The Structure and Nature of the Constitution (UK)

Question 1

What are the key points of the constitution of a western liberal democracy?

Answer 1

-Guarantees free and fair democratic elections.
-Respect for human rights.
-A balance of individual and collective rights.
-Addresses the notion of parliamentary sovereignty.
-Clear mechanism for resolving problems and conflicts.
-Easy to understand and encourages participation.
-Can be adapted and flexible to changing circumstances.
-Upholds the rule of law through an independent judiciary.

Question 2

What is a codified constitution

Answer 2

A constitution which all provisions are written down in a single set of documents. Like the US constitution.

Question 3

What are the characteristics of the British Constitution?

Answer 3

-Uncodified.
-It is unitary, most power lies on the centre ( Westminster parliament ).
Arguably the development of the devolved assemblies has weakened this.
-It operates the rule of law - law applies equally to everyone.

Question 4

What are the main sources of the British Constitution?

Answer 4

-Constitutional statute law.
-Common law.
-The royal prerogative.
-Conventions.
-Works of authority.
-International agreements.

Question 10

What is statute law?

Answer 10

Any law that has been passed by both houses and has reviewed royal assent.
They are acts of parliament.
Stature law is the most important source of the constitution.

Question 11

Give some examples of statute law:

Answer 11

The Representation of the People act (1969) - Defined the voting age.
Human Rights Act 1998 - Incorporated the convention on human rights into UK law.
( European law arguably undermines parliamentary sovereignty as EU law takes precedence over UK law. )

Question 12

What is common law?

Answer 12

Laws or rights passed down over the years by legal judgements in court. (judicial precedence).
Common law can be modified by state law, e.g many statue laws have dealt with the punishment for murder, such as the abolishing of the death penalty in 1965.

Question 13

Give some examples of common law:

Answer 13

Freedom of expression.
The criminality of murder.

Question 14

What is the royal prerogative?

Answer 14

The residual remaining power exercised in the name of the crown.
Include the power to prorogue parliament and issuing UK passports.
Can be seen to boost the power of the PM and executive.

Question 15

Give an example of the royal prerogative being used:

Answer 15

2019, Johnsons sought to prorogue parliament for longer than the 5 week period, however the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful.

Question 16

What are conventions?

Answer 16

Unwritten rules and procedure mostly concerned with parliament that facilitate the smooth running of the constitution.

Question 17

Give some examples of conventions:

Answer 17

The salisbury-Addison convention (1945) : Means that lords don’t reject legislation that was part of the governments manifesto.
After a general election, the monarch formally invites the leader of the largest policy to form a government.
A monarch gives royal assent to all bills ( a denial of royal assent would cause a constitutional crisis ).

Question 18

What are works of authority?

Answer 18

They comprise of a variety of books and documents which deal with areas such as parliamentary procedure and the responsibilities and duties of government ministers.

Question 19

Give some examples of works of authority:

Answer 19

Walter Bagehot’s The English Constitution.
Distinguished between the dignified and the efficient parts of the constitution.

A.V Dicey’s Introduction to the study of the law of the constitution (1888)
Identified the twin pillars of democracy and strongly asserted the notion of parliamentary sovereignty.

Erskine May’s parliamentary practice (1844)
The bible of parliamentary procedure - regular referenced by the speaker of the house.
March 2019 - John Becrow sited a 1604 convention to prevent may bringing her Brexit deal before the commons for a third time.

Question 20

What was the impact of the Magna Cart 1215 on the British Constitution?

Answer 20

The Magna Carta was made in response to a baronial rebellion.
The most important clause is the right of all free men to a fair trial.
It was the first formal attempt to limit the powers of the monarch.

Only 4 of the clauses remain unappealed.

Question 21

What was the bill of rights 1689?

Answer 21

Followed the glorious revolution.
James II was accused of undermine the rile of parliament and trying to return the country to catholicism.
Parliament invited Mary and William of Holland to take the crown, they had to accept the ‘Bill of rights’:

• Frequent parliaments.
  -Freedom of speech within parliament
  -Included no taxation without parliaments agreement.

Said to represent the establishment of parliamentary sovereignty.

Question 22

What was the Act of Settlement (1701) ?

Answer 22

Sets up parliamentary privilege.
The main aim was to ensure a protestant succession to the throne.
Showed the power of parliament however did nothing to make the country more democratic.

Question 23

What are the Parliament Act of 1911 and 1949?

Answer 23

Reduced the power of the Lords.

1911- Rejection in the Lords of the ‘People’s Budget’ saw the liberals remove the veto of the lords - prevented the Lords from delaying a budget for more than 2 years.

1949- Act modified to reduce the veto of the lords to 1 year - effectively Mena that nay bill passed by the commons could become law.

Question 24

What is the European Communities Act 1972?

Answer 24

Enable the accession of the UK to the European Economic Community (EEC)

Under the terms of Uk membership all legislation had to conform to European law (incursion to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty) .

It was added to by the Single European Act 1986 and the Lisbon Treaty 2006.

