the constitution key evidence Flashcards
When was the Magna Carta?
1215
What did the Parliament Act of 1911 state?
removed the power of House of Lords to reject money bills or reject a bill 3 times. The life of parliament cannot be extended without consent of Lords
What did the Parliament Act of 1949 state?
Reduced power of House of Lords to delay bills to 1 year
When was the Act of Union that created Great Britain by formally joining Scotland, England and Wales?
1707
give an example of a statute law
a statute law is a law made by parliament e.g. The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 changed the line of succession for the monarchy
what is a convention? Give an example
unwritten tradition that have influence e.g. Salisbury Convention is that the HoL cannot reject bulls that have been promised in a party’s manifesto as a party won a mandate to carry out these policies at an election
give 4 examples of reforms passed under the Labour government 1997-2010
Scotland Act 1998: established Parliament at Holyrood with primary legislative powers and limited tax-varying powers. However: this created asymmetrical devolution between Scotland and Wales and challenged parliamentary sovereignty
Human Rights Act 1998: enshrined European Convention on Human Rights into UK law protecting rights in the UK. However: this is only an act of parliament and can be overturned by another act of parliament
House of Lords Act 1999: removed all but 92 hereditary peers form the Lords and extended number of life peers However: hereditary peers still remain, all members are still unelected
Constitutional Reform Act 2005: created a separate Supreme Court for the UK, removing this role from Law Lords in the House of Lords However: this gives power to an unelected and unaccountable branch of government that has directly challenged government
Give 2 of David Camerons reforms under the coalition 2010-15
AV referendum 2011: settled debate on replacing FPTP with AV However: turnout was very low undermining use of referendum
Wales Act 2014: gave Wales power to determine certain taxes However, there are still limitations on Welsh government including limiting their debt
Give 2 reforms since 2015 under Conservative Party
EU referendum: turnout was high, it gave legitimacy for government to carry out Brexit However: result was very close, different areas in the nation voted different ways e.g. Scotland
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 this introduced restrictions on unacceptable forms of protests However this has raised concerns over rights to protest
What was the turnout and result for the Scottish devolution referendum 1997?
74% yes 26% no
turnout 60%
What was the turnout and result for welsh devolution in 1997?
50.3% yes 49.7% no
turnout 50%
When was the Good Friday Agreement and what was the result and turnout?
1998
71% yes
29% no
turnout: 81%
Give 2 examples of things that Scotland has done as a devolved body
in 2006 it banned smoking in public places, years before the UK did
Scotland had a separate education ad exam system with free tuition fees for Scottish citizens at Scottish universities
Give 1 example of things that Wales has done as a devolved body
in 2022 Wales made the smacking of children illegal
What problems have Scottish and Welsh devolution caused?
Asymmetrical devolution - different devolved bodies have different powers
The West Lothian Question - Scottish and Welsh MPs can vote in English matters but English MPs have no voting rotes in regional assemblies
The Barnett Formula - is the formula that calculated funding level of Wales and Scotland. For example HS2 was deemed to be a welsh and English project, despite not going to Wales. This meant that Wales was not eligible for the Barnett consequeuntials funding that Scotland did benefit from
