Evaluaute The View The NL’s Constitutional Reforms Was Positive And Significant (30)

Question 1

What are the 3 themes?

Answer 1

House of Lords
Devolution
Human Rights

Question 2

Theme 1 - HoL
FOR positive and significant impact

Answer 2

HoL Act 1999 removed all but 92 hereditary peers and replaced them with life peerages.

Sig= undermined the hereditary basis of the HoL and removed its in-built conservative majority, w crossbenchers ensuring no single party can get a majority. As a consequence, HoL is now more independent of the executive and better able to limit the power of government.

Furthermore= as the HoL had greater legitimacy it also emboldened them to stand up to the gov on key issues like, HRs.
E.g. 2001, 10 defeats in the HoL led to the gov to remove incitement to religious hared as an offence from its antiterrrism legislation.

Question 3

Theme 1- HoL
AGAINST

Answer 3

HoL continues to be unelected and therefore undemocratic.

E.g. NL under Tony Blair, attempted a 2 stage plan to reform the HoL. The 1st would remove all hereditary peers and the 2nd would replace the Lords w an elected second chamber. Not only was stage 1 not fulfilled as 92 hereditary peers remained, but stage 2 also didn’t happen as there was a lac of agreement on what the new chamber should look like.

Sig= limited impact on the constitution as th HoL remain an undemocratic feature of the UK.
Furthermore, the Salisbury convention prevented the HoL from voting down any legislation that fulfils a commitment in the governing party’s election manifesto.
Sig= failed to change the balance of power between the HoC and HoL- the former reins dominant w little opposition, the latter remain weak w limited legislative powers

Question 4

Overall conc for para 1

Answer 4

Overall, the NLR (New Labour Reforms) to HoL made positive changes to the UK constitution as it removed in-built conservative majority in the chamber and undermined its hereditary element despite their failure to make this chamber more democratic and powerful.

Question 5

Para 2- Devolution
FOR positive change

Answer 5

E.g. Scotland, NI, Wales, and the Greater London authority was devolved significant powers from parliament. Scotland was given the most powers due to its strong nationalist movement, giving it control over public services e.g. health, transport, education. This lead to Scotland introducing free prescription #, tuition fees and a higher top rate of income tax than in the rest of the UK-reflecting the left wing policies of the SNP.

Sig= these reforms can be seen as creating governments closer to their people which can improve democracy and possibly solve the participation crisis as more people feel more involved in politics as they can vote on issues that affect them without waiting for parliamentary approval. Furthermore, they reduce the sovereignty of parliament over Scotland , wales , NI

Question 6

Para 2- Devolution
AGAINST

Answer 6

Asymmetric transfers of powers. Crucially, no English parliament or substantial representation of England was introduced which can be seen as creating a democratic deficit and providing no effective outlet for the English identity.

E.g. Scotland have their own parliament where they debate and decide on important issues that just affect Scotland. This asymmetric nature of devolution w different powers and policies for different parts of the UK is sig as it undermines equal citizenship, as different citizens have different levels of representation, and are subjected to different laws and policies. Furthermore, this can threaten the unity of the UK as it leads to its citizens having less in common w each other.

Finally, devolution can be seen as not having a positive impact as it created the West Lothian question, creating tensions between differing pars of the UK. However this is invalid as an English parliament would’ve created more problems than it would’ve solved and there is little demand for i by the English as they already feel represented enough by the UK parliament.

Question 7

Overall conc for para 2

Answer 7

Overall, these reforms should be seen as positive though devolution was asymmetric because it allowed for greater democracy and represention across wales, Scotland and NI.

Question 8

Para 3 - HRA 1998
FOR

Answer 8

HRA 1998 which enshrined the European convention of HR into UK law.
The rights protected by this act -> right to life and fair trial

Sig= made sure that all new legislation must be compliant with the act and judges can declare earlier acts of parliamentincomptible w it.

E.g. A v Secretary of State for the Home Department, part of the anti-terrorise, crime and security act 2001, was declared incompatible w article 5 and 14 of the HRA by permitting the detention of suspected international terrorists . Sig= cuz it discrimated on the rounds of nationality or immigration status