Constitutional Research Council
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Constitutional Research Council
The Constitutional Research Council (CRC) is a Unionist funding organisation, chaired by Scottish Conservative Richard Cook. It helped to fund the anti-independence Better Together campaign during the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 and the DUP's Leave campaign in Northern Ireland, and in mainland Britain, during the Brexit referendum in 2016. The CRC made a record-breaking donation to the DUP's leave campaign of £435,000, which was mainly used to fund advertising on the UK mainland. The CRC has also funded the European Research Group and its chairman, the Brexit minister Steve Baker. The CRC has no website, publishes no accounts and does not reveal the names of its donors. The only office-holder to be made public is the chairman Richard Cook, a former vice-chairman of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, parliamentary candidate in Glasgow Cathcart in 2003 and at the 2005 by-election, and a supporter of The Freedom Association. Cook has had business connec ...
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Unionism In The United Kingdom
Unionism in the United Kingdom, also referred to as British unionism, is a political ideology favouring the continued unity of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as one sovereign state, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Those who support the union are referred to as "''Unionists''". British unionism can be associated with British nationalism, which asserts that the British are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of the Britons,Guntram H. Herb, David H. Kaplan. Nations and Nationalism: A Global Historical Overview: A Global Historical Overview. Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2008. which may include people of English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Cornish, Jersey, Manx and Guernsey descent. Since the late 20th century, differing views on the constitutional status of the countries within the UK have become a bigger issue in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and to a lesser extent in Wales. The pro-independence Scottish National Party fir ...
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The Freedom Association
The Freedom Association (TFA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as "a non-partisan, classically liberal campaign group, which has links to the Conservative Party and UK Independence Party (UKIP). TFA was founded in 1975 as the National Association for Freedom (NAFF) and gained public prominence through its anti-trade union campaigns. Its popularity grew after campaigning against perceived abuses to individual freedom including big business, big government, organised labour and Irish political violence. By the end of the 1970s the organisation had around 20,000 members.Barberis, Peter, McHugh, John, Tyldesley, Mike, ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century'', Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005 p.321 In the 1980s, TFA campaigned against sporting sanctions imposed on apartheid-era South Africa – earning a judicial rebuke after taking unsuccessful legal action to overtur ...
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Unionism In Ireland
Unionism is a political tradition on the island of Ireland that favours political union with Great Britain and professes loyalty to the United Kingdom, British Monarchy of the United Kingdom, Crown and Constitution of the United Kingdom, constitution. As the overwhelming sentiment of Ireland's Protestantism in Ireland, Protestant minority, following Catholic Emancipation (1829) unionism mobilised to keep Ireland part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and to defeat the efforts of Irish nationalism, Irish nationalists to restore a separate Parliament of Ireland, Irish parliament. Since Partition of Ireland, Partition (1921), as Ulster Unionism its goal has been to maintain Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and to resist a transfer of sovereignty to an United Ireland, all-Ireland republic. Within the framework of a Good Friday Agreement, 1998 peace settlement, unionists in Northern Ireland have had to accommodate Irish nationalists in ...
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Unionism In Scotland
Unionism in Scotland () is a political movement which favours the continuation of the political union between Scotland and the other countries of the United Kingdom (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), and hence is opposed to Scottish independence. Scotland is one of four countries of the United Kingdom which has its own devolved government and Scottish Parliament, as well as representation in the UK Parliament. There are many strands of political Unionism in Scotland, some of which have ties to Unionism and Loyalism in Northern Ireland. The two main political parties in the UK — the Conservatives and Labour — both support Scotland remaining part of the UK. The Scottish unionism movement consists of many factions with varying political views but which are united in being politically opposed to Scottish independence, which would mean Scotland leaving the UK and becoming an independent state. Political parties which support Scottish independence include: the Scottish Natio ...
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Political Campaigns In The United Kingdom
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies politics and government is referred to as political science. It may be used positively in the context of a "political solution" which is compromising and nonviolent, or descriptively as "the art or science of government", but also often carries a negative connotation.. The concept has been defined in various ways, and different approaches have fundamentally differing views on whether it should be used extensively or limitedly, empirically or normatively, and on whether conflict or co-operation is more essential to it. A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws, and exercising internal and external force, including wa ...
