location of sovereignty

• Legal sovereignty


  Where ultimate legal authority in the political system lies
• Political sovereignty


  Where ultimate political power lies in a democratic political system
• In the UK, legal sovereignty lies with Parliament as it can make law on anything and cannot be bound by previous laws
• In the UK, political sovereignty ultimately lies with the electorate as they delegate their power to representatives in Parliament
• When the government has a majority


  It holds a lot of political power
• When the government does not have a majority

  Parliament holds a lot of political power
• UK joining the EC/EU

  1. Sharing of sovereignty with the EU

  2. UK negotiating opt-outs to secure parliamentary sovereignty

  3. UK leaving the EU in 2020 and regaining sovereignty
• Devolution in the UK

  1. Creation and extension of powers of devolved bodies like Scottish and Welsh Parliaments

  2. Westminister Parliament transferring some powers to devolved bodies

  3. Devolved bodies not having full sovereignty as they can be dissolved by Westminister
• Devolution


  Has led to demands for Scottish independence as they want full sovereignty
• Use of referendums in the UK

  1. Suggests a movement of sovereignty from Parliament to the people

  2. Referendums are technically advisory and not legally binding
• Ignoring referendum results


  Would lead to public backlash and difficulty for politicians to get re-elected
• Increasing power of the judiciary

  Through the Human Rights Act and creation of the Supreme Court
• When it looked like parliament wasn't going ahead and wasn't making sufficiently quick progress over the whole brexit issue


  There's a huge public backlash and prime ministers and MPs need to get re-elected
• If they aren't going to do what the people want as in terms of what they said in the referendum then they'll choose somebody who will
• The human rights act increased the power of judges to rule on whether acts of parliament laws made either complied or conflicted with the human rights act
• The supreme court can point out to parliament that a law conflicts with the human rights act, but cannot overturn it
• Parliament could create acts of parliament that overturned the human rights act
• Parliament could theoretically abolish the supreme court
• Parliament has the power to pass any law it wants on any subject and is not bound by laws made by previous parliaments
• Parliament could abolish the devolved bodies like the Scottish parliament and Welsh parliament
• The courts can rule that a law conflicts with the human rights act but cannot force parliament to change it
• With the Brexit, EU law no longer takes precedence over UK law
• Referendums are only advisory and parliament could theoretically ignore them, but this would cause outrage and be politically unviable
• Parliament is dominated by the executive, with the prime minister and cabinet able to dictate most of what happens in parliament
• Sovereignty ultimately lies with the people, not just with parliament
• Globalization has diminished the degree of sovereignty of governments and parliaments, as they are impacted by international markets, agreements and organizations