The constitution

Question 1

What is a constitution?

Answer 1

a set of principles which may be written or unwritten setting out the distrubution of power within a political system, relationship between political institutions, the rights of citizen and the method of amending it itself

Question 2

what is constitutionalism?

Answer 2

the principle that the power of government should be constrained through a codified constitution a bill of rights and separations of powers

Question 3

What’s the difference between uncodified and codified constitution

Answer 3

codified - written in a single document and are entrenched meaning it takes a special procedure to change it
uncodified - they are not written in a single document and are unentrrnchrd

Question 4

what is the difference between unitary and federal constitutions?

Answer 4

unitary - legal sovereignty resides in one location and can overrule all other bodies and has the right to restore all authority to itself
federal - sovereignty is divided between central bodies and regional insitutions who each surrender but not all sovereignty to a central authority

Question 5

What are the three features of the uk constitution?

Answer 5

unentrrnchrd uncodified and unitary

Question 6

What is parliamentary sovereignty?

Answer 6

westminster is the supreme law making body - legislation cannot be overturned by any higher authority, parliament can legislate on any subject if its cuooosing and no parliament can bind its successor
contributed to centralisation of power

Question 7

What is the rule of law?

Answer 7

all Uk citizens are under the law and must overt it and are qualified under it - courts can hold government ministers and public officials to account
also holds that laws passed by parliament must be interpreted by an independent judiciary

Question 8

What are the five main sources of the UK constitution

Answer 8

statute law - most important as created by parliament which are sovergin (most are not significant)
treaties - all EU treated applied to UK until 2016, after brexit UK established new treaties
common law - the way judges interpret statue law and clarifies the rights of citizen in relation to the state
conventions - rule and norms that are considered binding
authoritative texts - legal and political texts accepted as works of authority for the constitution

Question 9

What are the advantages and the disadvantages of usncodification

Answer 9

adv - makes it easy to change, a wide range of sources of idea
dis - makes the constitution harder to understand snd check

Question 10

What are the advantages and the disadvantages of unentrenchment?

Answer 10

can stay up to date to public needs
open to abuse and the loss of rights

Question 11

What are the advantages and disadvantages of unitary

Answer 11

parliament can recall powers in a crisis
makes assemblies vulnerable to losing power

Question 12

What if an elective dictatorship?

Answer 12

a constitutional situation in which the only effective check on executive power is the ballot of box
- the executive dominates HoC usually and is not effectively controlled by HoL

Question 13

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a powerful executive

Answer 13

adv - strong government and can implement manifesto pledges easily
reactive - useful and can deal swiftly with crisis
clear accountability

dis - adversarial - elections are too infrequent to allow gov this much power
overnight - power courtiers and could become oppressive

Question 14

Changes made under Labour to the constitution?

Answer 14

House of Lords - 1999 - removed all hereditary peers bar 92 and started a register of hereditary peers
Devolution - 1997 Scotland and Wales and 1998 to Nothern Ireland
Electoral reform - AMS in Wales and Scotland and STV in Nothern Ireland
Humans Rights Act - 1998 - brought UK courts
Supreme court - established in 2005

Question 15

changes under the coalition?

Answer 15

fixed term parliaments - general elections were to be held every five years unless there is a vote of no confidence or two third of all MPs agree to motion

Question 16

changes since 2015

Answer 16

Brexit - 2016 withrfresing from all EU treaties and but UK still applies to ECHR
electoral reform act - photo id needed and changed london assembly to FPTP

Question 17

What are the three types of devolved powers

Answer 17

administrative powers - implement laws
legislative powers - make laws
financial powers - raise or lower taxes

Question 18

What are the features of the Scottish parliament?

Answer 18

established 1998 with administrative legislative and financial powers - elected by AMS
after the referendum scotland was given more financial powers
no university tuition fees, free prescriptions, fox hunting more restricted
debates still over 2nd independence referendum

Question 19

What are the features of the Welsh parliament?

Answer 19

established in 1998 with only administrative at first - elected by AMS
powers extended to some financial powers in 2014
free prescriptions, 16-17 can vote in Senedd, welsh language has become protected
been calls for policing and justice powers

Question 20

What are the features of the Nothern Irish assembly?

Answer 20

established 1998 after GFI with administrative and legislative powers - elected by STV
powers sometimes suspended when failure to cooperate
led to a decline of sectarian violence, abortiin still harder to access, same sex marriage recognised

Question 21

What are the arguments for or against devolution?

Answer 21

for: - by 1997 demand for devolution in national regions
- national regions have different needs to england
- weakens calls for independence
- government closer to the people is more democratic

against - doesn’t go far enough as westminster retains some powers
- dangerous weakening of central gov
- slippery slope to the break up of the UK
- west lothian question

Question 22

What is the West Lothian question?

Answer 22

asked back in the 1979 by Tam Dalyell - england doesn’t have its own parliament and all their issues are decided by westminster which scotland and wales can also vote in but england can’t vote in scottish or welsh issues

Question 23

What are the solutions of the west lothian question?

Answer 23

English parliament
Pure Evel - speaker certified a bill is english only and only english constituency mps are permitted to take part however could still be blocked by other MPs
scottish independence
repeal devolution
directed elected mayors

Question 24

What are the arguments about extending devolution?

Answer 24

for: - provide a fuller solution to west lothian question
- strong regional identities in england so an assembler may focus on the unique needs
- already successful in other regions

against - relative weak regional identities
- may be complications in the relationship between UK and the english parliaments
- lack of demand
- incredibly costly

Question 25

What are the arguments about House of Lords reform?

Answer 25

too far - it offends traditin and customs of parliament
- present reforms are far enough

not far enough - fundamentally undermocrwtic
- opputunity to experiment with electoral systems

Question 26

What are the arguments about devolution reform?

Answer 26

too far - undermines the history of the union
- has not solved the problem kf nationalism
- problems with asymmetrical devolution

not far - further reforms needs to solve nationalism
west lothian question not solved
benefits of devolution

Question 27

What are the arguments about electoral reform?

Answer 27

too far - there is little public support for it

not far enough - recent elections continue to be skewed by FPTP
- lack of representation from current systems
- starmer persia’s more sympathetic to reform

Question 28

What are the arguments about human rights act reform?

Answer 28

too far : - lack of clarity post brexit

not far - ECHR not a great safeguard as it could be revoked by a simpler act of parliament
need to be entrenched in a constitution

Question 29

What are the arguments about supreme court reform

Answer 29

too far - offends tradition and undermines the sovereignty of parliament h placing power in the hands of a independent judiciary

not far - separate court is good
- moving away to a separation of powers but more needed

Question 30

What are the arguments of the fixed term act reform?

Answer 30

too far - offended tradition and tinkering with the constitution

not far 1 restored old way of doing things
- restored genuine democracy and sovereignty of parliament

Question 31

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the UK sporting an entrenched and codified constitution?

Answer 31

for : - clear rules so people can easily keep an eye on government
- limited government and ends parliamentary sovereignty
- neutral interpretations by judges
- protects rights as judges can strike down laws that threaten citizen liberties

against: - codified constitution are complex and only really understood by lawyers
- could be too difficult to change in the future
- enforce values of one ideology or another
- gives significant political power to judges