preconception often come unstuck. Evidence-based policy-making matters. There are many things wrong with the Tories’ Illegal Migration Bill. Last week, I wrote about how it will breach the European Convention on Human Rights and the Refugee Convention.

Universal Human Rights are under attack in the UK like never before. The Illegal Migration Bill introduced by Suella Braverman in the Commons this week breaches the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). There can be no question about that. Indeed, it is designed to do so. That’s the whole point.  

It has been good to see the SNP leadership election knuckle down to some serious discussion of policy and strategy after the nastiness of the first week of the campaign. The first lot of hustings were a credit to the party and all three candidates. I am delighted Kate Forbes has remained in the race. Resilience is a quality which our next FM and leader will need, and Kate has certainly shown she has it in spades.