1.1.Constitution

Question 1

Statute Law

Answer 1

Important as this is how rights and the functions of government have been enshrined into law through an act of parliament e.g. Human Rights Act 1998 which enshrined ECHR which sets the fundamental rights such as the right to privacy and life, House of Lords Act 1999 which removed all but 92 hereditary peers.

On the other hand - A government with an overwhelming majority can un-do the work of the previous government e.g. The Labour Government of 1997 with it’s over 80 seat majority and its numerous constitutional reforms

Question 2

Common Law

Answer 2

Important as this is judge made law where judges’ decisions have created a precedent which has decided how laws and the constitution have been applied e.g. UK Supreme Court ruled that Boris Johnson’s 2019 Prorogation of Parliament was unlawful, setting the precedent that suspension of parliament is unlawful

On the other hand - Any common law can be overridden by any statute law past with a simple majority due to parliamentary sovereignty e.g. Internment Post 9/11 as parliament allowed the government to hold suspected terrorists for long periods without trial in suspension of habeas corpus

Question 3

Conventions

Answer 3

Important as, although they are not laws and politicians are not bound by them, it outlines how many things are done due to common procedure. This especially effects how the Government runs Salisbury Convention – House of Lords will not oppose 2nd or 3rd reading of a bill if in the government’s manifesto

On the other hand - Politicians are not legally to bound to conventions and may justify not following them e.g. Challenged during Conservative-Lib Dem coalition of 2010-2015 as the government arguably had a weaker mandate on which to govern

Question 4

Reform through Statute Law

Answer 4

• Human Rights Act 1998
• House of Lords Act 1999
• Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011

Question 5

Authoritative Opinion

Answer 5

Important as these are historical expert opinions which understand the constitution deeply and thus give a grouping of laws the title of the Constitution as the Constitution is uncodified e.g. Gus O’Donnell O’Donnell Rules (2010) giving rules and guidelines for coalition government

On the other hand - W. Bagehot’s The English Constitution (1867) Talks about the practical and showy parts of Parliament, however, the scrutiny of the Lords over the executive has showed it to be more practical than showy

Question 6

International Agreements

Answer 6

Important as agreements made with other nations that bind the UK into treaties that can’t be broken e.g. The UK and EU mutually agreed terms for Brexit in 2020

On the other hand - There is, however, a technicality in that Parliament is sovereign and thus can break international law if it pleases e.g. The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 broke a clause of the Northern Ireland Protocol agreed with the EU, causing distrust between the EU and UK

Question 7

Parliamentary Sovereignty

Answer 7

• Parliament passed the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 which allowed the government to break international law as it went against the Good Friday Agreement
• However, The UK Supreme Court can deem legislature unconstitutional

Question 8

Rule of Law

Answer 8

• Some people have immunity such as foreign diplomats that have diplomatic immunity and are thus above the law.
• e.g. Harry Dunn who was killed in 2019 by a US diplomat’s wife who then claimed diplomatic immunity

Question 9

Unitary State

Answer 9

• UK Parliament can still legislate on specifically devolved matters if it so chooses
• Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland all have semi-autonomous devolved administrations

Question 10

The UK Constitution should be codified and entrenched - Clarity and protection of Rights

Answer 10

People will better understand what their protected rights and freedoms are rather than looking at multiple documents, and a dominant government will be less able to roll back people’s rights like they have done before e.g. The Coronavirus Act 2020 Allows police to detain anyone they have ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect is ‘potentially infectious’ for up to 14 days

On the other hand - Already have a charter of rights in the Human Right Act 1998 meaning a new set of rights is unnecessary

Whilst it protects the rights already in place, it makes it more difficult for human rights to be advanced e.g. the adoption of the Equality Act 2010 which protects ethnic minority rights

Question 11

The UK Constitution should be codified and entrenched - limits executive power

Answer 11

A codified and entrenched constitution would limit the ability of the government to rule with a tyranny of the majority as constitutional amendments would require overwhelming support in a supermajority vote e.g. The government of Boris Johnson had an 80 seat majority and was only defeated in the Commons 4 times from 2019-2021, showing the need for a codified constitution

