The Constitution and Devolution Flashcards
What is the Rule of Law?
no one is above the law
What is a constitution?
a body of fundamental principles according to which a state or other organisation is acknowledged to be governed
What are the 4 key principles of the UK constitution?
Unitary (power concentrated in the centre)
Uncodified (no single document)
Parliamentary Sovereignty (P’s judgement is above any other)
Rule of Law (no one above the law)
What are the main sources of the GB constitution?
- Statute Law
- Common Law
- Royal Prerogative
- Conventions
5.Works of Authority
What is Statute Law?
any law passed by both parliamentary houses and has received Royal Ascent eg 1998 Human Rights Act incorporated ECHR into UK law. Arguably most important as limits parliamentary sovereignty and impacts constitution.
What is Common Law?
Judicial precedence, laws passed down eg Criminality for murder. often modified by statute law eg abolition of death penalty in 1965.
What is Royal Prerogative?
Residual powers exercised in the name of the crown. Eg, prorogation of parliament August 2019 after BoJo asked the queen to for a period longer than 5 weeks. RP limited as SC judgement of 11-0 in Sept 2019 voted BoJo unlawful
What are Conventions?
unwritten rules or procedures mostly concerned with parliament that facilitate the smooth running of the constitution. eg. Salisbury-Addison Convention of 1945 where a Tory dominated HoL agreed not to block any legislation proposed by labour. When conventions are broken it leads to deadlock, but when there is unity it’s highly beneficial
What are works of authority?
works written by scholars, politicians etc, that influence constitution. eg, The Cabinet Manual of 2010 or AV Dicey’s intro to study law and constitution in 1885. Fundamental ideas are purported and implemented
What were the key constitutional developments pre 1997?
1215 Magna Carter (first formal attempt to limit govt)
1689 British Bill of Rights (frequent parl, free elections, no taxation without parl agreement)
1701 Act of Settlement (lay out lineage for monarchy)
1911 + 1949 Parliament Acts
1972 European Committees Act (All legislation had to conform to EU law)
Is there a fusion or separation of powers?
Fusion - Theresa May was MP for maidenhead and PM
Does the Rule of Law happen in practice?
NO- partygate, govt abused the law. Prince Andrew wasnt extradited to America, abuse of law
Strengths of an uncodified constitution
not entrenched- easy to change with times, flexible- can keep up with present issues, democratic- changes voted for, evolved over time- reflects british values
Weaknesses of an uncodified constitution
uncertainty surrounding roles of govt, local and sun national govt are not constitutionally protected, rights of citizens weak
What did New Labour promise?
cut class sizes to 30, bring in fast track punishments, treat 100 000 patients - less NHS waiting time, 250 000 young people off the dole, low interest rates for families, efficient economy
What were the four key factors for New Labour’s constitutional reform?
modernisation, democratisation, decentralisation, rights
Who were important people behind New Labour?
Blair, Brown, Prescott
How did New Labour reform rights?
-Added HRA 1998, turned ECHR into law.
How did New Labour Reform Devolution?
-1999, power was devolved to institutions in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
-Asymmetrical devolution.
-Scotland: primary legislative powers with tax varying powers
-Wales: secondary legislative and executive powers but no legislative authority
-NI: legislative powers but not tax raising powers
How did New Labour reform Elections?
1998 Jenkins Report recommend replacing FPTP with Alternative Voting Plus. Despite establishing the commission, Labour failed to act on its recommendation
How did New Labour reform Parliament?
-HoL Act 1999 abolished the right of all but 92 hereditary peers. No political party had majority.
-Brown’s 2010 ‘Governance of Britain’ aimed to limit powers of executive and make it accountable to parliament but progress stalled due to global financial crisis
How did New Labour reform the Judiciary?
-Constitutional Reform Act 2005 started a SC in 2009, became UK’s highest court and removed judicial role of HoL. Reduced the role of Lord Chancellor.
What constitutional changes does DavCam say that the Coalition govt look to make?
reform electoral system, reduce constituency size, limit powers of EU
What did the conservative reform ‘Fixed-Term Parliament Act 2011’ do? DAVCAM
Established a pattern of fixed general elections every 5 years, starting 2015. Removed ability of the PM to call an election at a politically advantageous time
What did the conservative reform ‘The Scotland Act 2012’ do? DAVCAM
gave scottish government the power to vary income tax by 10p in the pound and devolved further powers to scottish govt, including the regulation of controlled drugs. Also allowed them to borrow £2.2 bn per annum
What did the conservative reform ‘The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012’ do? DAVCAM
put in place greater scrutiny of the security services and oversight of surveillance and data collection
What did the conservative reform ‘HoL Reform Act 2014’ do? DAVCAM
gave existing peers the right to retire/resign their seat in the chamber. 54 had resigned by 2016
What did the conservative reform ‘The Wales Act 2014’ do? DAVCAM
transferred some control of smaller taxes to devolved institutions in Wales
What was the referendum support for a Scottish Parliament?
74.3%
What devolved powers do Scotland have?
Tax, Health and Social Policy, Environment, Education and Culture, Law and Home affairs
What was the result of a 2014 referendum on Scottish Independence?
55.7% said no
What is EVEL?
English Votes for English Laws
Why should there not be an English Parliament?
create tensions between UK parliament and govt, Only limited support, wouldn’t be coherent- England is much bigger