Question 29

How many bills did Blair pass 1997 to reform the Lords?

Answer 29

12

Question 30

What were the main themes of Blairs constitutional reforms?

Answer 30

-Modernisation of the House of Lords and the judiciary.
-Greater democracy in the political system.
-Devolution.
-Emphasis on human rights.

Question 31

The modernisation of political institutions key acts:

Answer 31

House of Lords act (1999)
Removed all but 92 hereditary peers and allowed for the nomination of life peers.

Constitutional Reform Act (2005)
Created a separate supreme court to replace the Law Lords. Created a sense of judicial independence with the separation of powers.

House of Lords Reform Act (2014)
Gave peers the right to resign and retire their seats and enables the removal of peers for serious criminal offences.
2017 - 106 peers retired, including Lord Lloyd Webber.

Question 32

Acts that have meant greater democracy in the political system:

Answer 32

Referendums ( Scotland and Wales) Act (1997)
Allowed for referendums to be held for the creation of devolved assemblies.

Greater London Authority Act (1999)
Allowed the setting up of a directly elected London Mayor.

European parliamentary Elections Act (1999)
Changed electoral system for European Parliament Elections from FPTP to proportional representation.

Fixed term parliament act (2011)
Required the Pm to secure the support of at least 2/3’s of MPs to call an early general elections.

Question 33

Establishment of devolved legislative bodies in constituent countries of the UK:

Answer 33

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Act (1998)
Set up devolved assemblies/parliaments.
Further powers transferred in subsequent acts.

November 2004
Regional referendum held in north-east England on the creation of an elected regional assembly - rejected 78% to 22%.

Question 34

Acts on Human Rights:

Answer 34

Human Rights Act 1998 Incorporated ECHR into UK law. Allowed UK courts to take ECHR into account reducing the number of cases referred to the European Court on Human Rights, Strasbourg. Equality Act (2010)

Question 35

Which entities does the Freedom of Information Act 2000 apply to?

Answer 35

Most public bodies including councils, police forces, the BBC, universities, and the central government.

Question 36

What are the two main obligations of public institutions under the Freedom of Information Act 2000?

Answer 36

Obliged to publish and make freely available certain information about their activities e.g, minutes of meetings, public policy etc. Members of the public and pressure groups able to make requests within 20 days and can only withhold information under certain circumstances.

Question 37

How effective is the Freedom of Information Act 2000?

Answer 37

-FOI requests led to the exposure of the MPs expenses scandal which led to 7 MPs being imprisoned. -July-September 2020, 11,402 requests were made - only 40% were answered in full.

Question 38

What are the grounds for legitimately denying requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000?

Answer 38

Grounds of national security. Commercial confidentiality. Collecting the information would be disproportionately expensive.

Question 39

What did the Fixed-term Parliament Act (2011) do?

Answer 39

Removed the traditional right via the royal prerogative for the PM to seek the dissolution of parliament or an early election by simply asking the monarch.

Question 40

What were the reasons for implementing the Fixed-term Parliament Act?

Answer 40

- To provide stability and permanence for the first coalition government. - To fulfill a long-term LibDem policy and prevent them from being abandoned by the conservatives when polls looked favorable.

Question 41

What was one success and one limitation of the Fixed-term Parliament Act?

Answer 41

- Success: Guaranteed a 5-year term for the coalition government. - Limitation: Easily overridden by May, as the Commons voted 522-13 in favour of calling an early general election. Boris Johnson tried to get an early election in 2019, however failed to get a 2/3's majority three times. The act was circumvented by the early Parliamentary General Elections Act which only required a simple majority.

Question 42

Success of the modernisation of political institutions:

Answer 42

-HoL have had significant reforms since 1997, they are smaller, more diverse and less tory dominated. -Creation of Supreme Court enabled a clear separation between the corporate and the judiciary, the UKSC has remained politically neutral.

Question 43

Failures of the modernisation of political institutions:

Answer 43

-HoL reform is incomplete, the UK remain unique in the democratic world of having an entirely unelected second chamber. -Creation of the Supreme Court means too much power is held by unelected and unaccountable justices. -Alteration to the line of succession is only a minor change. It remains illegal for the monarch to be Roman Catholic.

Question 44

Successes in democratisation:

Answer 44

-Greater autonomy in some larger cities - post of Mayor of London has attracted high profile individuals: Boris Johnson, Sadiq Khan. -Used by other cities, Andy Burnham was elected as Mayor of greater Manchester in 2017. -Reform of European Parliament elections has meant a variety of parties represented - UKIP, Greens. -Direct election of police and crime commissioners enhance opportunities for political participation and local democracy.

Question 45

Failures in democratisation:

Answer 45

-Majority of cities voted in referendums to reject the proposal for an elected mayor. 2016 Torbay voted to get rid of the position of elected mayor after voting for it in 2005 -Turnout for mayoral and PCC elections low. -11.6% turnout to elect PCC for Staffordshire. -Provision of the FTPA easily overcome in 2017 and 2019

Question 46

Successes in Human Rights:

Answer 46

-Landmark legislation in human rights has increased awareness and visibility of rights. -Laws concerning privacy and access to information have more powerful institutions such as employers more accountable. -The role of the supreme court in interpreting this legislation has increased protection of citizen rights.

