The Constitution Flashcards

Question

What was the Purpose of Electoral reform?

Answer 1

PR was introduced for elections to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, Northern Ireland Assembly and European Parliament.

Answer 2

> The Jenkins report recommended replacing FPTP with AV ~ no action was taken > AMS was meant to balance constituency representation (via First-Past-the-Post) with proportional representation (via regional party lists). However, due to the small number of regional list seats (20 out of 60), larger parties—especially Labour—have often remained overrepresented, reducing the proportional effect.

Answer 3

> Lower the voting age to 16: Starmer, the Labour leader, stated in May 2024 that individuals who can work, pay taxes, and serve in the armed forces (16 year old) should also have the right to vote. >The Boundary Commissions have made proposals that would see a move towards more equal parliamentary constituencies, but this has stalled. In 2020, March, the government quietly scrapped long-held plans to cut the number of MPs in Westminster from 650 to 600 as part of a review into constituency boundarie

Answer 4

Devolved bodies were created for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland following referendums in 1997-98. Labour's devolution reforms were designed to damp down support for the pro-independence SNP and to bring together the conflicting unionist and nationalist factions in Northern Ireland.

Answer 5

> Power is still centralised: The Internal Market Act 2020 -> Even if the Scottish or Welsh Parliaments pass laws with different standards, businesses from other parts of the UK must still be allowed to trade under UK-wide rules - the Scottish and Welsh governments opposed this, arguing it reduced their ability to govern independently. > Fractures unity (gone too far): Sometimes, the differences were just a matter of timing, with different nations reaching the same conclusion at different speeds. For example, the UK Government ended jury trials and closed schools and colleges in England several days after Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland did the same.

Answer 6

> Devolution ineffective: In Scotland, the government introduced a legally binding Treatment Time Guarantee, aiming for patients to receive treatment within 12 weeks of diagnosis. In Northern Ireland, the situation has been even more challenging, with some of the longest waiting lists in the UK due to chronic underfunding and political instability affecting healthcare governance. > The government had no answer to the so-called 'West Lothian question': the anomaly that Scottish MPs at Westminster were able to vote on purely English matters. > The Barnett formula, devised by Labour minister Joel Barnett in 1978, long before devolution, determines relative levels of public spending for the component parts of the UK on the basis of population. This means that Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland spend more per head of population than England.

Answer 7

> Its provisions came into force in 2000. This act incorporated the ECHR into UK statute law, enshrining rights such as those to a fair trial, freedom from slavery and degrading treatment, and respect for privacy and family life.

Answer 8

- The convention was made binding on all public bodies, including the government. All future legislation had to be compatible with the ECHR. - Judges could not strike down laws that were incompatible with it but could highlight such legislation for amendment by Parliament. - The limitations of the Human Rights Act were demonstrated by the government's decision to 'derogate from' Article 5, which gave individuals the right to liberty and security, in cases of suspected terrorism. - However, critics argue this undermines parliamentary sovereignty, as courts can effectively challenge laws passed by Parliament.

Answer 9

To enhance the protection of rights and to clarify the separation of powers, the 2005 Constitutional Reform Act established the Supreme Court.

Answer 10

>The Act also greatly reduced the role of lord chancellor — removing the roles as head of the judiciary and speaker of the House of Lords. The lord chancellor (now ‘Justice Secretary’) no longer takes a lead in all three branches of government. > The creation of the Judicial Appointments Commission sought to increase the independence of the judiciary by establishing an independent body to oversee the appointment of judges.

Answer 11

> This ended the prime minister's historic power to choose the date of a general election by establishing that a new parliament must be elected on a fixed date, at five-year intervals. An earlier contest can be held only if two-thirds of MPs vote for one, or if a prime minister loses a vote of no confidence and fails to form a new government within a 14-day period.

Answer 12

> This reform suited the interests of both partners in the coalition by giving the government a guaranteed period in which to implement their programme, free from speculation about the date of the next election >The calling of the 2017 ‘snap election’ showed that this act didn’t sufficiently restrict a PMs power. > repealed in 2022 by Johnson

Answer 13

> grant further powers to the Welsh Assembly. >This resulted in the Assembly receiving direct law-making power in all of the 20 policy areas that had been devolved to it, without the need to consult Westminster.

Answer 14

> This was a response to the fact that voters had no legal means of removing scandalous MPs who refused to resign their seats. > It means that if an MP is sentenced to a custodial sentence, or is suspended from the Commons for more than 21 days, a by-election is triggered if at least 10 percent of constituents sign a recall petition

Answer 15

> Paisley 2018: suspended from the Commons due to failing to declare two family holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government and subsequently lobbying on its behalf. > However, only 9.4% (7,099 constituents) signed, falling short of the threshold.

Answer 16

> The challenges constituents face in mobilizing sufficient support within the six-week period. > Additionally, the restricted number of signing locations and the prohibition of publicizing interim signature counts may have further impeded participation.

Answer 17

> You could argue that sovereignty has been returned to Parliament. > The withdrawal bill converts EU legislation into statute law. This means it can be amended or replaced by Parliament. > Governments are free to make treaties and trade agreements with countries outside the EU. This has returned this power to Parliament. > The end of the UK’s membership in the EU single market and customs union introduced trade barriers, tariffs, and border checks that had previously not existed. This impacted businesses that relied on easy access to the EU market, especially those in sectors like manufacturing and agriculture.

