How successful has constitutional reform been since 1997 ?

Tony Blair’s ‘ Things can only get better’ campaign got him into the hearts of the british people, a 179 seat Majority in the House of Commons , and the position of prime minister in 1997 . This essay will aim to take you through the changes Blair made to meet his aims of Democratization, Decentralization , Restoration of rights , and Modernization . It will also apart from go into these four things in detail,attempt to show you how these changes affected the United Kingdom as a whole and if it was for good and at all successful and how successful these reforms are and were.

Before the Labour party came in , in 1997, the conservatives enjoyed a long honeymoon period from 1964 to 1970 . And too much of the british political system was seen as undemocratic . Primarily the unselected house of lords and the first past the post electoral system . Labour came in promising ‘ a stake- holder society ; Welfare to work ; Joined -up government ; Economic prudence ; a third way.’ The Labour partys’ policy dealt with social Political, Economic problems as well as Foreign policy.

In Terms of ‘social‘ They increased spending on public services such as health, education, and welfare They also in 2001 , increased support for single working mothers, and partial nursery funding for pre school children . However the ban on fox hunting did not go through until 2005. These things all fall into the category of one of the main aims of the Labour party which was restoration of rights because during the 1980’s the only thing generally feared more than communism was the erosion of British citizens rights and the Labour party felt the need to bring Europe more in line on this issue . They proposed the incorporation of the European convention of human rights into british law . Also the Freedom of information act . However , this act wasn't passed till 2000, and wasn't effective till 2005 . It afforded the public the right to see official documents . The labour party attempted to further entrench the Rights of citizens with the Human rights act in 1998 . this was inclusion of the european convention on human rights into British law in 2000 . They took measures to keep the bridge of citizens rights from falling into the sea however, the human rights act , though vital, has not been given the political status it needs and the fact that european convention cant overrule Acts of parliament means the rights can still be trampled on by powerful governments . The anti terrorist measures ratified after September 11th are seen as a case in point.Also , the freedom of information act , although a good idea was too weak and allowed governments to remain excessively secretive. Also, In 2011 , the importance of the human rights act is being questioned and the need for it even more so. The prime minister strongly feels it should be scrapped and a british bill of rights will be introduced because they feel the act leaves too much room for different interpretations which isn't good for the country.

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In terms of ‘ Political / constitutional’, the labour party partially reformed the lords , and introduced devolution , including the new use of electoral systems in the scottish parliament and welsh assembly . They also had lots of unfinished projects and halfway houses coherent . which makes people stop to think if it was a lucid program . These things fall under Democratisation . This was seen as important because too much of the british system was seen as undemocratic . Primarily the unselected House of lords and the first past the post political system. To increase democratisation , The party abolished voting rights of hereditary peers in the House of lords. Also, Proportional representation was introduced in electoral system for the scottish parliament , welsh and northern ireland assemblies , election to european parliament for the greater london assembly and elected mayors. They also introduced referendums which introduced the principle that any proposal to transfer power within the uk should be approved by a referendum . it also introduced the cabinet system in local government and opportunity for local people to introduce elected mayors by referendum.A new electoral commision was set up to regulate elctions and referendums , including funding of parties. The political office lord of chancellor was abolished . He was no longer head of the judiciary or speaker of the house of lords. Replaced by a justice minister. The house of lords appeal court was replaced by a separate supreme court in 2009. Senior judicial appointments are controlled by an independent committee of senior judges .However the new largely appointed house of lords falls well short of being properly accountable , authoritative and representative . Only a fully elected second chamber , they argue is acceptable. Also, up until 2010, Labour had failed to deliver electoral reform for parliamentary elections . It is this move to proportional representation that is seen by many such as the lib dems , as the way to fundamentally change the political system for the better .

In terms of Decentralisation, Labour party was concerned about how the conservatives had centralised government at westminster - Part of their constitutional reform was to decentralise this power .They did this by electing a mayor and assembly for greater london, and with the introduction of cabinet system in local government and opportunities for local people to introduce elected mayors by referendum. They also Transferred large amounts of power from westminster and whitehall to elected bodes in Scotland Wales and Northern ireland .

The Labour party and the conservatives found middle ground when it came to modernisation they longed to modernise the civil service and parliament , by abolishing voting rights of hereditary peers , and limiting changes to the committee system in the house of commons .and also by introducing a cabinet system, However criticisms such as the house of commons remaining ineffective and inefficient remained . There was also lack of government accountability which is seen as a fundamental problem and only a reformed , revitalised house of commons can provide this.

The labour party made a lot of changes in order to achieve the ‘Economic prudence they promised at the beginning of their campaign . The fact that they made the changes has been established but how effective and successful these changes were is another question. The introduction of Proportional representation to be approved by referendum failed to be passed, as well as the introduction of a fully elected house of lords . However it was not all lemons , and all their efforts were not in vain, The introduction of fixed term parliaments and taking away the pm’s power to dissolve parliament and call a general election every 5 year term. Another thing which added grease the their elbows was the local constituents have the power to recall an mp who proves to be corrupt . and greater powers were granted to the scottish parliament and welsh assembly .However some things took almost as long as they took to get into power to pass . things such as reduction of the house of commons by 10 per cent and equalisation of constituencies which is just happening in 2011 , and there has only been some progress with compulsory regulation of pressure groups to regulate their operation in parliament.

In my opinion , the Labour reforms were successful to an extent but the cons outweigh the pros so the labour reforms were successful to an extent, but not to the extent that they made a significant change and they also took too long to be passed and when they were eventually implemented they were very rarely worth the wait, so the Labour reforms were not very successful in my opinion.

Munoyo Ikomi

L6cv

Teacher Reviews

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Dan Carter

10th of Sep 2013

3 stars - The strength of this essay is that it follows the conventions and structure of a good essay effectively. The essay also demonstrates good knowledge of reforms post 1997, and deploys that knowledge through clearly explained, relevant examples. Where this essay could be improved is by being more focused on the question - the focus is CONSTITUTIONAL reform - the essay is very general and therefore includes some material that is not necessary to answer the question. The essay would also benefit from thorough proof reading - capital letters are used inaccurately and inconsistently, and in places sentences do not make complete sense.

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