'In the United Kingdom, the approach which is taken to the separation of powers - in common with so many aspects of constitutionalism – is essentially pragmatic. Within the British constitutional order, the divisions of functions between the different branches of government is not set in tablets of stone. The separation of powers itself is not viewed as a single paradigm of institutional arrangements which can be achieved once and for all time. Rather, it is perceived as an ideal which must be pursued in a manner appropriate to contemporary circumstances. As political, legal and social conditions evolve over time so too conceptions change of what the respective institutions of government should do, and of the powers which each should exercise over the others. It is this flexible and pragmatic approach - which is the fruit of the unwritten constitution – that is central to the typology of constitutional development in the UK.