Constitutional changes under the coalition 2010-2015 (UK Constitution)

Question 1

House of Lords and boundary reform (Disagreements)

Answer 1

• Coalition agreement included a pledge to bring forward legislation to reform the House of Lords - one of the Lib Dems’ unbreachable requirements of a deal to govern together
• MPs voted by a large majority in favour of the bill
• Government was forced to drop another crucial vote on the parliamentary timetable - 100 Tory backbenchers + the Labour party signalled they would vote against it
• Clegg said he agreed to Cameron’s request for more time to persuade his backbenchers - prime minister told him that he could not do so
• Made it all but impossible for the government to get a final vote on the proposals for Lords to be elected for single 15-year terms
• Clegg revealed he offered David Cameron a compromise - a referendum on Lords reform at the next general election in 2015 - after which the changes to both Lords and the boundaries would take place in 2020 – but it was rejected.
• Labour proposed a non-partisan Parliamentary Boundary Review to examine the rules for the redistribution of seats
• Lib Dems proposed 150 fewer MPs
• Conservatives proposed number of MPs should be cut from 650 to 585 + constituency electorates should be equalised across the UK by implementing a boundary review under new rules would be conducted within five years.

Question 2

Electoral reform (Disagreements)

Answer 2

• All the major parties proposed some form of electoral reform but they differed greatly
• Conservatives had little interest in the constitutional reforms that the Liberal Democrats supported
• Accepted, in the Coalition Agreement, that there should be a referendum on replacing FPTP with AV - compromise for the Lib Dems who wanted a clearly proportionate system , which AV was not.
• Conservatives campaigned against the change - it was defeated in the referendum
• Major revolt by Tory MPs in Parliament against Nick Clegg’s proposals to change to a largely elected House of Lords led to the abandonment of Lords reform
• In retaliation, the Lib Dems refused to support the change to constituency boundaries that the Conservative wanted

Question 3

Rights (Disagreements)

Answer 3

• Theresa May (Home Secretary) introduced further anti-terrorism measures,
• Some Lib Dem backbenchers began to vote against them because of the effect on civil liberties
• Disagreement over the Human Rights Act
• Conservatives wanted to replace HRA with a British Bill of Rights, and the role of the European Court of Human Rights
• The Liberal Democrats blocked any changes in this area

Question 4

Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011 (Success)

Answer 4

• Royal prerogative power of the prime minister was deciding the date of a general election.
• This would have been a highly contentious decision for a coalition prime minister to have taken
• Fixed-term Parliaments Act legislated that a general election should be held exactly 5 years after the last general election
• Providing the government with greater stability,
• Made it more difficult for a prime minister to call a snap general election at a time of their choosing
• Allows a general election if the government loses a vote of confidence and a new government which has the confidence of the HoC cannot be established, or if 2/3 majority of the House of Commons agrees to a general election