TOPIC 5.6- Constitutional Reform 1997-2010

Question 1

What were the purposes of constitutional reform in this period ?

Answer 1

-political system needed to be more democratic

-political system was too centralised, w/ too much power in too few hands

-citizens’ rights were inadequately protected

-political system needed to be modernised and brought into line with other modern democracies

Question 2

The reforms during this period included
5

Answer 2

Devolution
The Introduction of the Human Rights Act
House Of Lords reform
The Freedom of Information Act
Creation of the Supreme Court

Question 3

Devolution

Answer 3

a process whereby power, but not legal sovereignty is distributed away from central government to regional governments

Question 4

During this period what did devolution involve?

Answer 4

The transfer of extensive powers away from Westminster and Whitehall to governments and elected assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Question 5

Devolution is the transfer of

Answer 5

powers but not sovereignty to the 3 national regions of the UK

Question 6

Where does the funding for devolved services coem from?

Answer 6

Originally came from a central government annual grant, but increasingly the devolved governments have gained independent control over taxes raised in their countries

Question 7

How is the size of the devolution grants been calculated?

Answer 7

using the Barnett formula

-which takes account of the fact that the 3 countries have greater needs than England

Question 8

Devolution asymetrical or symetrical ?

Answer 8

Asymmetrical- meaning that the 3 regions have not been granted the same powers

Question 9

Devolved administrations each have an

Answer 9

elected assembly and an executive, or government, which is drawn from the assembly

Question 10

The method of election of assemblies is which electoral system?

Answer 10

not first-past-the-post nut by forms of proportional representation

Question 11

Devolutions have been entrenched by…

Answer 11

referendums

Question 12

The UK Parliament has the option of…

Answer 12

bringing back the powers to Westminster and has suspended devolved government in Northern Ireland several times

Question 13

Positive aspects of Devolution

Answer 13

-Devolution makes govt. much more region-sensitive; the devolved bodies deliver different policy from that produced by Westminster

-Power sharing in Northern Ireland has significantly reduced sectarian violence

-the electoral systems used to elect the devolved bodies (AMS AND STV) are more proportional, and thus create greater legitimacy and prevent single-party domination

Question 14

Negative aspects of Devolution

Answer 14

Devolution has created the perception of regional unfairness
e.g - all Welsh people under the age of 25 can receive free prescriptions while not all can in England

There is uncertainty over whether non-english MPs in Westminster should be voting on issues only relevant to England

The nature of these electoral systems makes power sharing between different political parties more likely, which in turn can lead to less stable governments
e.g- 2017 the coalition between Sinn Fein and the DUP collapsed, and neither won enough seats under STV to choose another coalition partner

Question 15

Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998

Answer 15

This act brought the ECHR into UK law

It is binding on all bodies except the UK Parliament

Question 16

Positive aspects of Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998

Answer 16

It allowed UK citizens to appeal to UK courts instead of going abroad to fight for their rights in the Europeans Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, making access to justice more affordable and accessible to UK citizens

The Act strikes the right balance between those who are concerned with parliamentary sovereignty (Parliament can amend the Human Rights Act if it wishes ti ) and those who wish to hold Parliament to a high standard the Act forces Parliament to take account of the ECHR when passing law)

The Act also limits the power of the governments because of the ability of the Supreme COurt to issue incompatibility statements which direct governments to think again on legislation that appears to conflict with the HRA

Question 17

Negative aspects of Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998

Answer 17

Conservatives believe that the HRA has given unelected judges too much power over the elected government

Many liberal commentators believe that the HRA is not strong enough, pointing to a lack of entrenchment - the HRA can be weakened or scrapped with a simple act of Parliament, a prospect msde more likely with the Conservatives’ 80-seat majority

Parliament, and by extension the government, can ignore incompatibility statements

Question 18

House of Lords reform

Answer 18

-all but 92hereditary peers (those members of the HOLs who could pass on their position to family members) were removed

Question 19

The Act reduced the House Of Lords’ membership from ?

