Verdicts · Constitution
What the UK thinks about the constitution
Settled referendums
48
since Mar 2026
Votes cast
9,591
all time, on the constitution
This week
2,670
votes · 5 referendums settled
Written opinions
464
all time, left by voters
This week's opinion highlightThe most respected opinion this week
“No. I was against removing the hereditaries and I am against this. Automatic bishops from one church offend the multi-faith story. That story is not our fabric. We had a country for centuries without that slogan. I want a chamber that is not only the current narrative. Leave the Lords Spiritual. Independence from the mood is worth more than a tidy diagram.”
HardCompact, debating No on “Should the remaining Church of England bishops be removed from the House of Lords?” · read the thread →
5
Respects
Most respected on constitution this week
- 1.BenL22 respects
- 2.CCWales13 respects
- 3.JohnnyBoy11 respects
- 4.JustFactsNotBeliefs10 respects
- 5.HardCompact10 respects
Who answered this week
The 855 placed voters lean Centre Right overall.
H. Left5%
Left20%
C. Left8%
Centre8%
C. Right11%
Right40%
H. Right7%
Regions this week
South EastC. Right
ScotlandCentre
LondonCentre
South WestC. Right
North WestC. Right
YorkshireCentre
East of EnglandC. Right
North EastC. Right
East MidlandsCentre
West MidlandsC. Right
WalesC. Right
Northern IrelandRight
Votes each week
2,670so far this week
52127 Jul
7793 Aug
42910 Aug
2,21117 Aug
1,01124 Aug
2,67031 Aug
All-time constitution highlights
Biggest landslide
NO 93%
Should voting rights be restricted to those with at least two years in public service, such as military, fire, or NHS?
93% of 573 votes went the same way.
Closest result
YES 51%
Should the UK enable up to four citizen-initiated questions on the hottest topics in an annual referendum?
Decided by 2 votes.
Most debated
NO 71%
Should the UK government grant a second Scottish independence referendum?
37 written opinions.
This week
5 settled · 2,670 votes
0% NO
Majority against
YES 29%
567 votes
0 skipped
by @Sean⏱ Ended 4 Sept 2026
Should the UK government grant a second Scottish independence referendum?
The verdict
A decisive refusal left the floor’s most-respected case on the losing side: “denying a Section 30 order isn't protecting the union it's suppressing basic democracy”.
0% YES
Majority for
NO 41%
566 votes
0 skipped
by @BenL⏱ Ended 4 Sept 2026
Should the remaining Church of England bishops be removed from the House of Lords?
The verdict
A secular argument beat a heritage argument: the chamber chose removal, while its two most respected voices agreed only that automatic religious seats expose the Lords’ unresolved constitutional logic.
0% NO
Majority against
YES 7%
573 votes
0 skipped
by @OftenRight⏱ Ended 2 Sept 2026
Should voting rights be restricted to those with at least two years in public service, such as military, fire, or NHS?
The verdict
Service was treated as something to honour, not a ticket to the ballot; No won decisively, while the only Yes voice argued a different case altogether.
0% YES
Majority for
NO 42%
502 votes
0 skipped
by @IanBraisby⏱ Ended 31 Aug 2026
Should the UK introduce citizen-initiated referendums on major issues such as net zero?
The verdict
A referendum on whether to have referendums ended with a guarded mandate, while the louder No case warned that opening the door could mean permanent campaigns.
0% NO
Majority against
YES 31%
462 votes
0 skipped
by @MartinRodgers⏱ Ended 30 Aug 2026
Should Northern Ireland leave the UK?
The verdict
“It’s for the people Northern Ireland to decide, no one else” captured the room’s shared principle, even as No won decisively on the question of whether that moment had arrived.
Last week
3 settled · 1,011 votes
0% YES
Majority for
NO 39%
428 votes
0 skipped
by @JasonC⏱ Ended 28 Aug 2026
Should the monarch defend the Christian faith rather than protect the space for all faiths in a multi-faith nation?
The verdict
The monarch’s Christian defence won more than three in five votes, despite a debate in which the floor’s sharpest No voice insisted, “This framing is flawed. It’s not a zero sum game.”
