UNIT 2 REVISION GUIDE 1. Constitution 2. Parliament 3. PM & Executive 4. Relations between the branches 1.Constitution revision guide 1.1 Nature and Development of the British Constitution: How the constitution developed: Magna Carta 1215 Create principle of rule of law, that everyone should be held accountable to law and order Bill of Rights 1689 Established the sovereignty of Parliament over the monarch Act of Settlement 1701 Established the monarch as the monarch of the United Kingdom Act of Union 1707 Abolished the Scottish Parliament and created the British Parliament Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 Established the supremacy of the House of Commons meaning that the Lords could not block finance bills and could only delay bills by one year European Communities Act 1972 Brought the UK into the EU- EU law added to constitution. Notice of Withdrawal Act 2017 Will bring UK out of the EU Sources of the British Constitution: Statute Law Act of Parliament that is passed Parliament Acts 1911/1949 Scotland Act 1998 Conventions Unwritten principles that are accepted as law within the political community Salisbury convention that the HofL cannot block laws that were in winning party’s manifesto Convention of Collective Ministerial Responsibility Authoritative works Works of legal authority that act as guides: Bagehot’s English Constitution of 1867 showed how Executive and Parliament should relate. Gus O’Donnel in 2010 wrote the guide on Coalition forming. Common Law Common law is legal precedence created by judges rulings as opposed to new laws. Many rights of citizen’s exist in this form. Treaties Treaties signed and passed by Parliament are binding: European Communities Act 1972 Traditions Actions that have become tradition: Queen opening Parliament with the joint session and Queen’s speech Nature of the British Constitution It is uncodified: The British Constitution is not written down in one formalised document. It is instead made up of lots of different laws, conventions etc. This means it can be changed easily. It is un-entrenched: The Constitution cannot be entrenched as Parliament is sovereign, so always has the power to change it by passing a law. It is unitary: All political power resides in one place- Parliament in London. Unlike a federal constitution like in the USA which has state laws and federal laws. Parliament is the sole maker of laws, and can take back all devolved power if it wants. 1.2 How the Constitution has changed since 1997 New Labour reforms 1997-2010 Reform Description Successes Failures Devolution Scottish parliament All created via It is asymmetric- Scotland created. referendum. has most power. Welsh and N. Irish Has allowed for laws to be The elections usually have Assemblies created. catered to each country. a low turnout- lower than London Has made the country general elections Mayor/Assembly more democratic. Scottish Nationalism created Kept peace and Union increased together. No strong governments Allowed for each region to Devolution in N.E England have a different rejected in referendum Coronavirus policy, 2004 allowing for better Difference in Coronavirus response. policy could be seen as chaotic Human Made the European Finally means all citizen’s Parliament is still Rights Act Convention of rights are written down. sovereign and can 1998 Human Rights law Seeks to entrench citizen’s overrule it. Made the European rights Court of Justice the highest court in UK Electoral Devolved systems All devolved areas are Turnouts have been low. reform use AMS, STV and more proportional. No strong Governments in 1998 SV No wasted votes any devolved area. ETC… ETC…. Reform of Reduced Hereditary Has made most lords Not finished House of Peers to 92. Now it appointed- so most are Still unelected Lords 1999 is mainly appointed. now there for being Still 92 Hereditary peers experts. Still 25 Bishops. Hereditary Peers now take Life Peers are too easy to role more seriously appoint- 790ish members Makes Parliament more means its largest body in democratic world. Reform of Established supreme Independence of judges Supreme Court is growing Judiciary court reduces power of in Political power and 2005 Separated judiciary Government. could be seen as getting from Government. JAC was set up to appoint too powerful. Made the Judiciary judges rather than Lord Chancellor can still independent Government. veto appointments FOIA 2000 Meant Citizens Has led to more Information can be could make requests transparency. withheld if the to see information Helped lead to expenses information is deemed as held by public scandal- showing linked to national bodies corruption in Parliament. security This is Used often. happening more regularly. Sometimes used for trivial questions- like John Prescott’s weight House of Established the Backbench Committee has DSCs still have a majority Commons Backbench Business allowed Backbenchers to for the Government. Reform