Answer 19

-the Act reduced the HOLs’ membership from 1330 to 669 mainly life peers

Question 20

All Lords appointments are now made by…

Answer 20

an independent commission instead of the Prime Minister

Question 21

Positive aspects of House of Lords reform

Answer 21

-the most undemocratic element of the House of Lords has largely been removed- the hereditary principle

-by abolishing most of the hereditary peers, Labour in effect ended the inbuilt Conservative majority in the chamber, which would mean that future Conservative governments would be scrutinised more effectively

-the creation of an independent body to approve appointments limits the potential for a government to pack the Lords with its own supporters

Question 22

Negative aspects of House of Lords reform

Answer 22

-the reforms were supposed to be the first stage of a two stage process, which would eventually lead to partly fully elected chamber- this second stage has not happened

-the lords doesn’t have enough power to hold the government to account as it is constrained by the Salisbury Convention (it cannot block manifesto items) and by the Parliament’s Acts (it can only delay for one year and have no say over budgets

-in reality, party leaders and specifically the PM remain influential when it come to the awarding of peerages, which is a useful way of rewarding supporters

Question 23

Freedom Of Information Act (FOI) 2000

Answer 23

The law granted the legal right to individuals and organisations to access official information held by all public bodies, expect for information concerning national security

Question 24

Positive aspects of Freedom Of Information Act (FOI) 2000

Answer 24

-Prior to the Act, Labour criticised the Tories for excessive secrecy’ and so introduced the Act in order to create more opportunities the Act in order to create more opportunities for scrutiny id the government in the wake of scandals such as those over ‘mad cows disease’ (BSE) and ‘arms to Iraq’

-the law brought thr UK into line with other Western democracies such as the USA, which has similar FOI laws

-the Act has allowed the public to understand more about how government works and the relationship between government departments, the PM and so on-even interactions between the royal family and politicians. The so called ‘black spider memos’ were released using a FOI request, which revealed how Prince Charles was privately criticising government policy

Question 25

Negative aspects of Freedom Of Information Act (FOI) 2000

Answer 25

-the law has not prevented further cover-ups
e.g journalist hoping to get access to MPs’ expense claims through an FOI request found that the information released to them was heavily redacted, which led to information being acquired through leaks instead

-it is far weaker than similar laws in other countries
e.g the security services are exempted, MPs exempyed their own correspondence w/ each other, and arms deals were also exempted

-the government has scope to limit the law still further- for instance after the release of the ‘black spider memos’ the government amended the FOI Act to exempt royal correspondence

Question 26

The creation of the UK Supreme Court

Answer 26

-Constitutional Reform Act 2005 took the 12 most senior judges out of HOL and create the UK Supreme Court, the highest court of appeal and legal interpretation of the country

Question 27

What did the creation of the UK Supreme Court guarantee?

Answer 27

guaranteed the independence of th ejudiciary, taking the appointment of the judges out of political hands, and replaced the lord chancellor, a cabinet minister as head of the judiciary by the lord chief justice, a senior judge

Question 28

Positive aspects of the UK Supreme Court

Answer 28

-As a separate institution from Parliament, the UK supreme court enjoys greater independence and is willing to challenge the government’s, as demonstrated when the court prevented Boris Johnson form proroguing Parliament for political reason in September 2019

-senior judges are appointed by the Judicial appointments commission, reducing the possibility of political interference in the selection of judges and increases the likelihood that the supreme court would act without bias by simply applying the law

Question 29

Negative aspects of the UK Supreme Court

Answer 29

-the supreme court does not have much more power than the body it replaced, it can only interpret-it can only interpret laws passed by Parliament whereas courts in Europeans countries and in the USA can strike down laws that are deemed unconstitutional
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the supreme court is only allowed as much power as it is given by Parliament, and the power it currently has can be taken away -the Conservatives pledged to review the extent of the supreme court’s powers in their 2019 election manifesto, which may affect how well it can hold government to account

-some on the left accuse the court of having a conservative bias, owing to the justices’ narrow social background
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others on the right believe that he court has used its position to enter the political arena-they point to the 2017 Miller case, which denied the government the ability to trigger Article 50 , a mechanism notifying the EU of the UK’s intention to leave, w/o first seeking approval from Parliament