Answer 18

The Scotland Act 2016: Following the Scottish independence referendum, the gov fulfilled a promise to transfer more powers to Scotland = which resulted in greater financial independence, new welfare powers and more legislative powers.

Answer 19

- Only English Mps should vote for issues affecting England. - SNP MPs may feel like ‘second class citizens

Answer 20

> The stated aim was to create a more even balance between the powers of government, parliament and the law courts > Removal of what were known at ‘Cart judicial reviews’. These allowed for a re-examination of decisions made by Upper Tribunals, courts which deal with asylum cases, visa applications

Answer 21

The effect of the Judicial Review Act is most likely to result in a further fall in judicial review cases, which have been declining steadily since reforms enacted by the Cameron government in 2015

Answer 22

The Coronavirus Act 2020 conferred new powers on devolved ministers in areas such as health, education and justice. For example, the Act empowers devolved ministers to provide an indemnity to medical staff for criminal negligence cases, and to temporarily close educational establishments. The pandemic has highlighted the uneasy and unequal nature of the UK’s devolution settlement - asymmetric devolution.

Answer 23

> successes of metro mayors through Andy Burnham who is the Mayor of Manchester and recently introduced an integrated transport system and brought it under mayoral control and the benefits have been seen by the citizens of Manchester,This highlights how local areas are benefitting from the introduction of metro mayors so further devolution is becoming necessary. > Turnout remains low in devolved assemblies, which suggests they are not seen as important to the rest of the public; for example, in the London Mayoral election, turnout was only 41% (2024). By introducing more devolved assemblies, it has created voter fatigue and the public are becoming confused. There is already a lack of political awareness and understanding of our current system; by intensifying the system, it is going to confuse the public and be a futile process. > mayors from across the country and focus on British issues which would be beneficial to the public as it would allow more of a focused response to local issues. Moreover, England is arguably too small for this level of devolution, we saw the confusion of the COVID tier system and by making regional governance a norm this same confusion would occur

Answer 24

> An English parliament would allow only English MPs to vote on English matters, meaning all MPs would be easily held accountable for their combined actions. The current governing body allows non-English MPs to freely vote on English-only matters without any consequences from the people. >If the people wanted better decision-making in England, it would be argued that devolution to regions, cities, or counties would be more efficient and more democratic rather than England as a whole. Gender recognition in Scotland is a devolved matter, but the legislation was blocked by the UK government after the secretary of state for Scotland issued a 'section 35 order' > Regional assemblies would enable decision-making to be brought closer to voters and reduce the dominance of London. An English parliament could be located away from the capital and thus reduce London's current dominance of politics and the media. > Devolution in England would bring a sense of equality across the entire UK regarding devolution. If we were to create an English Parliament, it would make sense because they have worked well in Scotland, Wales and NI. Under the 1978 Barnett formula for deciding on levels of public spending, England receives less per person than the other parts of the UK. A federal solution would promote greater equality between the different parts of the UK.

Answer 25

> There are other ways of resolving the West Lothian question, such as English votes for English laws. Here, an extra stage is introduced in the middle of the law-making process, allowing English MPs to block anything they don't like in bills deemed to be "England only" > Regional assemblies would add extra cost and bureaucracy to the UK political system. An English parliament would raise the issue of the role and purpose of the Westminster Parliament, which could lead to more conflict between the UK and the English Prime Minister's > England is much larger in terms of population than any of the other regions. No other country with a federal or semi-federal system has one region that is so dominant within the whole nation > England lacks the national identity of Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. There is no widespread support for devolution in England to such an extreme. We can see this from a referendum in 2004, in which the North East of England rejected having an elected assembly by a Large majority - decisively rejected 78% to 22%.

Answer 26

> The UK political system is in a state of crisis, which can be seen in calls for independence in Scotland, Brexit, the decline in participation and trust in politics. The root problem is that too much power resides in the hands of government and the great advantage of a codified constitution is the limit it places on government. > Our uncodified constitution makes it difficult to learn about our rights, and how government works. HRA - these rights are not fundamental law, and the UK Supreme Court cannot strike down any laws that undermine them. An entrenched Bill of Rights would provide stronger protection for individual liberties > We are overly reliant on unwritten conventions that are not legally enforceable and that few understand. Conventions are not legally enforceable. The Sewel Convention - the rule that the UK Parliament will not legislate on devolved matters without first seeking the consent of the Scottish Parliament. However, the SC ruled in 2017 that it could not enforce this convention, after the Scottish Government argued that a legislative consent motion was required before the UK Government could begin the process of withdrawing the UK from the EU > A new codified constitution would be able to make sense of many recent incomplete reforms, as well as any unintended consequences – like, for example, the West-Lothian Question. According to UCL’s Constitution Unit in 2022, 77% questioned in a wide-ranging poll felt they had too little influence over how the UK is governed. > Mostly in the UK the argument is that a separation of powers should protect the judiciary- whose appointment can still be vetoed by the Justice Secretary and whose judgements are can be set aside by Parliament. The Supreme Court cannot strike down laws due to Parliamentary sovereignty and our lack of fundamental laws. A new codified constitution could more clearly separate power between the three branches of government, creating new, stronger, checks and balances.