Committee be more organised in Government still don’t Increased salaries of passing Private Bills and have to follow Select Committees. holding Govt. to account. recommendations. Introduced system DSCs have grown in of electing chairs of importance and Committees independence since reforms Coalition reforms 2010-2015 Reform Description Successes Failures Fixed Term Elections happen Was supposed to 2017- Theresa may Parliament 2011 every 5 years reduce power of Govt. circumvented law and in calling snap elections. showed it is unlikely to Governments have still actually stop a Govt. been able to call both 2019- Uncertainty over 2017 and 2019 Brexit would have led to elections. an election in normal times, but has created gridlock instead. All parties in the 2019 election promised to repeal it Gives queen more power in deciding who to invite to form Govt. Further After Referendum. Wales now has more Unenthusiastic support- Devolution to Wales given power independent Referendum turnout was Wales 2014 over raising new democratic power. 35% forms of tax English Votes for Has sought to solve Allows English MPs to Speaker alone has power English Laws West Lothian vote on English laws- to declare it an English 2015 Question. more democratic. Law- bit unclear. Means English MPs Used in Jan 2016 on SNP MPs worried Govt. only can vote on Housing Bill will use to their certain laws. advantage as Tories have most English MPs. Recall of MPs Gives Constituents Should give Tried to be used on act 2015 power to recall or Constituents more suspened DUP MP Ian vote out their MP. power. Paisley but failed to get 10% petition if MP Should make MPs more 10% (so close!) has been focused on representing Convoluted process suspended their constituents. Has now been used twice to successfully remove MPs- Peterborough in 2019/Breocn and Radnorshire 2019 Reforms since 2015 Reform Description Successes Failures Further Increased powers- Satisfied many voices in 2014 SNP and Greens still devolution to Power to set independence referendum. demand Scotland 2016 income tax, control Again helps to further spread independence VAT receipts and decision making power welfare provision Devolution to Many more areas Helped to spread decision Not very popular- cities and now have elected making power. poor turnout in regions mayors like Has increased the quality of elections- 29% in Manchester. representation in areas of Manchester in 2017. Regions now have England. Little real powers for more control over Allows bespoke spending for regions. business rates and certain areas. in Manchester they Andy Burnham Machester control their own Mayor became a popular health budget figure in aftermath of 2017 bombings Exiting the EU Britain will be / / Exiting the European Union. But we don’t know in what way yet 1.3 Role and powers of devolved institutions and their impacts Key features of Devolution: Not Federalism- Power is not permanently given to the areas. Parliamentary law is still supreme. It’s asymmetric- Scotland has much more power than any other area. It’s entrenched- All changes occurred via referendum. Due to this having popular support it is sometimes called Quasi-Federalism as no Govt. will likely take it away. Three types: o Administrative- Power to determine how services are run (all three have this) o Legislative- Power to make primary legislation (Just Scotland and N. Ireland have this) o Financial- Power to levy taxes and how to spend it (Scotland have gained this in 2016) Devolution in England Devolution to Cities and creation of Mayors who have control over policing, transport, planning and housing. Sadiq Khan has significant power over policing and transport- introducing frozen fees and the bus- hopper ticket. Devolution in Scotland Has led to the domination of Scottish politics by SNP. They gained an overall majority in 2011 and kept a Minority Govt. in 2016. The Majority Govt. led to the independence referendum of 2014- which was much closer than expected 55-45 voting no. This momentum carried SNP into 2015 general election, winning 56 of 59 seats. This vote led to even more devolution in 2016 act. Running out of steam after 2017 election losing many seats- going from 56 to 35. In 2018 now has power over income tax, control over receipts of income tax (how to spend money), controls half of revenue of VAT. Can control much of its own administration- Education for example- free Tuition fees. Devolution in Wales Has grown in power with 63% backing 2011 referendum for more power. Dominated by Labour, usually holding half of all seats Powers over key administrative areas such as NHS, Education and Environment. Devolution in N. Ireland Established to help solve religious conflict of the troubles- with a power sharing agreement. Unionists and Nationalists must both be present in the Govt. These forced coalitions are to try and stop a return to conflict. N.Ireland can make its own laws to cater to their situation.