The illusion of sovereignty: the UK should embrace its experience of power-sharing at home to play a constructive role in the EU

One of the key issues in relation to the UK’s referendum is the extent to which EU membership undermines UK sovereignty. Simon Toubeau and Jo Murkens argue that this focus on sovereignty can nevertheless lead to misleading conclusions. They state that while the notion of parliamentary sovereignty lies at the heart of the Westminster model of government, this sovereignty has largely become illusionary with the growth of power-sharing and divided government within the UK. They suggest that rather than focusing on sovereignty, a better approach would be to draw on the UK’s experience of power-sharing to pursue a better relationship with the EU.