The Duke and Duchess of Sussex - the least of our problems?

On a day of dramatic political developments it seems something of a sideshow that Brighton and Hove City Council will soon have to debate a motion calling upon the Council not to recognise the titles of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

However, there is a connection between the doling out of the name of our county as an “honour” to the unentitled and the events which will lead once more to protests on our streets this evening. Boris Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament (in which our “constitutional monarch” served simply as a tool of her Prime Minister) was an exercise of the Royal prerogative, demonstrating that, in our unwritten constitution it is “the Crown in Parliament” which is sovereign. The anachronism of the monarchy stands at the apex of our ossified class system, including the nonsense of aristocratic titles (such as “Duke and Duchess of Sussex”) – but, more importantly right now, the monarchy is also the excuse which enables a single individual to dictate to a supposedly sovereign Parliament when that Parliament may sit.

Johnson’s push for a “no deal” Brexit is – more than anything else – an attack upon the material interests of working-class people. It is part of an ambitious project to push this country further rightwards. It is part of the class war being waged by the wealthy against us.

However, the light shone upon our constitution by the prorogation helps to emphasise that our opposition to the Government’s strategy cannot be about defending any aspect of the status quo (including the status quo of the EU) but must be about achieving real change, including constitutional change.

We don’t just need a Labour Government which will repair some of the social vandalism of the past decade – we also need a Labour Government prepared to consider profound constitutional change. Labour’s constitutional convention would give us the opportunity to consider how to really achieve Parliamentary sovereignty (including giving the Commons control over its own business), but also how to do away with the absurdity of an unelected part of our legislature and the anachronism of monarchy.

The movement which is emerging on our streets will raise many more issues and our Council may well find it timely to consider these constitutional issues when it comes to consider what to do about the Duke and Duchess we didn't ask for...