Sovereignty

Question 1

How some legal sovereignty was transferred to the EU

Answer 1

• in 1972 the UK passed the EU communities Across and joined the EEC which developed into the EU.
• in doing so, the UK accepted the supremacy of EU law over laws passed by parliament and therefore the sovereignty of EU law.
  If a law was passed by the UK Parliament that contradicted EU law, the European court of justice and Supreme Court could strike it down.

Question 2

The debate over how much legal sovereignty was lost to the EU

Answer 2

Those who supported EU membership argued that sovereignty wasn’t lost through EU membership, but pooled with the sovereignty of other countries, and the UK therefore gained influence on the global stage it couldn’t have on its own.

Modern Eurosceptics argued sovereignty could be reclaimed by negotiating opt-outs from EU policies to which they objected.

Hard-line eurosceptics argued sovereignty could be reclaimed by negotiating opt-outs from EU policies to which they objected.

Question 3

How devolution affected sovereignty

Answer 3

• transferred authority to make the law on certain subjects to bodies other than the UK parliament.
• Since the Wales Act 2014 and the Scotland Act 2016, both countries have the power to vary taxation.
• devolution can therefore be seen as having reduced parliamentary sovereignty.

Question 4

Sovereignty lying in the executive

Answer 4

• it can be argued parl sov is really executive sov as the gov can usually dominated parliament. Lord Hailsham called this an ‘elective dictatorship’.
• executive controls most of parliamentary agenda and is able to use whipping and its large majority to ensure they very rarely lose votes.
• on the other hand, the executive is able to exert much less control over parliament when it has a smaller majority or is a coalition/ minority government, as was the case with Theresa May, for example.

Question 5

sovereignty lying with the people

Answer 5

• the people ultimately have political sovereignty, with which they grant Parliament and other bodies legal sovereignty through elections.

Question 6

Devolved bodies

Answer 6

• power to make laws on a range of policy areas, including certain areas of taxation.
• the Sewel Convention - stipulates that parliament cannot legislate on devolved areas without permission from the relevant devolved assembly, was recognised in the Scotland Act 2016 and Wales Act 2017.
• though the UK parliament theoretically could legally reverse devolution without a referendum and technically still can pass legislation on devolved matters, as the above acts only recognise three Sewel Convention, these actions would be politically highly unlikely as it would create a constitutional crisis and devolved bodies are a deeply ingrained party of British politics.

Question 7

Devolution has limited sovereignty

Answer 7

Devolution isn’t a federal settlement with a formal, legal sharing of sovereignty between different levels of government, instead, Parliament has granted power to the devolved bodies, which it could legally take back.

Question 8

Judiciary on sovereignty

Answer 8

• following the passage of the HRA 1998 and the establishing of the SC but three Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the SC has some sovereignty in the relation to the interpretations and ensuring the implementation of rights in the UK.
• the sovereignty is very limited, however as the Human Rights Act and DOI’s aren’t binding on parliament, both the HRA and the SC could be removed/replaced by parl at any time.

Question 9

The ways in which Parliament can still ve seen as sovereign

Answer 9

• remains the ultimate legal authority in the UK. It can pass laws on any subject and isn’t subordinate to any other body in law.
• judges cant strike down laws using the HRA, just declare DOI.
• can abolish devolved bodies. Transferred power not sovereignty.
• though the executive does often have a lot of power, this is due to its large majority in Parliament and therefore shouldn’t be seen as contradicting parl sovereignty.

Question 10

How parliamentary sovereignty has been reasserted recently

Answer 10

The UK’s withdrawal from the EU in 2020 significantly increased parl sov.

• in recent decades, it has become a convention that parl is consulted before voting on major military actions.
• when gov’s have been weak, especially Theresa May’s gov, parliament has been effective in challenging the executive.
• Illegal Immigration Bill likely is incompatible with the HRA but the government is choosing to proceed.

Question 11

Overall analysis on sovereignty in the UK

Answer 11

• the people hold political sovereignty in the UK and grant legal sovereignty to other bodies.
• Parliament holds the majority of legal sovereignty in the UK, especially following the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.
• Devolved bodies are largely sovereign when it comes to decisions that only affect Wales.
• the people have legal sovereignty over key constitutional changes.