the constitution Flashcards
what is a constitution?
a constitution is a set of rules and principles specifying how a country should be governed, how power is distributed and what rights citizens possess
what is unentrenched?
when constitutional changes aren’t protected against short term change
what is uncodified?
a system of gov that doesnt have a single written document in one place
what is a unitary system?
where legal sovereignty is concentrated in one place (westminister)
what is a federal system?
where legal sovereignty is divided between central and legal bodies (USA)
what is parliamentary sovereignty?
when parliament is supreme over all other institutions
what is the rule of law?
the idea that all citizens and institutions are subject to the same laws
what is common law?
law created by previous customs previous judges’ rulings
what is statute law?
law created by acts of parliament
what are conventions?
a set of agreed rules that you dont legally have to follow but tends to be followed
what are authoritative works?
works written by scholars who are experts in the constitution
what are treaties?
agreements made with other countries which define how the UK should act
what is devolution?
the transfer of power from westminister to other regional bodies
what is the historical development of the constitution?
MAGNA CARTA (1215) :
- made that the rule of law would also be applicable to the monarch
BILL OF RIGHTS (1689) :
- sets out the principle of parliamentary sovereignty to prevent monarchs from exceeding their power
ACTS OF SETTLEMENT (1701) :
- established the idea that judges were to hold office on good conduct and not at royal pleasure (judicial independence)
PARLIAMENT ACT (1911, 1949) :
- 1911 (no power of veto over legislation, can only delay for two years)
- 1949 (reduced to just one year of delay)
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ACT (1972) :
- brings UK into the EU for the first time, meaning EU have some legal sovereignty of parliament
what is some AO1 examples of statute law?
- HRA 1998 (incorporated the european conventions of human rights into uk law)
- scotland act 1998 (gave devolution powers from parliament to scotland)
- Equal franchise act 1928 (extended the franchise to women as well)
what is some AO1 examples for conventions/traditions?
- collective and individual ministerial responsibility
- salisbury convention (1945
3.
what is some AO1 examples for common law?
- R v R ; making marital rape illegal
what is some AO1 examples for authoritative works?
- A.V Dicey (1885) ; a british scholar that wrote a book that was essential in shaping the understanding of the british constitution
what are some constitutional reforms that new labour introduced?
1998 HRA:
- incorporated ECHR into uk law
- all future legislation had to be aligned with the ECHR
- but the gov could deviate from article 5 of the ECHR, giving exceptions from rights of liberty and security in cases of suspected terrorism
1998 DATA PROTECTION ACT:
- all personal data had to be obtained fairly and held securely
- gave individuals the right to access their own data
- this was superceded by the GDPR (the general data protection regulation) which was designed to strengthen and unify data protection
1998 GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT:
- passed by 71.1% of referendum voters in northern island and 95% in the republic
- ended decades of conflict in northern island by agreeing to a power sharing legislature
- allowed northern irish citizens to hold british or irish(or both) citizenship
1998 SCOTLAND ACT:
- creates scottish parliament
- 1997 devolution referendum finds 74% of scottish voters in favour
- first elections are held in may 1999
- laid out a number of primary legislative powers
1999 HOUSE OF LORDS REFORM ACT:
- labour ended the rights of all but 92 heriditary peers
- reduced size of HOL from 1200 to under 800
2000 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT:
- weakened access of the data protection act
- allowed gov to conceal info it feels might prejudice the activities of the gov
2005 CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM ACT:
- set up a supreme court of the uk
- creates a physical seperation of the judiciary and the legislature
- The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) was set up to ensure candidates were suitable using purely legal considerations rather than appointment just being in the hands of politicians
what are some constitutional reforms under the coalition gov?
FIXED TERM PARLIAMENT ACT (2011) :
- elections must be held every 5 years
- exceptions in the cases of votes of no confidence or a 2/3 majority in the HOC
SCOTLAND ACT (2012) :
- scotland gained more powers over finance
- May 2011 elections saw SNP with majority in scottish parliament
- introduced new borrowing powers for the scottish gov and ability to set interest rates
WALES ACT (2014):
- promised wales primary legislative powers (as Scotland has already had it)
- there was a 2011 welsh devolution referendum which had a turnout of 35.4% [ 63.5% voted yes, 36.5% voted no ]
RECALL OF MP’S ACT (2015) :
- essentially the ways in which an MP can be forced to remove themselves permanently or temporarily
- recall bill proposed to trigger a by election when an MP is convicted of an offence or receives a prison sentence for 12 months or less (as any longer sentence would disqualify them as an MP)
- or when other MP’s can vote for them to be suspended for 21 days
- if either of those happen, a constitutional petition will open and if within 8 weeks, 10% of eligible electors sign the petition, th recalled MP’s seat will be declared as vacant and a by election will be held
HOUSE OF COMMONS:
- select committee membership and chairing now elected independently of whips
EVEL IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS:
- on 19th september 2014, the morning after the scottish referendum result, cameron announced that giving extra powers to scotland would have to be linked to resolving the west lothian question
HOL:
- they have 15 year terms
- 12/26 bishops remain
- ed miliband had proposed replacing the hol with an elected senate, representing all regions fairly instead
- tories introduce a bill to reduce constituencies from 650 to 600 but libdems kill it in retaliation
ELECTORAL REFORM:
- May 2011 electoral reform referendum
- LibDems campaigned for the adoption of alternative vote (AV) voting system
- proposals rejected by 68% of voters (although there was low turnout)
- the vote seemed to be more against LibDems than AV system itself
what are some constitutional reform under the conservative government?
