Parliamentary Sovereignty Flashcards
arguments suggesting that Parliament is no longer sovereign
devolution has weakened parliamentary sovereignty
referendums undermine parliamentary sovereignty and hand sovereignty back to the people
EU law takes primacy over UK law
arguments suggesting that Parliament still is sovereign
devolution can be reversed by parliament
parliament does not have to listen to the result of referendums or even hold them in the first place
parliament can ignore the EU or leave at any time
devolution has weakened parliamentary sovereignty
parliament has delegated power to regions and is highly unlikely to take away those powers
decentralises power, ensures that power is not concentrated all in one source, thus acting as a check on government power which is vital in any democracy
prevents a remote and unaccountable government, or what Lord Hailsham referred to as an “elective dictatorship” – devolved bodies force the government to engage in regional issues and be more responsive
e.g. Scottish Independence
they make the government more responsive by forcing them to listen to public opinion and prevents them from rushing through change without consulting the necessary regions and gaining their support, therefore acting as a check on government power
devolution can be reversed by parliament
parliament has devolved power, not sovereignty, meaning that it can reverse devolution through a simple act of parliament
parliament has the ultimate authority to delegate power to devolved bodies, but this also means that it can take this power away when it pleases and repeal legislation at any time using a simple majority in the House of Commons
referendums undermine parliamentary sovereignty and hand sovereignty back to the people
referendums take power away from parliament and gives it to the people – popular sovereignty
undermine representative democracy by challenging parliamentary sovereignty
the cornerstone of democracy in the UK is that voters elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf – this is their job and has been the accepted way of doing things for centuries
but referendums, by taking away the decision-making role from the government, undermine parliamentary sovereignty and representative democracy as it is the role of representatives in Parliament to make important decisions about how the country is run
political reality makes it extremely unlikely that parliament would dare ignore the outcome of a popular vote – made clear after the Brexit referendum in 2016 when some constitutional lawyers argued that parliament was legally entitled to reverse the result of the vote, but in practice MPs are highly unlikely to risk the public backlash that would follow if they attempted to defy the clearly expressed will of the people
parliament is highly unlikely to ignore the results of a referendum
in a democracy, the legally sovereign body derives its authority from the people, the people elect a parliament and delegate their power to parliament – thus the electorate is politically sovereign, parliament is accountable to the electorate for the way in which it exercises power and the electorate can elect a new parliament at regular intervals
parliament is entrusted with formal legal sovereignty but can only do so because the people allow it to
parliament does not have to listen to the result of referendums or even hold them in the first place
theoretically, parliament does not have to listen to the people as referendums are advisory
referendums are fully at the government’s discretion
governments choose when to hold referendums, which gives them the power to ignore the electorate, and there are no legal requirements to hold them in the first place let alone listen to the outcomes as they are not legally binding
for example, in 2007, Labour denied the public a say on the Lisbon Treaty which gave significant authority to the EU
the opposition at the time were outraged that the electorate had been denied the ability to give their opinion on such an important matter
this just goes to show that referendums do not necessarily prevent an elective dictatorship or an overly remote government as the executive can deny the people a say, demonstrating that parliament is still sovereign
EU law takes primacy over UK law
Common Fisheries Policy
since 1983, the EU has regulated the amount of deep-sea fish that could be caught with a system of quotas
it has also allowed fishing boats from different member states to have equal access to each other’s fishing grounds
critics argued that this allowed large fishing fleets from other countries to drive small UK trawler operators out of business
fishing was at the centre of the landmark ruling in the 1990 Factortame case - a Spanish fishing company called Factortame sued the UK government for restricting its access to UK waters
the law lords ruled that the 1988 Merchant Shipping Act which the government was using to justify his actions could not be allowed to stand because it violated EU law
this case established the primacy of EU law over an act of Parliament – the laws that an unelected body initiates takes primacy over the laws initiated by our own elected government, which is arguably undemocratic
HRA – EU law takes primacy over UK law, all UK law must be compatible with the ECHR
parliament can ignore the EU or leave at any time
technically, although EU law takes primacy over UK law, the cornerstone of the international system is that states are sovereign, meaning that the UK can essentially ignore the EU and nothing can be done to stop this
parliament is also still sovereign as it can choose to leave at any time, which it is doing now (Brexit)
arguably, sovereignty has not been lost, it has merely been pooled – all member states voluntarily share some sovereignty for an agreed common purpose
UK parliament has gained influence through EU membership that it could not have done on its own
