There are no major changes since the last edition but some 60 pages of new material have been added. A high proportion of the new material brings the text up to date. But there are a considerable number of topics that cover entirely new or significantly strengthened material. They include: the constitutional changes involving the abolition of the Lord Chancellor; the proposed move of the House of Lords to a Supreme Court and the establishment of a Judicial Appointments Commission; the composition of the House of Lords; the work of the Joint Human Rights Committee of the Lords and Commons; devolution; parliamentary reform including programming and the carry-over of legislation; the parliamentary scrutiny of delegated legislation; the new Court of Appeal practice of delivering composite judgments; developments regarding intervention in litigation by third parties; and the new EU constitution agreed in June 2004. Important new empirical research, especially by Professor Edward Page informs the revision and strengthening of both Chapter 1 and 2.

One of the most important developments since the last edition is the accessibility of a wealth of material (case law, legislation, statutory instruments, parliamentary debates, official committee and governmental reports) online. Web references are given throughout and the index collects references to the website addresses given in the book.