2015 ENGLISH VOTES FOR ENGLISH LAWS (EVEL):
- 2015, EVEL is passed into law with tory majority support in 2015
- 2017, the tories lose their majority but still have a majority of 60 on english only bills
- suspended in 2020 due to covid regulations
- abolished in 2021 by HOC, never having devolved significant power to england
SCOTLAND ACT 2016:
- cameron promised new powers for scotland in the events of a “no” vote for independence
- 55% voted “no” in the 2014 scottish referendum
- cameron gives scotland “devo max” (giving scotland maximum autonomy but having to still remain a part of the UK)
- gave scotland control of its electoral system without westminster input
- confirms the permanence of the scottish parliament as it cant be abolished without a referendum
WALES ACT 2017:
- devolves further power to wales
- renames assembly to welsh parliament, making it a permanent feature of the uk constitution, as it cant be abolished without a referendum
EU WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT ACT 2020:
- means gov can act, without consulting parliament, in negotiating brexit and bringing us out the EU
- passed less than 24hrs of debate following Johnson’s 2019 election landslide win
DISSOLUTION AND CALLING OF PARLIAMENT ACT 2022:
- reversed fixed term parliament act, restoring monarch’s power to dissolve parliament and call elections
- the power from the monarch is transferred to the PM, so the PM can call an election at any time
- Early General Election Act 2019 show Fixed Term Parliament act to be weak, so this may not be a major change
Election Bill 2022:
- requires voters to show id at polling stations
- tories point out almost 600 cases of fraud at the 2019 election
what policies did scotland take on after devolution?
- scotland didnt introduce tuition fees for scottish residents
- the First minister announced a national mission to reduce drug related deaths, supported by an additional £50 million a year
- Sure Start Maternity Grant is a £500 payment that helps with the costs of a new baby
- 2020 smacking children ban
- first member of the UK to ban smoking in public places
what policies did wales take on after devolution?
- first member of the UK to introduce free prescriptions
- extra £30 million for welsh schools as part of the welsh government’s commitment to reach 1 million welsh speaker by 2050
- 2022 sacking children ban
what policies did northern ireland take on after devolution?
- 2021 Domestic Abuse Act, which covers controlling and coercive behaviour
- Gambling Bill which improves protection for children and young people
- abortion was only decriminalised in 2019
what difficulties did northern ireland face after devolution?
- in 2017, the assembly was suspended and direct rule was imposed from westminister after DUP refused to support sinn fein’s demands for an Irish Language Act
- unable to form a gov in 2022 after DUP refused to nominate a deputy first minister having come second in the election after sinn fein
what are the arguments for an english parliament?
- might lead to the abolition of the HOL and the creation of a federal parliament
- opinion polls has led to an increase in english feeling due to the rise of the SNP in scotland;
(61% of people were in favour) - ## an english parliament may be the only way to keep the union as its very difficult to see a PM coming from scotland or wales; which could cause resentment amongst other regions, so english identity needs to have its own voice
what are arguments against an english parliament?
- england is much bigger than the other devolved countries, so the federal system created would be unbalanced
- an extra tier of politicians would need to be created and there would be an extra expense of running an english parliament
- there is limited evidence that there is a high number of opinions in favour of an english parliament; 44% of respondents in the most recent poll didn’t express an opinion at all
- there isnt a clear and strong british identity
- there isnt a clear and strong english identity that desires its own assembly as westminster is England’s parliament; to a large extent
what are arguments for a codified constitution?
- provides clarity and modernity
- the uk is one of only three countries that doesnt have a codified constitution
- citizens are not aware of their rights so are therefore less likely to take issues to court
- 2016 supreme court challenged the gov’s triggering of article 50, which meant it was not clear where sovereignty lied and led to inefficiency - limit executive power
- helps erode the the lack of standard that is within parliament and public life
- for example, party gate 2022, where priti patel was able to keep her job despite cabinet office inquiry that she was found guilty of bullying in 2020
- for example, in 2019, there was an Early Parliamentary General Election to bypass the Fixed Term Parliament Act - Better protects human rights
- 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act and control orders
- 2020 equalities and HR commission find “hostile environments policy” to have broken equalities law, especially with reference to windrush
what are arguments against a codified constitution?
- benefits of flexibility
- changing constitution allows for changing relationship between nations of the uk
- covid legislation could be passed quickly and efficiently - conservative pragmatism
- british protection of human rights and the constitution has its roots in the 1215 magna carta
- codifying the constitution would limit parliamentary sovereignty - better protects human rights/the judiciary
- can be updated to protect rights (2013 legislation of gay marriage, 1960s legislation of abortion and homosexuality)
- provides judges with the ability to challenge the gov as they are unelected
what is the issues with conventions/ tradition?
- they can be challenged by an Act of parliament
- Its dependent on the political actors to uphold them