Question 47

Failures in human rights:

Answer 47

-Expansion of rights has led to the rise of 'identity politics' and a class between individual and collective rights. -Growing role of the courts in human rights cases has led to controversy. -With regard to the freedom go information act, many requests for information are denied.

Question 48

Success in devolution:

Answer 48

-Worked will in Scotland and Wales, number of devolved powers have increased. -Popular support for devolution has increased, 1997 Welsh devolution was backed by 50.3%, in 2011 vote to expand law-making powers was backed by 63.5%. -Some argue that it was only devolution that stopped Scotland becoming independent in 2014. -In Northern Ireland, devolution led to an end to 'The troubles'.

Question 49

Failures in devolution:

Answer 49

-Devolution hasn't succeeded everywhere. -N.I, policy disagreements meant the assembly was suspended between Jan 2017 and Jan 2020. -Support for devolution in England hasn't increased. 2004 proposal to create a north-east regional assembly rejected by 78%.

Question 50

Further constitutional reforms:

Answer 50

-Lowering the voting age to 16 across the UK (already in Scotland and Wales). -making voting compulsory (like in Australia). -Introducing elected components to the Lords. -Making use of e-democracy. -Extending devolution to England. -Widening public participation in candiate selection. -Requiring photo ID to vote.

Question 51

Argument that the constitution porters human rights well:

Answer 51

-The UK's constitutional culture values civil liberties. -Formal support of human rights by the government (every parliamentary act contains a declaration that the act complies with HRA 1998). -Current legislation provides strong protection for core rights via interlinked HRA and European convention on Human rights. -HRA incorporates ECHR into UK laws. -UK has relatively strong institutional framework for protecting rights which extend beyond the courts.

Question 52

Argument that the constitution does not protect human rights:

Answer 52

-Little political consensus exists between parties as to the actual substance human rights guarantees. -Existing framework of UK legal rights protection vulnerable to political attack, conservatives call for a 'British bill of rights'. -UK governments have been able to introduce and pass legislation diluting rights protection - particularly in areas like national security with anti-terror laws. -International human rights law has had a very limited impact in practice on government policy.

Question 53

How many cases were found to have breached convection by the ECHR between 1996-2010?

Answer 53

14,460 application to the ECHR in Strasbourg - Only in 1.3% of cases was the government found to Eva breached convention.

Question 54

What is the argument for codification?

Answer 54

-provides clarification on what is and isn't constitutional and therefore lawful. -removing the vagueness of customs and traditions would represent a modernisation of the political process. -would mean rights are more easily understood by all citizens. -Reduce the concentration of power in the hands of the executive. -Would enable local Govs and regional assemblies outside England proper constitutional protection and permanence. -Would end the process of piecemeal codification such as the cabinet manual and the Osmotherly rules. -Conventions can and are broken- 1909 Budget and 2019 Johnson prorogation of parliament

Question 55

What are the arguments against codification:

Answer 55

-Current Constitution encourages flexibility and adaptability. -Codification would go against the tradition go UK Politics - one of constitutional evolution not revolution. -Parliament would struggle to come to a consensus on the content of the codified constitution. -Would give unaccountable judges greater power and would be required to make rulings on what acts or measures are constitutional. -Issue of education and awareness about the British constitution best met by better political education in schools. -Codification would undermine parliamentary sovereignty.

Question 56

What are individual rights?

Answer 56

Rights held by an individual citizen. e.g the right to a fair trial, the rights not to be discriminated.

Question 57

What are collective rights?

Answer 57

Rights that belong to a group. Can range form formally organised groups like trade unions to those that reflect certain characteristics. It can applied to the population as whole, e.g the right to the protection from acts of terrorism and the safeguarding of national security.

Question 58

CASE STUDY: Can religious faith be used to justify refusing to serve members of the LGBTQ+ community?

Answer 58

Ashers Baking ltd (N.I) owners were prosecuted for refusing to bake a cake for a gay rights activist with the slogan 'support gay marriage' -October 2018, the Supreme Court overturned the judgement that the bakery was guilty of discrimination. -The issue wasn't around sexuality but rather forced speech. -Shows how the individual right to free speech can prevail over the collective rights of a particular group.

Question 59

CASE STUDY: Female genital mutilation

Answer 59

Under UK child safeguarding rules, schools and social services are required by law to priory suspected cases of FGM. Illegal under the female genital mutilation act 2003. results in a clash between individual and collective rights. Under UK law. the individual rights of the child are uppermost, despite it being a collective tradition in certain communities.

Question 60

CASE STUDY: Uber Drivers

Answer 60

2016, two drivers sued the firm claiming that they were employees and not as uber claimed self-employed. By claiming to be employers drivers would gain entitlement to holiday pay and a minimum wage. They were fighting for the collective rights of uber drivers. Uber lost its case and the collective rights go the all workers were protected.