“The Art of Falling Apart?”: Constitutional conundrums surrounding a potential Brexit
Allan F. Tatham
CSF-SSSUP Working Paper No 2/2015
This paper concentrates on the “Brexit” scenario and proceeds to look at some of the constitutional issues that may negatively impact on the continuance of the UK as a union in the event of a vote to leave the EU. Having briefly considered the impact of devolution might have on the legitimacy of the results in such a scenario (Section II), the main focus will then turn to how a Brexit has the potential to undo the UK Constitution (Section III) by analysing its impact not only on the three smaller constituent nations but also the Crown Dependencies and Gibraltar. The Conclusion (Section IV) hopes to provide some sobering thoughts on the continuing viability of the United Kingdom were a Brexit to be confirmed.
Keywords: European Union, Brexit, UK, UK Constitution, Referendum