New Labour constitutional reforms

Question 1

4 Labour Key Reforms written within labour manifesto

Answer 1

Decentralisation

Democratisation

Transparency

Rights Protection

Question 2

Decentralisation

Answer 2

Decentralisation
Wanted to move power away from Westminster parliament and devolve the power back to the people

For Example
Scotland and Wales would be offered their own elected governmentsCities and towns would be given the opportunity elect their own mayors

Question 3

Democratisation

Answer 3

Democratisation
The public should be given more influence over decision making through the greater use of referendums on important constitutional issues
For example
The house of lords would be reformed

Question 4

Transparency

Answer 4

Transparency
Wanted to make sure the running of the country and the making of decisions were clear to everyone (Prior to Blair, everything was done behind closed doors)
For example
The Freedom of Informations Act would open up government, making it more accountable to the public

In order to encourage greater trust in gov, the role of the senior judiciary would be reformed

Question 5

Rights Protection

Answer 5

Rights Protection

Since British citizens human rights were not protected by a codified

Question 6

Blairs comments on the British constitution

Answer 6

For Blair- the British constitution was urgently in need of reform and New Labour would address this problem

Power was too centralised in Westminster and the rights of citizens were insufficently protected

Government was so remote and unaccountable: public disengaged from politics

Question 7

How would democracy be invigorated according to Blair (and what did he quote related to the subject of constitutional reform)

Answer 7

Democracy would be invigorated by an extensive programme of constitutional reform

Blair- modernisation is key

Question 8

How were these 4 principles put into practice ?

Answer 8

Through the constitutional reforms of

• House of Lords
• Devolution
• Supreme Court
• Human Rights Act

Question 9

What was labours flagship constitutional reform in 1997?

Answer 9

Devolution

Question 10

How did the process of devolution come about in the UK?

Answer 10

1997 referendums in Scotland Wales on elected government
Scotland YES to their own parliament (large majority)
Wales YES to their own assembly (tiny margin)
1998 As part of Good Friday Agreement
NI referendum in favour of power sharing between unionists and republicans in an devolved assembly

Question 11

Aim of devolved bodies

Answer 11

Aim of devolved bodies
Greater self-determination
Establishing new legislatures and executives in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast would ensure that policies. could be more exactly suited to the needs of the people in Scotland Wales and NI

Question 12

How did the government extend devolution even further ?

Answer 12

The government also provided many towns, cities and regions with the opportunity to elect their own mayors

Question 13

What did London vote for in the 1998 referendum and what did it result in ?

Answer 13

In 1998
London voted in a referendum in favour of a Greater London Authority comprising an elected Mayor of London and a London Assembly, which can veto the mayor’s proposals with a two-third majority

Question 14

What was the Local Government Act (2000)

Answer 14

Enabled local authorities to offer their voters a referendum over whether they wanted their own directly elected mayors

Question 15

Arguments for the principle of elected mayors

Answer 15

They encourage greater accountability and transparency in local governments
David Cameron- ‘galvanise action”

Question 16

Arguments against elected mayors

Answer 16

By 2016, the electorate had rejected an elected mayor in 37 of the 53 referendums that were called- little demand

Concerns that, far from encouraging, mayors are frequently elected on a small turnout of the vote, undermining their legitimacy
- E.g. In 2016, Andy Street became the elected mayor of the West Midlands but the turnout was only 26.7%

Question 17

Why were plans to move towards English evolution stalled in. 2004 ?

Answer 17

When the North-East rejected proposals for a regional assembly by 78% to 22%

Question 18

House of Lords situation when the government introduced legislation to reform the upper house ?

Answer 18

1,330 peers were eligible to attend the House of Lords.
- The majority were hereditary peers (the right to sit in the House of Lords derived from their membership of one of the aristocratic families of the UK)

Hereditary peers outnumbered the life peers, who had been appointed as a result of their service to the nation

Question 19

What was the problem with hereditary peers and what did this provoke Brown and Blair to do ?

Answer 19

The hereditary principle undermined the the legitimacy of the HOL so the government was determined to remove the right of the hereditary peers to attend which would be called the House of Lords Act 1999

Question 20

How did they persuade the House of Lords to accept this reform ?

Answer 20

In order to persuade the House of Lords to accept this offer, the government compromised by allowing hereditary peers to elect 92 of their number who would continue to sit in the House of Lords

Question 21

What did this reform movement affect and why?

