The UK Consitution: Modenisation Of Political Instutions, Greater Democracy, Esablishement Of Devolded Legislative, Human Rights

Question 1

How has the House of Lords act 1999 helped modernise the political institutions ?

Answer 1

Removed from the lords all but 92 hereditary peers and allowed for the introduction of more nominated life peers including so-called ‘peoples peers’
It did not however allow for elected members of the lords

Question 2

How has the constitutional reform act 2005 helped modernise the political institutions ?

Answer 2

Created a Supreme Court, which became the highest court in the land, replace the law lords
Therefore generated a greater sense of judicial independence and separation of powers

Question 3

How has the House of lords reform bill 2012 helped modernise the political institutions ?

Answer 3

Proposed that a reformed lords should compromise 80% elected members and just 20% nominated, removing hereditary peers completely. The bill was abandoned after 91 Conservative backbenchers voted against it

Question 4

How has the succession to the crown act 2013 helped modernise the political institutions ?

Answer 4

Enable the eldest child of the monarch to ascend to the throne irrespective of gender, although it only applied to royal offspring’s born after October 2011. It also allowed an heir who married a Roman Catholic to retain their right of succession to the throne

Question 5

How has the House of Lords act 2014 helped modernise the political institutions ?

Answer 5

-Gave existing peers the right to resign or retire from their seats in the lords, as well as enabling the removal of peers convicted of serious criminal offences or non-attendance
-by 2020, 6 peers had been removed for non-attendance, including lord Lloyd Webber, who also left in 2017 and former Liberal Democrat leader lord steel who left in early 2020

Question 6

How has the referendums Scotland and wales act 1997 brought greater democracy to the UK political system ?

Answer 6

Allowed referendums to be held in Scotland and wales over the creation of devolved assemblies
Meant devolution could now take place

Question 7

How has the Greater London authority act 1999 brought greater democracy to the UK political system ?

Answer 7

Allowed for the setting up of a directly elected mayor for London, the local government act 2000 allowed for elected major in other cities

Question 8

How has the european parliamentary election act 1999 brought greater democracy to the UK political system ?

Answer 8

Change the system for European Parliament election in England, wales and Scotland from first past the post to a form of proportional representation, the regional closed list system

Question 9

How has the police reform and social responsibility act 2011 brought greater democracy to the UK political system ?

Answer 9

Allowed for the direct election of police and crime commissioners, the first one took place 2012

Question 10

How has the 2011 fixed term parliaments act brought greater democracy to the UK political system ?

Answer 10

Required prime minister to secure the support of at least two thirds of MPs to call an early general election, instead of just doing it unilaterally

Question 11

How has the establishment of devolved legislative bodies led to further powers in these countries ?

Answer 11

The 1998 act for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set up elected devolved assemblies/parliaments in these counties. Further powers were transferred in subsequent acts, including to both Scotland and wales in 2006 and to Scotland in 2016 and wales in 2017.

Question 12

What was the human rights act 1998 ?

Answer 12

Incorporated the European convention on human rights (ECHR) into the uK law. This enables UK court to take the ECHR into account when judging cases involving human rights, therefore sharply reducing the number of cases referred to the European courts of human rights in Strasbourg.

Question 13

What was the freedom of information act 2000 ?

Answer 13

-obliged institutions to publish and make freely available certain information about their activities e.g public policy documents
-members of the public and pressure groups are able to make request via the information commissioners office for information and date. The institution must normally reply to such request within 20 days and is only able to withhold information under certain circumstance

Question 14

What was the equality act 2010 ?

Answer 14

Brought together around 116 measure into a single act to combat discrimination and promote a fairer society. Among the areas and characterisation protected were race, gender, disability and sexual orientation

Question 15

What was the protection of freedom act 2012 ?

Answer 15

Offered citizens greater protection from the state by enhancing scrutiny of the security services including M15 and M16

Question 16

What was Data protection act 2018 ?

Answer 16

This is the UK government implementation of the general data protection regulations, all EU members states were obliged to implement the regulation. It placed strict control on the handling and saving of all personal data by both government and private bodied including businesses, schools and local councils. It was intended to enhance citizens rights to personal privacy over their personal details.

Question 17

What examples are there of FOI request ?

Answer 17

-request by the BBC for local council to reveal how many individuals they recorded sleeping rough at any stage in 2019
-infamous MP’s scandal in 2009 which resulted in five labour MPs and two Conservative peer being jailed.

Question 19

How many request did the FOI have from July to September 2020 alone and how many were responded ?

Answer 19

11,042 request were received
86% responded to in time
Three quarter deemed resolvable

Question 20

What information is there that the FOI not as effective ?

Answer 20

Only 40% were answered in full, 35% were denied in full and the remainder were answered in part

Question 21

In what ground may individual refuse to give information

Answer 21

National security, commercial confidentiality, information that would be disproportionately expensive

Question 22

How has the act been important ?

Answer 22

It has been invaluable for investigative journalist, pressure groups and ordinary people seeking information that public bodies might otherwise prefer not to reveal. In that sense it has provided a major boost to open and transparent government

Question 23

How well has the fixed term parliament act worked ?

Answer 23

It’s fulfilled its initial aim of guaranteeing a 5 year term for the coalition government and ensuring political stability

Question 24

How has the fixed term Parliament act not be as successful ?

