Coalition government constitutional reforms

Question 1

Why did the government of Gordon Brown not introduce any further constitutional reforms ?

Answer 1

The government of Gordon Brown was so preoccupied with confronting the global economic crisis that it did NOT introduce any further major constitutional reforms

Question 2

What made David Cameron differ from previous leaders

Answer 2

David Cameron was more open to change than former Conservative government, making constitutional reform a leading priority to bring the Lib Dems committed to updating the constitution

Question 3

Nick Clegg comments on constitutional reform

Answer 3

Nick Clegg (Deputy PM) the coalition would be responsible so ‘the biggest shake-up of our democracy since 1832

Question 4

Who originally had the power to call a general election and how did this benefit them?

Answer 4

Calling a general election had always been a royal prerogative power and a choice of the prime minister

When prime ministers are popular and think they are gonna win ,they usually call a election earlier

They abused this power and used it to their advantage

Question 5

How did the coalition government legislate to stop governments abusing their prerogative power of calling a general election >

Answer 5

During the coalition government they created the Fixed Term Parliament Act which legislates that a general election should be held exactly 5 years after the last general election

-becoming more codified

Question 6

In what ways was the Fixed Terms Parliament Act successful ?

Answer 6

Provides the government with stability

Made it more difficult for a prime minister to call a snap election at the time of their choosing

Prevented Borris Johnson in 2019 from calling a general election as most of the labour MP’s voted against it

Question 7

An example of how the Fixed Term Parliament Act has been successful ?

Answer 7

Prevented Borris Johnson in 2019 from calling a general election as most of the labour MP’s voted against it

Question 8

How has the Fixed Term Parliament Act been unsuccessful ?

Answer 8

The Fixed Term Parliament Act allows that you could still call a general election if you have a ⅔ majority of the House of Commons who agree to the general election (and prime ministers will always want a general election)

Question 9

An example of how the Fixed Term Parliament Act has been unsuccessful ?

Answer 9

In 2017- Theresa May was still able to call a general election- the only difference was she had to do this with the consent of parliament rather than by using royal prerogative - Parliament ratified her decision by 522-13

Question 10

Why is the Fixed Term Parliament Act controversial ?

Answer 10

Taken the powers away from some prime ministers (Boris 2019) and given it to others (Teresa 2017) Teresa may was able to call a general election by a 522-13 majority however Boris Johnson wasn’t

Question 11

What did the coalition agree on in terms of electoral reform ?

Answer 11

Coalition agreement stated that the gov would call a referendum offering the public to replace FPTP with AV

Question 12

Why did Cameron accept the case for an AV referendum ?

Answer 12

Providing opportunity for electoral reform was the price that David Cameron had to pay is he was able to form a coalition the Lib Dems in 2010

Question 13

What was the turnout of the referendum ?

Answer 13

Electorate voted 68% to 32% in favour of retaining FPTP on a turnout of just 48%

Question 14

What did the opponents of AV argue, including Cameron?

Answer 14

Opponents to change successfully portrayed the AV system as complicated and lacking in transparency

David Cameron- ‘undemocratic, obscure, crazy and unfair’

Question 15

Why was Nick Clegg criticised for the way he went about agreeing on a referendum ?

Answer 15

Critics on Nick Clegg- should have negotiated for a referendum on AMS or STV
Options might have been more appealing and so Cameron readily agreed to a referendum on AV knowing it would be unlikely to generate much support

Question 16

How did the coalition government address the governments dominance over the House of Commons through parliamentary reform ?

Answer 16

A Parliamentary Backbench Committee was established to give back bench MP’s more control over what is debated in Parliament

Electronic petitions were introduced, which allowed the public to directly lobby parliament. Parliament does not have to legislate on these issues, but if e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the issue is very likely to be debated

Question 17

How were the coalition and Blair government similar on the terms of what they deemed as important continual reform (relates to devolution) ?

Answer 17

Like the Blair gov- coalition gov was keen to decentralise power in order to bring decision making closer to the public

Question 18

Explain the Welsh 2011 referendum and how this decentralised power ?

Answer 18

2011 referendum- Wales voted in favour of its Assembly being given primary legislative powers in some areas- these provisions were enacted by the Wales Act 2014 act which also provided for a referendum over whether Wales could be given some control over income tax (although chancellor osborne declared that there wouldn’t need to be a referendum in the end)

Question 19

What further powers were devolved to Scotland ?

Answer 19

Further powers devolved to Scotland, including the right to vary income tax by up to 10p

The Scottish gov were also given the authority to borrow up to £5 million

Question 20

Another example of decentralisation (which doesn’t include the example of regional governments) implemented my the tories

Answer 20

A further example of decentralisation was the coalitions introduction of elected police and crime commissioners who would be accountable for regional policing

Allowed people to vote for police commissioners

Question 21

Why was the police commissioners constitutional reform not successful ?

Answer 21

Not many people have heard of their police commissioners and the highest turnout was 49.1% and the lowest was 17.7%

Question 22

Explain the Recall of MP’s Act (2015) and what did it aim to do ?

Answer 22

Allows their constituents to demand a by- election if an MP is sentenced to prison or is suspended from the house of commons for more than 21 days. For a recall petition to be successful, 10% of constituents must sign it

Helped to restore trust in politicians by making MP’s more accountable

Question 23

Examples of Recall of MP’s votes

Answer 23

Ian Parsley Jr (for not declaring visits to Sri Lanka paid for by the Sri Lankan government, and for breaking the Commons rule banning paid advocacy) - vote unsuccessful -(9.4%)

Fiona Onasanya- vote successful

Christopher Davies- vote successful (18%)