On the other hand - Limits the ability of the executive to govern efficiently and effectively e.g. The Coronavirus Act 2020 allowed the government to lock down the entire nation to limit the spread of Coronavirus, whereas in the US the restrictions were enforced poorly across the various states

Question 12

The UK Constitution should be codified and entrenched - Undermines the principle of Parliamentary Sovereignty

Answer 12

Would limit Parliament from holding complete power to amend the law through a simple majority vote, a current constitutional principle

On the other hand - As Parliament would have passed the vote to agree to adopt an entrenched constitution, they technically still hold sovereignty as the power of the constitution would still be through it being statute law passed by Parliament, and has been done before e.g. When Parliament bound itself to a supermajority vote for calling a snap election in the Fixed Terms Parliament Act 2011

Question 13

Parliamentary Government under a Constitutional Monarch

Answer 13

Monarch still gives assent to laws

Question 14

Parliament regained it’s full sovereignty to make laws as it pleases

Answer 14

• European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act, 2020
• Most parts of the European Communities Act of 1972 repealed
• UK no longer forced to use EU law

Question 15

The extent to which House of Lords was successful

Answer 15

1999
Failed - There are still 92 hereditary peers, the Prime Minister can appoint as many peers to the Lords as they see fit, meaning they can or can threaten to simply make the Lords into a rubber stamp. Make them more democratic and accountable, encourage wider societal participation,

Success -removed a large amount of elitism

-House of Lords Act 1999 – removed all but 92 hereditary peers in the House of Lords

Question 16

The extent to which devolution was successful

Answer 16

-Scotland Act 1998, Government of Wales Act 1998, Northern Ireland Act 1998
- Saw a transfer of power from the central government in Westminster to regional governments
- welsh language taught since 1999 in Welsh schools (compulsory)

Failed - Devolution within England has been a failure on the most part as the people have rejected it in favour of direct UK governance e.g. The 2004 North East England devolution referendum was rejected by over 75%, calls for independence in Scotland, Sctoland has more powers than Wales and Northern Ireland

Success - Created 3 regional governments in Wales, NI, Scotland, creating a level of government representing and focusing on the interests of these regions, also improving democracy

Question 17

The extent to which Electoral Reform was successful

Answer 17

Failed - election outcomes are unfair on the small parties and benefit the large parties due to concentrated support so reform is needed in order to make the UK more democratic and fair e.g. UKIP won the 3rd biggest share of the votes in 2015 but only received one seat due to dispersed support

Successful - Introduced AMS in the Scottish and Welsh Parliament. Introduced STV for the Northern Ireland Assembly attempted to in 2011 with the AV referendum but the public chose not to- content with the current system as it is fairly simple to understand and typically produces strong majority governments

Question 18

The extent to which Judiciary reform was successful

Answer 18

Successful - Creation of a separate UK Supreme Court, ending the Law Lords’ presence in the legislature as part of the House of Lords, ended the status of the Lord Chancellor as a member of all 3 branches of government in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005

Failed- There is no evidence that the previous Law Lords shied away from making similar rulings to the UKSC e.g. in M v Home Office 1993 the Law Lords held the Home Secretary Kenneth Baker in contempt of court for failing to comply with a court order in an asylum case
Lord Chancellor is given a choice of candidates and has the choice to accept or reject but can only reject so many times

Question 19

The extent to which rights protection was successful

Answer 19

Successful - The Human Rights Act 1998 has created a baseline set of fundamental rights for the UK citizen and has been used to protect individuals from the power of the government e.g. In 2013 a Ugandan Man was unable to be deported despite attending a terrorist training camp due to the ECHR provision to a ‘right to family life’ as the man had fathered a number of children in the UK

Failed - Due to Parliament being sovereign and the government usually having a majority within Parliament, they are able to override the Human Rights Act as they please e.g. Post (9/11) 2001- parliament allowed the government to hold suspected terrorists for long periods without trial

Question 20

Constitutional reform under Brown - Royal prerogative of Ministers checked by Parliament

Answer 20

-Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010
Under Gordon Brown
-Ended minister royal prerogative powers to independently negotiate and sign treaties, making treaties now require the ratification of Parliament

