consitution

Question 1

what are the values of the rule of law?

Answer 1

-justice
-legal equality
-judicial independence

Question 2

what legislation do features of the rule of law lie?

Answer 2

-Magna Carta
-bill of rights 1688

Question 3

in what three ways is Parliament sovereign?

Answer 3

-no Parliament can bind its successor and has the right to bind or appeal acts passed by previous parliaments.
-Parliament can make a law on any subject.
-legislation made by Parliament cannot be struck down by a higher body only can vote legislation incompatible.

Question 4

examples meaning that Parliament might not be sovereign?

Answer 4

-European communities Act 1972 agreed to make itself subservient to European laws.
-new Labours devolution programme saw the Scottish Parliament granted tax-varying powers and legislative control over different areas.
-increase in referedums eg Brexit.

Question 5

what is federalism?

Answer 5

-a political system where sovereignty is shared between central and regional levels of government.

Question 6

examples of constitutional reform under new labour 1997-2010?

Answer 6

-1998 Devolution acts, transferred power to regions of Scotland wales and N ireland.
-new election systems to devolved bodies
-1998 human rights act
-House of Lords act 1999, removed voting rights of hereditary peers 92 were still allowed.
-Constitutional reform act 2005, established the supreme court and guaranteed judicial independence.

Question 7

examples of constitution reform under the coaltition?

Answer 7

-Fixed term parliament act
-wales act 2014, limited extension of powers to wales powers to raise new forms of tax
-recall of MPs act 2015, constituents have the power to order MP to face by-election if guilty of misconduct.

Question 8

examples of consitution reform under the conservatives 2015?

Answer 8

-Scotland act 2016, increased devolved powers to Scotland including welfare and further tax powers.
-Wales Act 2017, welsh assembly can now become Parliament further powers devolved.
-EVEL, MPs for wales Scot cannot vote on English only matters.

Question 9

strengths of the constitution?

Answer 9

-adaptability, easy to change and keep upto date.
-strong government
-accountability, Parliament and voters play vital scrutinising role.

Question 10

criticisms of the UK constitution?

Answer 10

-outdated or undemocratic,
-concentration of power
-not entrenched

Question 11

what legislation has the Scottish parliament passed?

Answer 11

-voted in 2008 to abolish tuition fees
-smoking ban in public places with the smoking, Health and social care Act 2005, this was later introduced in england and wales.
-passed legislation that set a minimum price for alcohol in 2012 and rolled out in may 2018
-later on same sex marriage passed in 2014 compared to 2013 for England but more progressive with no spousal veto for transgender sex changes.

Question 12

what legislation has Wales passed?

Answer 12

-2011 single use carrier bag charge and this reduced use of around 71% and is now used in the UK.

Question 13

what does the public think about the welsh parliament?

Answer 13

-in a survey in 2017 only 18% thought that devolution had improvements made by the welsh assembly.

Question 14

how did the devolved bodies differ on COVID policies on September 22 2020?

Answer 14

-England, allowed 6 from multiple households, 1m+, and outdoors 6 from multiple households.

-Wales, allowed upto 30 outdoors, 2m apart for 11+ only, and four households of 6 members can meet

Question 15

has devolution as a constitutional reform improved the UK political system?

Answer 15

-it has allowed local governments to become closer to the people.
-threatened the stability of the UK
-left the west Lothian question unresolved (Scotland, wales voting on English matters in the UK parliament)

Question 16

have referendums as a constitutional reform improved the UK political system?

Answer 16

-they have enabled representative democracy to be supplemented by a stronger element of direct democracy.
-some issues are too complicated for the public to solve.
-can only be initiated by the Parliament.

Question 17

have the HRA as a constitutional reform improved the UK political system?

Answer 17

-citizens now have a list of their rights and created a culture of rights awareness making the government think twice before passing legislation.
-not new rights but have created a more litigious culture in the UK.
-not been entrenched into UK law and can be abolished at any time.

Question 18

drawbacks to the UK’s un-codified consitution?

Answer 18

-lack of a single document has meant that important laws and rules are insufficiently understood and less accessible and this led to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU to several years of political turmoil and clashes between parliament and government.
-relationships of parliament, the judiciary and executive are often unclear and subject to challenge for example the prime ministers decision to prorogue parliament in sept 2019 was overturned by the supreme court.
-governing arrangements in the UK are often characterised by conflict and disagreement, for example disjointed relationships between the UK’s self governing regions led to serious criticisms of divergent health policies during COVID.

Question 19

arguments in favour of a codified constitution?

Answer 19

-enshrined in a single document and this allows it to be clear and accessible to all citizens who can refer to and identify with it and reduces the ambiguity in the current UK political system.
-the rights of individuals would be safe-guarded and entrenched and changes involve a super majority or a referendum.
-give more authority to the senior judges of the supreme court who would become the constitutions protectors not just be able to issue incompatibility but strike laws down like in the US.

Question 20

arguments against the UK having a codified constitution?

Answer 20

-process by which constitution should be changed should be straight forward and a codified constitution wouldn’t allow this.
-allows the government to be held to account anyway and majorities in the commons can allow for social and political change.
-codified are hard to change as entrenched and can entrench out of date ideas and make change difficult to achieve e.g US and black rights hard to achieve.
-give judges too much power as unelected and unaccountable individuals.
-no pressure for a change or agreement

Question 21

what is a statute law?

Answer 21

-laws created by parliament, Acts.

Question 22

what is a common law?

Answer 22

-laws developed through historical use and treation or laws made by judges.

Question 23

what are conventions?

Answer 23

-unwritten rule that is expected to apply and be upheld by all members of the community, not legally enforceable but are based on tradition or trust e.g salisbury convention.

Question 24

what are authoritative works?

Answer 24

-written by legal experts or political scholars and refered to when trying to understand the constitution, carry no authority but help to assert a view on the workings of the constitution.

Question 25

what are treaties?

Answer 25

-international legal agreements

Question 26

what are the six principles of the UK constitution?

Answer 26

-it is unitary, legal sovereignty lies with the UK parliament.
-based on parliamentary sovereignty
-no separation of powers
-constitutional monarchy and prerogative powers
-strong executive
-the rule of law

Question 27

what were Blairs 4 key principles for constitutional reform?

Answer 27

-decentralisation, disperse power from Whitehall
-democratisation
-modernisation
-rights protection

Question 28

what is the west lothian question?

Answer 28

-whether it is right that MPs from Scotland wales etc, should be able to vote on English laws when English MPs can’t vote on Scottish or welsh matters.