Answer 24

It was easily override by Theresa may just 2 years into her government, when the commons voted 522-13 in favor of calling an early election

Question 25

Which prime minister tried three time to call an early election to find a way out of the Brexit impasse but failed to get a two third majority ?

Answer 25

Boris Johnson

Question 26

How did labour see FTPA by 2020 ?

Answer 26

Stifled democracy an propped up weak government

Question 27

How did conservative see FTPA by 2020 ?

Answer 27

Led to paralysis at a time the country needed decisive action

Question 28

Why is FTPA a good example ?

Answer 28

The ease with which the FTPA could be both passed and overridden on two occasions within 2 years is a good example of both parliamentary sovereignty and the relative simplicity with which constitutional changes can be implemented but also reversed.

Question 29

What are the success of modernisation of political institutions ?

Answer 29

-the House of Lords has undergone a substantial transformation since 1997 it is smaller, more diverse and far less conservative dominated plus easier to remove peers for misconduct or non-attendance -the creation of the Supreme Court has enabled a clear separation between the executive and judiciary and given a sense of corporate identity and a higher public profile. It has remained politically neutral and apolitical unlike its US counterpart -the notion of gender equality has reached even the traditions of the royal family

Question 30

What ar the failures of the modernisation of political institutions ?

Answer 30

-reform of the house of lords remains incomplete and unfinished, attempts to build upon the 1998 measures most notably in 2012 have come to nothing. -the creation of the Supreme Court has arguably led too much power residing with unelected and unaccountable justice and has therefore undermined parliament -in regards to the royal family the alterations to the line of royal succession is a minor tweak, it still remains illegal for the monarch to be Roman Catholic.

Question 31

Success of democratisation ?

Answer 31

-there is greater autonomy in some larger cities and the post of major London has attracted high profile incumbents such as Ken Livingstone, Sadiq Khan and Boris Johnson. -The reform of European Parliament election has over the years enabled greater variety of parties to be represented, including UKIP/Brexit and BNP along with proportionately more greens and Lib Dem’s -the direct election of police and crime commissioner has also enhanced opportunities for political participation and local democracy

Question 32

Failures of democratisation ?

Answer 32

-referendums have been held on weather or not to establish mayoral elections, the majority of cities have rejected the proposal. For example only 15% of the electorate voted to retain Middlesbrough’s elected major 2013 -lack of enthusiasm for reform of the voting system for national elections is shown by the outcome of the 2011 alternative vote referendum -the provision of the FTPA were easily overcome in both 2017 and 2019 to bring about early general elections.

Question 33

Success of human rights ?

Answer 33

-the renewed emphasis on and landmark legislation in the area of human rights has increased awareness and visibility of rights, especially those of minority groups -laws concerning privacy and access to information have also enhanced the rights of everyone and made public bodies and other powerful institutions accountable and responsible for the information they hold -the important role of the UK Supreme Court in interpreting this legislation has increased protection of citizen’s

Question 34

Failures of human rights ?

Answer 34

-it could be argues that the expansion of rights has led not only to the rise of identity politics but also a clash between individual and collective rights -the growing role of the courts in human rights cases has led to much controversy for example when the Supreme Court ruled aspects of anti terror legislation such as the freezing of the assets of suspected terrorist in 2010 incompatible with the human rights act -with regards to the freedom of information act many request for information are decline for various reasons

Question 35

Success of devolution ?

Answer 35

-devolution has worked well especially in Scotland and Wales and the number of powers devolved has increased -popular support for devolution has also increased, originally in 1997 wales backed the plan by the slimmest of margins 50.3%-49.7%, another vote in 2011 to expand law making powers was backed by 63.5% of voters -some argue that it was only a devolved parliament that stopped Scotland backing full separation from the UK in the 2014 independence referendum -in Northern Ireland the devolution process although more problematic has helped to end the violence period known as ‘the troubles’

Question 36

Failures of devolution ?

Answer 36

-devolution has not succeeded everywhere, in Northern Ireland policy disagreement and a scandal over a failed renewable energy scheme meant that the assembly was suspended between January 2017 and January 2020 -support for devolution in England itself has not increased, a 2004 proposal to create a north east regional assembly was emphatically rejected by 78% of voters

Question 37

Could the British constitution be reformed further ?

Answer 37

Yes because there are number of areas that need change such as: -lowering the voting age to 16 across the UK (as it is in Wales and Scotland) -making voting compulsory as it is in Australia -introducing an elected component to the House of Lords -reforming the voting systems ro Westminster elections to one that is more proportional -making use of e-democracy such as online voting -extending devolution to England -widening public participation in candidate selection by political parties for example by using the US primaries system -requiring photo ID when voting to prevent voter fraud

Question 38

How effective are the recent Uk legislation ?

Answer 38

-some would argue that the rights of citizens are well protected in the UK, especially via recent statue law and the UK’s link with Europe, not least as a signatory to the europea convention on human rights -an independent, non-politicised judiciary also serves to defend citizen rights

Question 39

How are they ineffective ?

Answer 39

Both equality act 2010 and human rights act 1998 are statue law, in theory they could be vulnerable to weakening or alteration by parliament, since parliamentary sovereignty makes it easy to add new rights but particularly to amend many existing rights