Should the UK constitution be codified? Flashcards
yes
It would help limit government and partially
solve the problem of the UK as ‘elective
dictatorship’.
It would protect citizens’ rights better if also
entrenched.
It would make the rules of government clearer
and easier to find and understand.
reduce elective dictatorship
It would help limit government and partially
solve the problem of the UK as ‘elective
dictatorship’.
It would make it harder for governments to change the constitution. constitution to benefit themselves
The Conservative government recently changed the way elections worked with the Elections Act
2022 and Dissolution and Calling of Parliament
Act 2022. Both benefited the government itself
and the government party. A codified and
entrenched constitution would make this harder
eval of it will solve elective dictatorship
However, there are other reasons for the elective dictatorship (no full separation of
powers, prerogative powers, no full federal system) that would not be solved with a
codified constitution
The government use of prerogative powers to appoint members of the House of Lords can be used to encourage donations to its party, like with the appointment of Peter Cruddas after donating £3.5 million to the Conservative Party
- limit government too much
protect rights
It would protect citizens’ rights better if also
entrenched.
It would make it harder to get right of rights if protected with entrenched provisions
The Conservative manifestoes of 2015 and 2017 promised to repeal the Human Rights Act
1998, and the 2019 manifesto to ‘update’ it.
At the moment it requires just a normal
majority in Parliament to get rid of the HRA.
eval of protect rights better
However an entrenched constitution would
make it harder to add new rights.
For example, in the US the right to same-sex marriage is protected by law, but not specifically protected in the constitution, because changing it is so difficult.
provide clarity
It would make the rules of government clearer
and easier to find and understand.
All key rules would be explained in one single document, and we would rely less on vague unwritten conventions.
The US constitution makes it clear what the rules are and where they can be found, is taught at school, and most Americans know the basic rules and rights.
eval of provide clarity
However, the different rules can still be listed and explained, without the need for a fully legally binding codified constitution
This happened with the Cabinet Manual, written in 2010 on request from Gordon Brown. The Cabinet Manual lists and explains all the main rules of government, but is not in itself legally binding.
no
1.It would make the constitution less flexible.
2.We would never agree on writing one.
1.It would make the constitution less flexible.
If entrenched it would make it more difficult to modernise the constitution and keep it up to date
Over the past 25 years the UK constitution has had many reforms (Supreme Court, devolution,
Human Rights Act, appointed Lords, Fixed-term
Parliament Act, Brexit), all of which would be
harder with a entrenched constitution
eval of 1.It would make the constitution less flexible.
However, the UK constitution could be too easy to change, making it unpredictable, as well as
open to manipulation by the current government
The Fixed-Term-Parliaments Act 2011 was repealed just 11 years later, suggesting
reforms can be made too hastily
2.We would never agree on writing one.
The UK has not had a unifying moment to start from scratch and agree on basic principles. Instead it would be up to the government of the day to write, making it biased
The US constitution was written after independence, the French one after a revolution, and the German one after a dictatorship and the world wars. The UK has not had such a clear moment
to start afresh.
eval of 2.We would never agree on writing one.
However, Brexit could have provided such a
moment to jointly decide what country
we want to be, and write a codified
constitution.
Also, if people convinced of the benefits, it
is possible to write a codified
constitution even without a major crisis
Switzerland completely rewrote its
constitution in 1999, without a major crisis or
similar event
