Nature of the UK Constitution

Cards (5)

  • Uncodified Constitution
    • UK Constitution is not codified, not held in a single document.
    • UK Constitution is held in numerous sources; authoritative works, statute law, common law, conventions.
    • However; some argue a weakness - not easy for citizens to access and understand their rights.
  • Lack of entrenchment in the UK Constitution
    • Not possible to entrench laws in the UK because Parliament in sovereign.
    • Parliaments cannot bind their successors.
    • De facto control of sovereignty by a majority government ensures that in effect; the government controls the constitution - however this is justified because the government was elected by the people.
    • Proof of lack of entrenchment; Blair passed the Human Rights Act 1998 into law by a simple vote of Parliament.
    • However; voters give the government a mandate to make constitutional change, if they disapprove of new changes = vote out.
  • Example of Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011 for unentrenchment
    • Coalition government introduced the Law to ensure the strength of the coalition; each Parliament would last 5 years.
    • However, under Boris Johnson - the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011 was repealed and power to call an election returned to the PM.
    • Demonstrates weakness of unentrenched laws.
    • However; 2010s were an era of political deadlock - arguable that this strengthens the constitution by giving the PM (who has a mandate) the power to call elections.
  • Referendums in the UK Constitution
    • From 1997-2016 it was common to use referendums to give legislation changes more legitimacy; this includes the devolution referendums and Brexit.
    • If governments make constitutional reform against the will of the referendum; they are seen as being against the people.
    • However; recent years have seen referendums lose their importance, being seen as divisive and threatening parliamentary sovereignty and representative democracy - such as the rejection of a Second Referendum.
  • Sovereignty in the UK Constitution
    • In the UK, Parliament is sovereign.
    • However; there are times when this is not arguably the case - if there is a majority government, it can be argued that sovereignty lies with the government.
    • During General Elections; it can be argued that sovereignty lies with the electorate.
    • During minority governments, it can be argued that sovereignty truly lies with Parliament again.