Constitution Flashcards
Sources of the Constitution
SCCLAT: Statute law, Common law, Convention, Landmark decisions, Authoritative Works, Treaties
4
Recent developments and changes in the Constitution
1998 Human Rights Act
2005 Constitutional Reform Act - creation of UK Supreme Court
2011 Fixed Term Parliament Act (Repealed & replaced with the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, hence Sunak was able to call an election before the Conservative’s full 5 year term)
2024 debate of HoL (Hereditary Peers) Bill, seeking to remove the 92 remaining hereditary peers
Rwanda, covid, partygate, cons, stats, fixed info, recall for mps
Debates on Reform
In April 2024, the human rights charity Amnesty International accused the UK parliament of “deliberately destabilising” human rights through the Safety of Rwanda 2024, the Public Order Act 2023 (right to protest) and Sunak’s plans to criminalise rough sleepers.[b]
Lord Clarke warned that the Safety of Rwanda Bill would move the UK towards an ‘elective dictatorship[c]’. After the Supreme Court ruled that the Rwanda scheme was unlawful as Rwanda was an unsafe country, the government simply passed a bill to state that Rwanda is a safe country, and so went ahead with the plan.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst it could be argued that the PM Boris Johnson curtailed individual rights through the Coronavirus Act 2020 which gave ‘emergency powers[d]’ to the government. Our freedom of assembly and freedom of movement were curtailed by lockdown restrictions (article 5 provides the freedom of liberty and security which was thus eroded). However, this was necessary to stop the spread of the pandemic.
Partygate exposed the abuse of power by the former PM and his cabinet during lockdown, showing that the function of government is not transparent to be scrutinised by the people.[e]
However, the liaison committee later grilled Johnson about Partygate and held him accountable for his misconduct and misleading the Parliament during investigation[f], showing that the government is checked by the Parliament which is more powerful to balance the power to prevent ultra vires[g].
Constitutional Reform Act 2005 established the UK Supreme Court by separating the judiciary from the Law Lords in the House of Lords to maintain judicial independence[i] and judicial neutrality.
However, the Supreme Court is relatively weak and not powerful to hold other branches accountable due to parliamentary sovereignty and the uncodified and unentrenched constitution which has no legal power to enforce other branches to obey the rulings
Examples of the HOL being unrepresentative of the general UK public:
average age of lords is 71
70% of Lords received private education
only 28% are women
only 2.6% are BME
Tony Blair called himself “naive” and “foolish” for introducing the act. He argued that:
the freedom of information was not used by the people, but by journalists for political purposes
it reduces the effectiveness of government as ministers can no longer discuss things with a reasonable expectation of confidentiality
Wright Committee (Reform of House of Commons Committee) reported in 2009 and coalition government adopted changes in 2010 by regulating:
Numbers and size of committees (limited to max. 11 members)
Ensure chairperson is elected through secret ballot by alternative vote
Creation of Backbench Business Committee
E-petition system
Recall for MPs Act 2015 extends powers to the public (electorates) to decide if their MPs should step down (10% of registered voters signed the petition to trigger by-election)
e.g. Fiona Onasanya (Peterborough) due to custodial sentencing. This maintains the legitimacy of representative democracy through a pathway of direct democracy.
NI, EVEL, Local, Scotland, North
Devolution
The Scotland Act 1998 was used in 2023 to block the Gender Recognition Act passed in the Scottish Parliament.
A proposal to establish an assembly in north East England was defeated by a 78% ‘no’ vote in a 2004 referendum. In 2016, Manchester was granted the power to control its own budget for health and social care
Establishment of Stormont based on the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 successfully ended The Troubles (1968-1998). Northern Ireland assembly still dominated by Westminster: dissolved on multiple occasions, eg. 2002-2007, 2022-2024
Local government decides to gain devolved power or not: Local Government Act 2000 gives local government the power to hold a devolution referendum to decide if a devolved power is needed
EVEL (2015-2021) - West Lothian questions only asked and answered by English MPs, while questions about devolved areas should only include decision making in groups of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland MPs
However, this was repealed because MPs of constituencies near the boundaries complained for the unfairness while discussing issues in devolved bodies
Yes and no
Should there be a UK bill of rights?
Yes:
Protection of rights
Clarity and certainty
Modernization of democracy
International standards
NO:
Parliamentary sovereignty
Flexibility
Common Law Tradition
1215, freedom, 4
Rights in context
1215 Magna Carta - oldest statement of rights in the UK, to limit royal power
2000 Freedom of Information Act - Provides public access to information held by public authorities
Infected Blood inquiry Scandal, the government and the NHS hid from the public about infected blood given to patients, giving the HIV and Hepatitis C, causing many deaths
2010 Equality Act - Protects people from discrimination in the workforce & in wider society
2023 Public Order Act - Gave police further powers to prevent protest tactics deemed “disruptive” such as those used by climate protestors (e.g. “locking-on”, disrupting national infrastructure such as roads). Both the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Amnesty International criticised the act.
Shamima Begum had her citizenship stripped on the basis of national security in 2019, after she left England for Syria to join IS in 2015. Her appeal to regain her citizenship and entry to the UK have been unsuccessful multiple times and on multiple claims, and most recently, the Court of Appeal, in Feb 2024, upheld the previous decision of denying her entry again.
In 2018, the UK Supreme Court ruled in favour of Ashers Baking Company (run by Evangelical Christians), a Northern Irish bakery, over a “gay marriage cake” case. The bakery refused to make a cake with a message supporting same-sex marriage, claiming it was discriminatory. The court ruled that the refusal was based on the bakery’s owners’ objection to the message on the cake, not the customer’s sexual orientation. The court held that bakery owners were entitled to refuse to express a message that conflicted with their religious beliefs be used,