Answer 21

This reform movement affected its membership rather than its powers
The government’s intention was to make it more a professional body by ensuring that membership became based on merit and accomplishment rather than birth

Question 22

In terms of House of Lords reform, what was created in 2000 and what was its aims

Answer 22

In 2000, a House of Lords Appointments Commission was established, which would nominate a small proportion of like peers

Question 23

Why have the HOL reforms been highly controversial ?

Answer 23

The gov intended the HOL Act 1999 to be the first stage of reform, however nothing was done to introduce an elected element of the HOL

The majority of life peers are still appointed on the recommendations of the prime minister, as a result of which critics claim that too many appointments to the Lords are through political patronage

Question 24

Why is the unelected nature of the HOL controversial ?

Answer 24

Although HOL can claim greater expertise, It still lacks democratic legitimacy

Question 25

How did Tony Blairs enthusiasm for electoral reform change overtime ?

Answer 25

Although Tony Blair, as leader of the opposition, had expressed interest in electoral reform for Westminsiter elections, the massive parliamentary majority that Labour achieved in the 1991 election reduced enthusiasm
Decided not to change it as that year they won on a landslide

Question 26

What was the name of the report and who did they task to investigate the reforms ?

Answer 26

Jenkinson Report

Roy Jenkins -former labour minister and SDP party founder, to investigate alternatives to FPTP

Question 27

What did the report find and what did Labour do about these findings ?

Answer 27

Commissioned a report, tasking Roy Jekins, former labour minister and SDP party founder, to investigate alternatives to FPTP, they ignored the reports recommendation that FPTP should be replaced by AV

Question 28

What electoral reforms did they introduce ?

Answer 28

Labour was prepared to adopt new electoral systems for the new devolved assemblies and elected mayors and regional assemblies to encourage voter choice and ensure a fairer balance of influence
The Scottish and Parliament and Welsh assembly - AMS
The Northern Irish Assembly- STV
London Assembly- AMS
Mayoral elections- SV

Question 29

When was the Humans Rights Act passed and what did this incorporate into British Law

Answer 29

In 1998, the Human Rights Act (HRA) was passed, which incorporated the European Convention of Human Rights into British Law

Question 30

Strengths of the HRA

Answer 30

Provided the judiciary with important new powers to protect our civil liberties in ways that would previously would not have been possible

Incorporating the ECHR into British Law also led to the better protection of our civil liberties

• Public bodies such as the government are now expected to act in accordance with the HRA
• When parliament legislates, it should do so, as much as possible in accordance with the principles of the HRA
• Peoples rights are now legally protected
• Rights are now better protected

Question 31

Explain a time whereby the allowed the court to protect citizens rights

Answer 31

Laporte case (2003)- Article 10 of the HRA (the right to freedom of expression) were used to show that the police acted illegally when they stopped 120 anti-Iraq War protesters from reaching RAF Fairford in 2003

Question 32

Why should the constitutional significance of the HRA not be exaggerated ?

Answer 32

Since it’s an act of parliament, it does not represent the sort of higher constitutional law to be found in (eg. US Bill of Rights)

Parliament therefore has the right to repeal the act and since no parliament may bind its successor, Parliament can still intact legislation even if it conflicts with the HRA
-In such circumstances- the judiciary would issue a formal statement of compatibility but the new law would still stand

It doesn’t protect you from a government wanting to change it in the future (it’s not entrenched and it uncodified so there may be different meanings of what this act means)

Question 33

Explain Article 15

Answer 33

Article 15- gives the gov the right to suspend, or derogate from, certain provisions (as the blair gov did in 2001)

Question 34

What is the freedom of information act

Answer 34

a federal statute that requires public agencies to provide certain types of information requested by citizens

Question 35

Why did Tony Blair create the House of Lords ?

Answer 35

Although the judiciary should be separate from the legislature, there were a number of anomalies in the constitution

Lord Chancellor was head of the Judiciary but was also member of the cabinet and presided over the HOL

The most senior judges also sat in the HOL - law lords (although they did not vote on legislation, making it the final court of appeal)

Question 36

What were the changes of the courts laid out in ?

Answer 36

Constitutional Reform Act 2005

Question 37

In order guarantee the separation of powers, what did the constitutional reform achieve ?

Answer 37

In order to guarantee the separation of powers, the Constitutional Reform Act achieved the following
It ended the House of Lords judicial function and in its place established the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court opened in 2009 and the way in which its members dispense justice has become more transparent
In order to make the appointment of judges more transparent, the Lord Chancellor rights to nominate judges was transferred to a Judicial Appointments Committee, which now makes recommendations to the judge secretary
The Lords Chancellor’s role presiding over the House of Lords was removed and the new head of judiciary became the non-political Lord Chief Justice. The lord Chancellors functions merged with those of the justice secretary