A Codified Constitution?

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Leah Waterfield

Politics

‘There is no convincing case for a written constitution in Britain’

  A constitution establishes the rules and principles that govern an organisation. Constitutions are found in many political organisations in government at several levels; in political parties, pressure groups and trade unions. A constitution distributes power within the political system and defines the limits and rights of the government and its citizens. It also defines the nature of citizenship and describes the sovereign territory governed by the constitution. Furthermore, a constitution should define relationships with external bodies and establish how the constitution itself can be amended.

  Britain’s constitution is flexible, meaning policies can be altered via the law making process. This signifies more power for government as it is easier to change laws as they are seen as less fundamental. Our constitution is also unitary, meaning Parliament and Westminster make the laws for all of the UK. Some parts of the UK, for example Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have limited power to make decisions on small changes such as education and congestion charges. In addition to this, the UK constitution is uncodified, meaning it is unwritten. When a constitution is unwritten it means the terms are unclear and the details are more vague as the laws and policies are not all gathered in one legal document, however, the people involved with the constitution are meant to know the different factors. As our constitution is uncodified it is seen as less fundamental and gives more power to unelected powers.

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The main argument of getting a written constitution is that an unwritten constitution means more manoeuvrability when it comes to law changing and instigating constitutional changes such as reform. On the other hand, some would argue that this means UK constitution is too flexible and hands too much power to the government.

  An obvious advantage of a written constitution is that they tend to be more coherent and more easily understood, as well as simpler to read. This is easier for citizens to understand as well as people in power, as there may be fewer loopholes and it will ...

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