Legal consequences of Brexit for UK regions and theoretical foundations of legal mechanisms for preventing secession

Introduction. The article shows that as the number of ethno-national conflicts increases in almost all parts of the world, secession processes are becoming more and more popular. At the same time, the legal and political mechanisms for preventing secession may differ radically depending on national characteristics. But even those mechanisms that have shown their effectiveness for a long period under certain (crisis) conditions stop working, forcing states to look for new tools to prevent secession of their regions. The purpose and objectives of the study. The purpose of the study is to study the experience of preventing secession of the national regions of the UK in the process of leaving the EU. It is argued that the strict instruments of limiting the autonomy of the regions were not only ineffective, but increased the risk of the collapse of the country. The task of analyzing changes in the regional policy of the United Kingdom in the Brexit process is set. Methodology. The methodological model of A. Liphart, the classical approach of A.V. Daisi to the definition of parliamentary sovereignty is used. General scientific methods of generalization and system analysis are also used. The results of the study. It is proved that tough tools to prevent secession in the crisis conditions of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU proved ineffective and, on the contrary, stimulated separatist sentiments in the national regions of the country. Conclusion. It is concluded that only the use of flexible forms of interaction and the formation of new partnership instruments allowed to avoid secession of regions. This required the development of new legal and political instruments of interaction and cooperation between the central government and local elites.