1. 2- constitutional reforms after new labour

Question 1

what constitutional reforms were passed under the coalition?

Answer 1

• fixed term parliament act
• implemented the recomendations of the wright committee
• recall of mps act
• held referenums on devolution

Question 2

what were the wright commitee reforms?

Answer 2

• mps vote for the chairs and members of select commitees rather than them being chosen by whips
• public could put issues on the agenda if an e petition got more than 100,000 signatures. required for debate if backed by an mp
• back bench business committee

Question 3

what constitutional reforms were abandoned by the constitution?

Answer 3

• AV was rejected by the electorate
• the coalition indoduced a bill to replace the lords with an 80% elected senate, members would have 15 year terms, rejected by parliament
• conservatives sought to reduce the no. of mps and increase the size of constituencies, not supported by Lib Dems

Question 4

what did the fixed term parliament act do?

Answer 4

• removed the perogative power of the prime minister to call a snap election
• requred 2/3 of parliament to support a snap election
• designed to reassure the lib dems that cameron wouldnt call a snap election
• in 2017 and 2019 the opposition were shamed into voting for an election
• removed in 2022

Question 5

what powers did wales get in further devolution under the coalition?

Answer 5

• brought wales in line with the scottish and northern irish devolved bodies
• 2014 government of wales act gave control over landfill tax and stamp duty

Question 6

what powers were given to scotland after the 2016 scotland act?

Answer 6

• scotland gained control over 50% of VAT
• set all bands and rates of income tax
• control over the franchise (reduced voting age to 16)

Question 7

what was introduced in 2015 to adress the lack of devolution in england? how often was it used between 2015- 2017?

Answer 7

EVEL
- allowed english mps to veto any legislation that only affected england from being passed
- only used for 1/3 of bills between 2015 and 2017
- Was scrapped in 2020

Question 8

summarise constitutional reforms since 2015.

Answer 8

• recall of mps act
• EVEL
• devolution to scotland
• BREXIT

Question 9

what was the recall of mps act?

Answer 9

• 2015
• if an mp is sentenced to a custodial sentence or is suspended from the commons for more than 21 days a byelection is triggerd if atleast 10% of constituents sign a recall petition

Question 10

give a recent example of a section 35 order.

Answer 10

• section 35 allows govt to block a bill from a devolved body in exeptional circumstances
• rishi sunak used a section 35 order to block the scottish gender recoginition act

Question 11

what would a british bill of rights change?

Answer 11

• ECHR rulings would not be binding in UK courts
• easier to deport foreign criminals
• introduce a permissions stage for human rights claims
• would breach the northern ireland peace treaty

Question 12

what was Dominic rabbs criticism of the HRA?

Answer 12

• it had lead to unjustifiably successful court claims over issues such as terrorism and immigration

Question 13

How might it be argued that in recent years devolution has been undermined?

Answer 13

• 2022 attempted indiref
• 2023 gender recognition act
• govt involvement in welsh speed limits
• EVEL was abolished
• 6 mayoralty’s have been scrapped

Question 14

How many mayoralty’s have been scrapped? Give an example

Answer 14

6 e.g Bristol

Question 15

How might it be argued that the HRA has been undermined?

Answer 15

• talk’s of introducing a diluted British bill of rights
• willingness to undermine the act e.g rawanda

Question 16

Give an example of the recall of MPs act in use.

Answer 16

wellingbrough Peter Bone
- accused of bullying and sexual misconduct

Question 17

How has the freedom of information act been undermined?

Answer 17

• was ammended after the black spider memos case so it didn’t include royal correspondence
• lead to an increase in the use of humble address petitions
• the security services are exempt
• correspondence between mps is exempt

Question 18

give an example that undermines the recall of mps act.

Answer 18

• owen patterson, an independent inquirey found he had consistently broken lobbying rules and reccomended a 30 day suspension
• government told mps to back an ammendment to create a new tory majority committee to look into how the investigation was conducted
• he was forced to resign due to media backlash