Evaluate The View That New Labour’s Constitutional Reforms Had A Positive And Significant Impact On The UK Constitution. Flashcards
Introduction
‘New Labour’s Constitutional Reforms’ refers to a number of reforms introduced by Tony Blair’s
governments, including the Supreme Court, Human Rights Act 1998, House of Lords Reform,
Electoral Reform and Devolution
Positive impact on UK GOVu
HOL act 1999 removed all but 92 hereditary peers and replaced them with life peers.
P- significant as undermined hereditary basis of HOL and removed its in-built conservative majority.
Therefore, HOL is more independent of the executive + better able to limit powrr of Gov
E- Blair was defeated just 4 times in the HOC, all of which were in his last term, but was defeated 353 times in HOL.
A- chamber was made more professional and effective at scrutiny of Gov.
Counter argument - HOL
P- HOL continues to be unelected and therefore undemocratic
E- 2 stage plan to reform it was attempted.
stage 1; not fully carried out as 92 peers remain.
stage 2; didn’t occur at all. many MPs felt problems of peers + conservative dominance dealt with.
L- NL reform seen as having limited impact on constitution as HOL remains a key undemocratic feature.
P- failed to change balance of power between HOC and HOL.
E- a Gov with large majority can pass thru legislation with little opposition due to HOL limited legislative powers.
Parliaments Acts of 1911 and 1949 prevent Lords from voting down financial bills and mean Lords can only delay legislation for up to a year, after which Commons can force thru legislation.
• used 3 times by Blair gov to pass laws which faced opposition in Lords, including to pass Hunting Act 2004, which banned hunting with dogs.
• The Salisbury Convention prevents the House of Lords from voting down any legislation that fulfils a commitment in the governing party’s election manifesto.
Devolution - agree
P- One of NL’s key constitutional reforms was to devolve significant power to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the GLA.
• Scotland was given the most powers out of all devolved bodies, due to strong nationalist movement. Including control over most public services; health, education, justice, agriculture and most transport. therefore seen as ‘service devolution’.
• powers reserved for Westminster were listed (including defence, macroeconomic policy, foreign policy, constitutional matter etc.), with the left reserved for Scotland.
• In 1998, NI was (like Scotland) given primary legislative control over areas not reserved for Westminster.
• These reforms can be seen as having a positive and significant impact on the constitution first as creating gov’s closer to the people + therefore improved democracy.
• This seen in Scotland, in which populations more left wing than rest of UK. This led to election of left wing SNP gov that introduced policies including free prescription charges, free tuition fees and a higher top rate of income tax than in the rest of the UK.
• They also be seen as having significant impact on constitution as reduced sovereignty of Parliament over Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Devolution - disagree
P- However, devolution can be seen as having an insignificant impact on UK constitution as it was asymmetric. Crucially, no English Parliament was introduced, which can be seen as creating a democratic deficit and providing no effective outlet for English Identity.
E- asymmetric nature of devolution can be seen as threatening the unity of the UK, as it leads to its citizens having less in common with each other.
• For example, the Scottish and NI Parliaments control policing, whilst policing in Wales and England is controlled by the UK Parliament.
Further, whilst Scotland+ NI given significant control over legislation, Wales not. further reforms introduced by Conservative governments following 2010 to devolve more power. Gained more fiscal and policy-making powers . But far less than Scotland.
Further, devolution seen having negative impact on UK Constitution as created WLQ and seen as creating tensions between differing parts of UK, whilst fail to stop a growing independence movement in Scotland.
Hunting act 2004?
HRA- agree
P- key constitutional reform introduced by NL was HRA 1998, which enshrined ECHR into UK law, in effect from 2000, meaning that rights could be defended in UK courts rather than having to go to Strasbourg.
• The rights protected by the Act included the right to life, fair trial, privacy.
• argue that had positive + significant impact on UK const. as since HRA, its often claimed that the UK has developed a ‘rights-based culture’ as all new legislation must be compliant with act + judges can declare earlier acts of parliament incompatible with it.
Parliament usually acts to address issues raised by courts + parl. has Joint Committee on HR to scrutinise bills + ensure they are compatible, demonstrating the ‘persuasive influence’ of the HRA.
• in A v Secretary of State for the Home Department, part of The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 was declared incompatible with Articles 5 + 14 of HRA by permitting detention of suspected international terrorists in a way that discriminated on the grounds of nationality or immigration status. The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 was amended by parliament as a result.
• The Human Rights Act can therefore be seen as significant as it limits Parliamentary
Sovereignty and furthers the Rule of Law in UK.
HRA- disagree
However, significance of HRA over stated. HRA may be used to check other laws, but not entrenched + could still be repealed by a simple act of parliament, whilst also not being binding on parl. Parliamentary sovereignty is therefore still in tact.
• The government passed The Safety of Rwanda Act April 2024.
Must be considered safe country for asylum seekers + international law + HRA must be put aside to allow for deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, therefore removing individual right to judicial review on these grounds.
• This shows how Parliament and the government can threaten rights in the UK by explicitly preventing the Supreme Court from using judicial review to challenge their legislation. The Human Rights Act can therefore be seen as not having a major positive impact in terms of rights protection in the UK constitution.
• HRA criticised for favouring undeserving individuals, including terror suspects, rather than protect legitimate freedoms of UK citizens + society as whole.
• For example, Abu Qatada, was wanted by the security services to be deported to Jordan, where he was wanted for trial.
• However his legal advisers managed to delay this for 8 years on the grounds that he might be tried using evidence obtained through torture, a breach of the HRA.
