Release of The Federal-Confederal Letters

By David Melding and Glyndwr Cennydd Jones

June 2025 noticed launch of The Federal-Confederal Letters by David Melding and Glyndwr Cennydd Jones. This booklet consists of their correspondence spanning October 2023 to March 2025, a interval encompassing the UK Common Election of July 2024 and the beginnings of the second US Trump presidency.

Because the authors collectively clarify:

‘After we launched into this correspondence roughly two years in the past, within the context of a distinct authorities, nations step by step rising from beneath the carapace of Covid, and the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbouring democracy, Ukraine, we neither of us knew fairly what to anticipate.’ 

‘We first met in individual as panellists at a joint convention organized by the Federal and James Madison Trusts in Westminster London throughout October 2022, happening to look in two episodes of a podcast for the Institute of Welsh Affairs in June 2023, and it was shortly after these that we agreed to discover additional. Our intention was to have an open and inventive dialog, not a slender argument, and we hope to have succeeded. To us personally it has been a rewarding dialogue from which we now have realized a lot.’

The letters discover problems with constitutional historical past and growth each within the UK and internationally, making the case for a lot wanted reform of the UK’s governing framework by means of sharing views and experiences on fashions of devolution, federalism and confederalism.

David Melding writes:

‘If multi-national states are price defending within the curiosity of worldwide comity and stability, then a excessive worth must be positioned on their even handed reform. The place nationalists may be criticised for the pace at which they might dissolve states, unionists are liable to equally condign judgement in the event that they refuse mandatory reforms to make multi-national states extra sustainable.’

‘And so I arrive on the precept of federalism as a result of it permits us to divide sovereignty and use its powers extra constructively. I’ve argued for the higher use of federal mechanisms since Scotland and Wales voted for devolution in 1997. To my thoughts this constitutional watershed made the outdated reasoning of a unitary state based on Westminster’s parliamentary sovereignty out of date.’

Glyndwr C Jones affirms: 

‘The accepted distinctiveness and customary pursuits of the constituent nations of the UK calls for a brand new type of governance: firstly to make sure that the hyperlink between the individuals of every territory and their respective democratically elected parliaments is articulated when it comes to their sovereignty rights, at a nationwide stage, and secondly to remind the overarching, central construction that, when administering the pooled obligations, it exists to serve the peoples of all 4 nations. ‘

‘Intergovernmental relations ought to subsequently be redefined on a stronger formal footing and codified in a brand new constitutional framework which reinforces preparations for self-government and secures mechanisms for efficient isles-wide collaboration.

The booklet is launched by Guardian columnist Will Hayward, who writes:

‘No matter your political outlook, inherent biases, or the place you reside within the UK, it’s apparent that the present constitutional framework we now have on this nation doesn’t work. It clearly doesn’t work for Wales or Scotland, however I believe you can also make a fairly robust argument that individuals in components of England would be the worst served by it. ‘

‘For many who are excited about how one of many oldest democratic methods on the planet can run higher it is a fascinating change. I sincerely hope that a lot of our elected representatives and decision-makers in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh take the time to learn these letters. Not just for the content material, however for the style by which they have been carried out.’

The Federal-Confederal Letters spotlight the truth that the institution of a brand new written framework for these isles, with the help of the parliaments, would show invaluable throughout the political spectrum. Some will discover reassurance in making an attempt to articulate the extra distinctive parts of the UK’s practices in a codified federal structure, while others will search to cement the sovereignty place of the 4 nations individually in relation to a typical confederal British construction. 

What’s necessary is that the controversy is had, and had publicly. As each David and Glyndwr mirror on the finish of their correspondence:

‘To coin a phrase from Lao Tsu, our ideas, within the type of these letters, have turn out to be phrases. For our phrases to turn out to be the actions of others will, after all, require a wider discussion board, and extra voices. Within the roomy perspective of historic time, we’re however considering aloud, although happy to have made a contribution to the continuation of this necessary debate.’

The Federal-Confederal Letters is obtainable right here as an e-book and right here as an simply printable pdf model.

David Melding CBE was the Welsh Conservative Social gathering’s Director of Coverage from 2000 to 2011. David served within the Senedd as one of many record members for South Wales Central from 1999 till retiring in 2021. He was Deputy Presiding Officer between 2011 and 2016, and he chaired a number of committees throughout his parliamentary profession together with the Well being and Social Care, and the Laws and Constitutional Affairs committees. He’s the creator of Will Britain Survive Past 2020? (2009) and The Reformed Union: The UK as a Federation (2013). He’s engaged on his third book- Wales in an Age of Disunion.

Glyndwr Cennydd Jones is a author on constitutional issues. He launched joint publications with Lord David Owen and Lord Elystan Morgan in 2017 and 2018 respectively. In March 2022, he printed a booklet of constitutional reflections titled A League-Union of the Isles, which features a preface by Lord Carwyn Jones, former First Minister of Wales, and an afterword by Lord David Owen. He’s at present writing the e book Confederal-Federalism. Glyndwr works because the Director of a UK-wide trade physique within the schooling and humanities sectors, a place he has held since 2012.

Will Hayward is a number one journalist. He’s a daily columnist at The Guardian in addition to contributing to Occasions Radio, the BBC, Sky Information and LBC. Will was beforehand Welsh affairs editor at WalesOnline and the Western Mail. 

EBook of The Federal-Confederal Letters (2025)

https://simplebooklet.com/thefederalconfederalletters1#web page=1

EBook of The Reformed Union: The UK as a Federation (2013)

https://www.iwa.wales/wp-content/media/2013/09/reformedunion-smallpdf-com.pdf

EBook of A League-Union of the Isles (2022)

https://simplebooklet.com/aleagueunionoftheisles#web page=1