0% NO
Majority against
YES 43%
288 votes
0 skipped
by @IainPaulin⏱ Ended 24 Aug 2026
Should the UK replace devolution with a federal system of four nations under a written constitution?
The verdict
A federal settlement was sold as a “genuine partnership of equals”; the chamber instead chose to keep devolution, with the winning No case more suspicious of power than enamoured of constitutional theory.
0% NO
Majority against
YES 34%
295 votes
0 skipped
by @TimmyHannigan⏱ Ended 23 Aug 2026
Should the UK replace the monarchy with an elected head of state?
The verdict
No won two to one, but the sharpest exchange was not about the King: it was whether an elected president would be a democratic upgrade or merely a route to “President Mandelson”.
Every constitution verdict
- NO 71%Should the UK government grant a second Scottish independence referendum?A decisive refusal left the floor’s most-respected case on the losing side: “denying a Section 30 order isn't protecting the union it's suppressing basic democracy”.
- YES 59%Should the remaining Church of England bishops be removed from the House of Lords?A secular argument beat a heritage argument: the chamber chose removal, while its two most respected voices agreed only that automatic religious seats expose the Lords’ unresolved constitutional logic.
- NO 93%Should voting rights be restricted to those with at least two years in public service, such as military, fire, or NHS?Service was treated as something to honour, not a ticket to the ballot; No won decisively, while the only Yes voice argued a different case altogether.
- YES 58%Should the UK introduce citizen-initiated referendums on major issues such as net zero?A referendum on whether to have referendums ended with a guarded mandate, while the louder No case warned that opening the door could mean permanent campaigns.
- NO 69%Should Northern Ireland leave the UK?“It’s for the people Northern Ireland to decide, no one else” captured the room’s shared principle, even as No won decisively on the question of whether that moment had arrived.
- YES 61%Should the monarch defend the Christian faith rather than protect the space for all faiths in a multi-faith nation?The monarch’s Christian defence won more than three in five votes, despite a debate in which the floor’s sharpest No voice insisted, “This framing is flawed. It’s not a zero sum game.”
- NO 57%Should the UK replace devolution with a federal system of four nations under a written constitution?A federal settlement was sold as a “genuine partnership of equals”; the chamber instead chose to keep devolution, with the winning No case more suspicious of power than enamoured of constitutional theory.
- NO 66%Should the UK replace the monarchy with an elected head of state?No won two to one, but the sharpest exchange was not about the King: it was whether an elected president would be a democratic upgrade or merely a route to “President Mandelson”.
- NO 66%Should the House of Lords be replaced by ordinary people chosen at random, like jury service?The Lords’ defenders carried the room: No won nearly two to one, with the sharpest warning asking, “who will watch them?”
- YES 59%Is a major constitutional change required in the UK?A majority chose a new constitutional settlement, even as the sharpest No voice insisted that “the bones are fine”. The vote was for major change; the argument was over whether that meant a new house or better maintenance of the old one.
- NO 61%Is the traditional left-right spectrum still useful for understanding UK politics?The voters chose No, but the floor’s sharpest and most-respected arguments came from Yes: the spectrum was defended as a “simple context” rather than a final map.
- YES 60%Would devolving broadcasting powers weaken London's cultural dominance?London’s cultural dominance was treated as a problem voters could tackle, not an immutable fact, while the sharpest warning was that it would take “a lot more than devolved broadcasting powers” to challenge it.
- NO 59%If the Scottish Parliament passes a referendum bill, should Westminster grant a Section 30 order?“Scotland should be allowed to make up its own mind” was the Yes camp’s cleanest line; the chamber’s refusal was less a rout than a decision to make Westminster’s veto the answer for now.
- YES 59%Should Britain write and enshrine in law a UK constitution?“Someday we should be citizens not subjects” was the moral pull behind a Yes victory — but the debate was as much about who could be trusted to write the rules as about writing them at all.
- YES 56%Should the British monarchy be stripped of all constitutional duties and retain a purely ceremonial role?Abolitionists won a question about constitutional duties, while the strongest No voice defended the monarchy as “a huge part of our British culture”. The chamber voted for a ceremonial crown, but often argued for no crown at all.
