Sovereignty Evidence (and A Couple Cards)

Question 1

AV Dicey argued the two key ‘pillars’ underpinning the UK constitution were……

Answer 1

Parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law

Question 2

EU supremacy example of a 1990 case

Answer 2

1990 Factortame Case

Law lords ruled that the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 passed by the UK Parliament breached EU law as it required UK registered ships to have a majority of British owners. As a consequence, the UK Parliament was forced to unmake the law.

Question 3

How Britain retained some sovereignty in the EU example

Answer 3

Britain opted out from adopting the Euro as a currency as they were not willing to surrender economic sovereignty and control over interest rates to the European Central Bank.

Question 4

Powers devolution gave Scotland and NI

Answer 4

Scottish parliament and Northern Irish parliament gained legislative control over many key areas such as health and education, whilst the Welsh gained the same powers in 2010.

Question 5

Referendums on parl sovereignty

Answer 5

• in the past few years there have been a number of referendums on key constitutional issues, including Scottish Independence, Brexit, the electoral system and devolution.
• though referendums are theoretically advisory and not binding on Parliament, the use of referendums arguably challenges parliamentary sovereignty as they are very unlikely to defy the clearly expressed will of the people and now require the consent of the people in a referendum before legislating for any major constitutional changes. Therefore parl sov has therefore been transferred to popular sovereignty with regard to key constitutional changes.

Question 6

The Human Rights Act and Supreme Court on parliamentary sovereignty

Answer 6

• HRA 1998 gave the judiciary the power to rule on whether subsequent laws were incompatible with it and to issue declarations of incompatibility to try and persuade Parliament to change the offending statute if not. On the other hand, parliament can ignore the Supreme Court’s declarations of incompatibility whilst Parliament could remove/replace the HRA with a simple majority.
• the creation of the SC through the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 can also be seen as challenging parliamentary sovereignty as it moved the UK’s highest court out of the HoL. However, the Supreme Court could theoretically be abolished by an Act of Parliament.

Question 7

Tony Blair lost just………….. across his ten years as PM

Whilst since the Second World War,…………….

Answer 7

Tony Blair lost just four votes across his ten years as Prime Minister, whilst since the Second World War, over 99% of votes in the House of Commons have been won by the government.

Question 8

The Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the consent of the UK Parliament is necessary………

Answer 8

To legislate for a second independence referendum in Scotland, despite the SNP arguing otherwise.

Question 9

In January 2023, Rishi Sunak used a ………….. for the first time to block Scotland’s……….., which would’ve introduced self-identification for those who wanted to change gender and allowed 16 and 17 year olds to do so.

Answer 9

Section 35 Order

Proposed gender reform bill.

Question 10

The …….. case confirmed that the UK Parliament remains sovereign

Answer 10

Article 50

The case also ruled that the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Parliaments had no rights to veto an Act of Parliament giving consent to Article 50.

Question 11

On 7th March 2023, Home Secretary ………. Introduced the …………… Bill with a section 19 note stating that there was a likelihood the provisions of the bill would be incompatible with the HRA and international law, but the government wanted to proceed with it nonetheless.

Answer 11

Suella Braverman

Illegal Immigration Bill