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Political Advocacy Groups In Scotland
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies politics and government is referred to as political science. It may be used positively in the context of a "political solution" which is compromising and nonviolent, or descriptively as "the art or science of government", but also often carries a negative connotation.. The concept has been defined in various ways, and different approaches have fundamentally differing views on whether it should be used extensively or limitedly, empirically or normatively, and on whether conflict or co-operation is more essential to it. A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws, and exercising internal and external force, including w ...
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2016 United Kingdom European Union Membership Referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country should remain a member of, or leave, the European Union (EU). It was organised and facilitated through the European Union Referendum Act 2015 and the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The referendum resulted in 51.9% of the votes cast being in favour of leaving the EU. Although the referendum was legally non-binding, the government of the time promised to implement the result. Membership of the EU had long been a topic of debate in the United Kingdom. The country joined the European Communities (EC), principally the European Economic Community (EEC) or Common Market, the forerunner to the European Union, in 1973, along with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Eu ...
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Political Funding In The United Kingdom
Political funding in the United Kingdom has been a source of controversy for many years. Political parties in the UK may be funded through membership fees, party donations or through state funding, the latter of which is reserved for administrative costs. The general restrictions in the UK were held in ''Bowman v United Kingdom'' to be fully compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, article 10. History The first effort to regulate the financial dimension of political competition was the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883. Although this landmark legislation was concerned with constituency candidates, their campaign expenses and their agents only, all other efforts to create a political finance regime started from here. Edward 16 The next legislative step to deal with the subject was the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 that sought to end the selling of titles in exchange for donations to political parties. In August 1976 the Committee on Financi ...
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Conservative–DUP Agreement
The Conservative–DUP agreement between the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) followed the 2017 United Kingdom general election which resulted in a hung parliament. Negotiations between the two parties began on 9 June, the day after the election, and the final agreement was signed and published on 26 June 2017. The agreement, signed by the two parties' chief whips, Gavin Williamson for the Conservatives and Jeffrey Donaldson for the DUP, secured DUP confidence-and-supply support for a Conservative minority government led by Theresa May. Conservative–DUP dialogue before 2017 Prior to the 2010 and 2015 general elections Previously the Conservatives cooperated with the DUP's main unionist rival, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), whose MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster until that arrangement was ended in 1974. Relations between the Conservatives and UUP worsened following the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, although the two parties continued ...
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Proposed Second Scottish Independence Referendum
A second referendum (commonly referred to as indyref2) on independence from the United Kingdom (UK) has been proposed by the Scottish Government. An independence referendum was first held on 18 September 2014, with 55% voting "No" to independence. The Scottish Government stated in its white paper for independence that voting Yes was a "once in a generation opportunity to follow a different path, and choose a new and better direction for our nation". Following the "No" vote, the cross party Smith Commission proposed areas that could be devolved to the Scottish Parliament; this led to the passing of the Scotland Act 2016, formalising new devolved policy areas in time for the 2016 Scottish Parliament election campaign. The pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) said before the 2016 election that a second independence referendum should be held if there was a material change of circumstances, such as the UK leaving the European Union. The SNP formed a minority government ...
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West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourth-most populous and thirteenth-largest state by area in India, as well as the eighth-most populous country subdivision of the world. As a part of the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, it borders Bangladesh in the east, and Nepal and Bhutan in the north. It also borders the Indian states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the third-largest metropolis, and seventh largest city by population in India. West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region, the coastal Sundarbans and the Bay of Bengal. The state's main ethnic group are the Bengalis, with the Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority. The area's early history featured a succession ...
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Gun Running
Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal trade of small arms, unlike other organized crime commodities, is more closely associated with exercising power in communities instead of achieving economic gain. Scholars estimate illegal arms transactions amount to over US$1 billion annually. To keep track of imports and exports of several of the most dangerous armament categories, the United Nations, in 1991, created a Register for Conventional Arms. Participation, however, is not compulsory, and lacks comprehensive data in regions outside of Europe. Africa, due to a prevalence of corrupt officials and loosely enforced trade regulations, is a region with extensive illicit arms activity. In a resolution to complement the Register with legally binding obligations, a Firearms Protocol was incorporated i ...
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