Several of the measures are likely to prove
contentious. The government plans to set up a
“Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission”
that could lead to reform of the Supreme Court.
The court angered the government by ruling in
September that Johnson’s decision to suspend
Parliament was illegal.
The government also intends to pass a law
protecting military veterans from “vexatious”
prosecutions. The question of whether veterans
who served decades ago in Northern Ireland
should be open to war crimes prosecution is
hugely controversial.
Johnson also promised to lessen regional
inequality and bring greater unity to the
United Kingdom, which is made up of England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But Brexit
is making that more difficult. Scotland voted to
remain in the EU in Britain’s 2016 referendum,
and last week most Scottish seats in Parliament
were won by the Scottish National Party, which
opposes Brexit and wants Scotland to become
independent of the U.K.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon says that means
Scotland should be able to hold a vote on
independence, an option Scots rejected in a
2014 referendum that was billed as a “once in a
generation” event.
Sturgeon said Thursday she had formally written
to the prime minister requesting the power to
hold a new independence vote.
“The alternative is a future that we have rejected
being imposed upon us,” Sturgeon said in
Edinburgh. “Scotland made it very clear last week
it does not want a Tory government led by Boris
Johnson taking us out of the European Union.”