- YES 62%Should the UK introduce proportional representation?A vote for proportional representation arrived with a built-in qualification: Yes won by 168 votes to 101, but much of the winning side was voting against first-past-the-post rather than for one settled replacement.
- NO 53%Is the UK's parliamentary democracy a democracy?“Wheeler dealing behind scenes” was the room’s bleakest shorthand: No narrowly carried the verdict, in a debate where the losing Yes side offered the clearest defence of the machinery.
- NO 65%Should England or its regions have a devolved Parliament in the same way as Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales?The platform’s chamber rejected an English parliament, but the winning side’s sharpest line was broader: “Return Parliament to a system never designed to break up the Union.”
- YES 53%Should parties be prevented from initiating legislation on policies absent from their manifestos without voter consent?Manifesto consent scraped through: Yes won narrowly, while the floor’s sharpest line demanded that governments “seek the electorates explicit consent.”
- YES 51%Should the UK enable up to four citizen-initiated questions on the hottest topics in an annual referendum?A half-joking plea to turn “election” into “ejection” captured the appetite for direct democracy as Yes narrowly carried the proposal.
Show all 48 verdicts ↓
- YES 51%Should Douglas Alexander abolish Holyrood?Abolishing Holyrood scraped through, but the chamber’s best-respected Yes voice wanted not less devolved power, but power broken up: “What if the powers were given to regional councils?”
- NO 51%Is Direct Democracy the answer to modern democracies' problems?The chamber almost split over direct democracy, and the floor’s sharpest Yes voice reduced the case to “part of an answer, not the whole tho” as No edged ahead.
- YES 74%Should the UK adopt a codified constitution entrenching rights like jury trial, free speech and economic freedoms?Three to one for a written constitution, yet the loudest voice in the room belonged to the losing side, and its worry was not principle but personnel — who gets to hold the pen.
- NO 55%Is prioritising Westminster seats over Holyrood the right path for Scottish independence?A ten-point win for No came with almost no case for the winning strategy at all — every opinion left on the page was a No vote, and not one of them addressed Westminster versus Holyrood as a route to independence; they argued about independence itself.
- YES 66%Should the House of Lords be replaced with a Per Population representation along County borders with Professional Reps?Two in three voters here were ready to tear up the House of Lords and rebuild it on county lines with professional reps, yet the sharpest line on the page came from the losing side, warning the reform risked simply stocking the chamber with more special advisers.
- NO 57%Should the UK introduce fixed five-year parliamentary terms to reduce political instability?Fixed five-year terms went down by roughly three to two, but the debate that actually happened barely touched the £35bn premium of Westminster chaos that framed the question — it drifted instead towards presidents, written constitutions and term limits.
- NO 57%Would Andy Burnham's 'new political model' improve UK governance?A chamber unconvinced by the new Prime Minister's flagship pitch handed his devolution model a clear defeat, with No winning by 14 points, and did so on arguments that treated regional power-sharing not as remedy but as risk.
- NO 55%Should Burnham hand England's regions sweeping new powers in a "devolution big bang"?A generational split runs right through this one: the youngest voters here backed Burnham's devolution rush almost unanimously, while everyone over 35 recoiled, leaving the "big bang" rejected by a ten-point margin of the 110 who voted.
- NO 62%Should the UK devolve more powers to the Scottish Parliament?Andy Burnham's overture to Holyrood found little appetite among voters here, who rejected further devolution by a two-to-one margin, with women especially unconvinced that more power should flow north.
- NO 62%Should the Scottish parliament be axed?Devolution survived its most direct challenge yet on the platform, with abolition rejected by a clear if not overwhelming margin, even as the Holyrood majority that just voted for a second independence referendum sits awkwardly alongside voters' evident irritation with the institution itself.
- NO 56%Should the Scottish Parliament be given full parliamentary privilege to protect MSPs from legal action?The chamber declined to hand Holyrood the legal shield Westminster enjoys, with No winning by twelve points, in a vote that split cleanly along generational lines over how much trust to extend to politicians debating sensitive evidence.
