They say that urgent reform is now required to preserve and protect the UK’s constitutional settlement. UKCMG comprises leading constitutional experts and practitioners including former senior civil servants, professors of public law and a former lord chief justice of England and Wales.

In a summary report out today addressing the duration of the 2019 Parliament, the UKCMG makes recommendations crucial for any incoming government across five areas.

These include the replacement of the Sewel convention which regulates UK/devolved government relations, a call for less legislation being brought by government to parliament, a drastic cull of delegated legislation and necessary updates to the Cabinet Manual.

The report also criticises successive holders of the office of lord chancellor, who have failed effectively to fulfil their obligation to respect the rule of law.

With reform now required across the constitution, the UKCMG concludes that the position of the UK constitution is no longer healthy. A system that is constantly in question cannot function properly and urgent action is required by an incoming government to restore the strength of our democratic institutions.

Editor of the report, Professor Andrew Blick of King’s College London, said: “The UKCMG has laid out clear priorities for reform for an incoming government. The 2019 Parliament saw the degradation of standards and the development of extremely worrying trends in legislation.

“This cannot continue if the UK constitution is to remain stable. I hope those in the next government with the power to make change take these clear and necessary steps to improve our democracy. Without them, we risk establishing recent transgressions as the new norm for our politics.”