Human Rights Flashcards
(14 cards)
What does the House of Lords Act 1999 state about hereditary peerage?
No one shall be a member of the House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage.
The Act allows for 92 peers to remain from the exclusion of hereditary peers.
How many peers were in the House of Lords before and after the House of Lords Act 1999?
1,330 in October 1999 to 669 in March 2000.
The current number of peers is 784.
What was the highest court in the UK before 2005?
The appellate committee in the House of Lords.
This committee was part of the House of Lords.
Who was the head of the judiciary before the Constitutional Reform Act 2005?
The Lord Chancellor.
The Lord Chancellor was also a cabinet minister.
What did the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 accomplish?
Reformed the office of Lord Chancellor, created the UK Supreme Court, and regulated the appointment of judges.
It established the Judicial Appointments Commission.
What is the role of the Judicial Appointments Commission created by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005?
Proposes a candidate for judicial appointments.
The Secretary of State for Justice can only approve or reject the proposed candidate.
When was the Bank of England nationalised?
In 1946.
This was during Clement Attlee’s Labour government.
What significant change occurred to the Bank of England in 1998?
The Labour government made the bank independent.
This removed it from direct government control.
What are the main goals of the Bank of England?
- Achieving monetary stability (inflation target is 2%)
- Maintaining market stability
- Issuing currency
These goals guide the bank’s actions.
What tools does the Bank of England primarily use?
- Setting interest rates
- Purchasing assets with newly-created money (quantitative easing)
These tools help the bank achieve its goals.
What did the Human Rights Act 1998 implement?
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The UK helped draft the Convention but did not accept it as binding until 1998.
Who is the ECHR binding on?
All public bodies other than the UK Parliament.
There is an argument that it is politically binding on Parliament.
When was the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act enacted?
In 2011.
It established a five-year interval between ordinary general elections.
What two mechanisms could lead to an early general election under the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act?
- If a motion for an early general election is agreed by at least two-thirds of the whole House
- If a motion of no confidence is passed and no alternative government is confirmed by the Commons within 14 days.
The Act was repealed in March 2022.