- NO 55%Should a party leader change when the party is the incumbent party trigger a general election?Voters here declined to treat a mid-term change of prime minister as grounds for a fresh mandate, with No winning by ten points, even as the closeness of the vote showed real unease about a Downing Street handover nobody put on a ballot.
- YES 66%Should the house of Lords be scrapped for a better system based on business leaders, academics and others?What looks like a chamber impatient with hereditary privilege turned out, on closer inspection, to be something more particular: two in three backing the scrapping of the Lords for a business-and-academic alternative, with the loudest enthusiasm coming not from the young insurgents you'd expect but from the over-65s, nine in ten of whom wanted it gone.
- YES 80%Should MPs who change political parties be forced to trigger a by-election?Rare is the constitutional question that unites a chamber almost regardless of who's asked, but this one did: the defections of Reform's new MPs from their 2024 tickets have produced a verdict, four to one, that switching parties should cost you your seat until voters say otherwise.
- NO 58%Should the UK abolish the monarchy?The chamber kept the Crown, but only just, and not for any of the reasons a young republican might expect — it was the oldest voters, not the youngest, who tilted most towards abolition, scrambling the usual generational script on inherited institutions.
- NO 61%Should the UK allow the banning of political parties based on extremist ideology?A chamber wary of handing the state a new power over political life rejected a German-style ban on extremist parties by a clear 22-point margin, with the youngest voters alone warming to the idea.
- YES 52%Do you want regional devolution? An assembly of the north, South West and East for example?The generational split was stark: under-35s backed a new tier of regional assemblies by roughly two to one, while the over-55s dug in against it, leaving Yes to scrape home by four points out of 158 votes.
- YES 78%Should the House of Lords introduce a retirement age of 80 and require peers to attend at least 20% of sitting days?The most striking thing about this vote for a modernising reform to the Lords is who resisted it most: not the young, who might be expected to bristle at gerontocracy, but women, who split almost down the middle while men backed change nine to one.
- NO 63%Should Scotland become independent?Twelve years on from 2014, the arithmetic barely moved: a chamber that split much like the country did then delivers a clear No, 73 votes to 42, with the 55-64 bracket the most immovable against.
- YES 59%Should the UK replace FPTP with any form of proportional representation?Reform's usual profile — young, insurgent, generational — is nowhere to be found here: every age band from 16 to 65-plus backed change, a rare instance of a constitutional question uniting the generations rather than dividing them, as the platform delivered a clear if not overwhelming 59% for proportional representation over first past the post.
- YES 51%Should England receive more devolution from Westminster to regional leaders?A near-perfect coin toss on English devolution masks a real generational fracture: the under-35s backed Andy Burnham's regionalist push two to one, while every older bracket from 35 upward leaned against it.
- YES 51%Should England get a vote on independence from the UK?A question designed to sound like a novelty ended almost exactly where you'd expect a genuinely contested constitutional idea to land — YES scraping it by a single vote out of 83, with the middle-aged the only group to properly commit.
- YES 51%Should the UK abolish the monarchy?A near dead-heat: abolition edges it by two points on 86 votes, with the 25-34 bracket carrying the yes vote while older and younger groups pulled in opposite directions.
- YES 62%Britain needs a written constitution. Yes or No?A clear if not overwhelming win for codification: 62% Yes on a 24-point margin, with support holding up across every age band from 25 to 65+.
- YES 52%Is the UK as a union still fit for purpose?A near dead heat on the union itself, decided by a single vote — 17 to 16 — with the sharpest split not between nations but generations: the 55-64s broke overwhelmingly for "yes" while every other age band split down the middle or against.
- NO 59%Should the UK become a Federation?Federalism fell short, 41 to 59, but the age data tells the real story: the youngest voters backed a federal UK by three to one, while every other age band tilted or split against it.
- YES 59%Should a new Prime Minister automatically trigger a general election?Yes carried the chamber 59-41, but the real split ran along gender lines, not age: women backed a mandatory election by 78%, men split dead even at 50-50.
- NO 70%Should the monarchy be abolished in the United Kingdom?Monarchy retained by 7 votes to 3 in a small but decisive turnout, with abolition failing to crack a third of the chamber even amid fresh Andrew-related scrutiny and cost-of-crown arguments.