Question 21

The extent to which the Fixed-term Parliament Act 2011 was successful

Answer 21

Successful - legilsted that general elections should take placce exactly every 5 years after the last general election. This made it more challening for a PM to call a snap election an provided greater stbality solving the issue of what to do in a coalition government

Unsuccessful - allows a general election if the government loses a vote of no confidnece. In 2017 Thersea May was able to call one through the consent of Parliament. Therefore the signfiincace of this act is minimal. The act has since been repealed in 2022 and made the maximum term of a Parliament (rather than the period between general elections) five years

Question 22

Parliamentary reofrm under the coalition government - Wright Reforms (Parliament) are enacted

Answer 22

Under Gordon Brown the proposals were made and acted on by the coalition government which followed him.
-Proposed procedural changes to expand role of backbenchers
-Election of select committee chairs and members by secret ballots stopping party whips and leaders from choosing people to fill these roles
-Established Backbench Business Committee - Backbenchers can put forward their own legislation that generally has cross-party support
-Did not address more fundamental problems such as elective-dictatorship caused by the fusion of powers
- Electronic petitions were introduced to directly lobby Parliament and if an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures it would most likley be debated

Question 23

Further devolution under the 2010-2015 coalition government

Answer 23

In the 2011 referendum Wales voted in favour of its Assembly being given primary legislative power in some areas. These provisions were enacted by the Wales Act 2014, which also provided for a future referendum over whether Wales could be given some control over income tax.

Further powers were devolved to Sctoland, including the right to vary income tax by up to 10p. The Scottish government was also given the authority to borrow up to £5 billion

Question 24

Constitutional reform under the 2010-2015 coalition government - Power of Recall

Answer 24

In 2015 to help restore trust in politicians the act aimed to make MPs more accouable by allowing their constituents to demand a by-election if an MP is sentenced to prison or is suspended from the Commons for more than 21 days. 10% of constituents must sign the petition to be successful.

E.g. in 2018 the DUP MP Ian Paisley was suspended for not disclosing a holiday that he had taken at the expense of the Sri Lankan government and subsequently lobbying on its behald when it was accused of human rights abuse. As a result he became the 1st MP subject to a recall petition but survived as only 9.4% of constituents signed the petition.

Question 25

David Cameron constitutional reform 2015-2017

Answer 25

IN 2014 he promised extensive new powers to the Scottish Parliament and government if Scotland rejected independence. These were consequently introdced in the Scotland Act 2016 and provided Sctoland with what have been called ‘devo-max’ powers

The EU referendum was a committment made in his 2015 manifesto which he then had to deliver on.

The West Lothian question
- English Votes for English Laws System (EVEL)
- System introduced in 2015 that gave English MP’s in the Commons the right to veto any bills that exclusively affect England
- Abolished in 2021

Question 26

Fundamental rights and freedoms set out

Answer 26

• Human Rights Act 1998
• It incorporates the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic British law – Highly important in setting out a complete set of modern rights of citizens

Question 27

Provides public access to information held by public authorities

Answer 27

• Freedom of Information Act 2000
• Public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities and member of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities – Important in increasing transparency and bringing corruption to light

Question 28

Bringing UK laws up to date with demographic change

Answer 28

• Equality Act 2010
• The Act provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all. It provides Britain with a discrimination law which protects individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all

Question 29

Ugandan Man (Individual v Collective Rights)

Answer 29

• 2013
• Unable to be deported from the UK for being a ‘danger to the public and Armed Forces’ despite having attended a terrorist training camp. The ECHR provision to a ‘right to family life’ was used to appeal deportation proceedings as the man had fathered a number of children in the UK

Question 30

Corona laws (Individual v Collective Rights)

Answer 30

• Coronavirus Act 2020
• Essentially allowed the nation to be placed under house arrest
• Allows police, immigration officers, and public health officers to detain anyone they have ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect is ‘po
  entially infectious’ for up to 14 days
• The clause could be interpreted to give police officers unlimited freedom to detain anyone, on a scale previously unseen in a liberal democracy