“Some attention has been given post-election to the Conservative plans for a constitutional commission. But less focus has been given to the significant plans being put together for a re-servicing of the Union. The Policy Exchange think-tank has called for ‘a Grand Strategy to modernise the United Kingdom.’ This is an activist Unionism of a kind only glimpsed before.”

The Government should use the opportunity of the stability created by the election result to reform the civil service to make it more democratically accountable and better able to deliver on the mandate of the government of the day. Better decision making, streamlined processes and improved accountability will lead to improved policy making and legislation, more effective delivery and improved public services, benefiting every part of the UK.

The Speaker is right that the “same question” rule is well precedented and would need consideration in this case. But it would be quite wrong to apply the “same question” rule to disallow a third meaningful vote on the Government’s Brexit deal.

Speaking in a debate on Strengthening the Union, Conservative MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk John Lamont cited Policy Exchange’s recent polling on the strength of the Union, saying “We should strengthen our Union because it is the will of the people of our land. Recent polling by Policy Exchange clearly demonstrates that the majority of people across the United Kingdom are in favour of the Union in its current form. Some 68% of people in England, 52% of people in Scotland, 66% of people in Wales and 59% of people in Northern Ireland want a continuation of the Union.”

A clear majority of people in all parts of the United Kingdom think that the monarchy unifies the country following the Brexit referendum, according to polling data carried out exclusively for Policy Exchange. Even in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which voted to remain in the EU, more than double think the monarchy brings the country together than the reverse.

‘Citizen Clem’, the new biography of Clement Attlee, written by John Bew, head of Policy Exchange’s Britain in the World project, provides the focus for a panel discussion on Labour’s past and future