Tony Blair also pledged to change the General Election voting process from ‘First Past the Post’ to Proportional Representation, and in 1997, he commissioned the Jenkins report, which revealed that a system of AV+ would be most beneficial. However, it would further weaken party ties, already made loose by devolution, and make coalition governments more likely. On the advantage side, it would have ensured more ethnic minority and female seats, and remove the adversarial feel to the chambers. Ultimately, Blair decided against AV+ on the basis that it would almost definitely remove his majority in the House of Commons. This decision was heavily criticised by the opposition, declaring that Blair only cared about a majority, not the welfare of the state.
The most successful reform to date is the Human Rights Act of 1998, passed in 2000, which enshrined key rights in UK law. The rights included are: The right to life, to liberty and security of person, to fair admission of justice, respect for private and family life, freedom of expression, to marry and have a family, freedom from torture and degrading treatment, and freedom from discrimination.
Under the Human Rights Act, the UK’s courts of law now have the power to hear cases on these rights, whereas before the Act, citizen had to go to Strasbourg. However, should a court find a piece of EU legislation not compatible with the Human Rights Act, they cannot overturn it, only suggest to Parliament to amend it as fast as possible.. In general, the opposition approve of this reform, although they feel it was not radical enough, by not restricting the executives power, and that the judges are not accountable for their judicial decisions.
Labour had also pledged to introduce a Freedom of Information Act, and a white Paper was drafted in 1997. It requires public bodies to publish all information, excluding that which can be held on the basis of national security and public safety. However, citizens do not have an automatic right to see this information; it is only granted at the government’s discretion.
Another reform of Blair’s was the House of Lords Act, in which he removed all bar 92 of the hereditary peers, replaced by elected officials. The Royal Commission for the House of Lords Reform , suggested a partially appointed, partially elected second chamber, chosen by an independent appointments commission. However, this was not received well by the opposition, in the light of the quango’s created by Blair, that previously were meant to be independent. The same, they feared, would become of the appointments commission. The second stage of the House of Lords reform is yet to happen, although a White Paper (The House of Lords; Completing the Reform) was published in November 2001. The most conflicted issue is that of the percentage of elected, the government wishing only 20%, whilst the opposition came out as 80%. In the future, the government hope to reach a compromise with the opposition.
A future reform that Blair hopes to introduce is regional assemblies. However, this is viewed with distaste by all outside of the North West, North East, Yorkshire and Humberside, which already have predominantly unitary government. Although regional assemblies have been declared dead in the water, the government hold out more hope for larger cities, such as London. London is Labours one testament to the success of this reform, when a referendum in 1998 lead to the appointment of Ken Livingstone as Mayor and 25 additional members, a move greatly applauded by the inhabitants of London, under the Greater London Authority Act. This reform has now been progressed to multiple other cities, including Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Watford.
After an independent body revealed that 93% of the UK believed that the British government was corrupt as a whole, after the Tories took a £450,000 donation from a fraudster, and the Labour party exempted Formula 1 from the ban on tobacco advertising after a £1 million bribe, Blair decided that there was a need for state funding of parties in order to bring a halt to the corruption of the political world. However, at the present time, nothing has been made in this direction.
In conclusion, the reforms under Blair have been mixed in their success. Whilst devolution, the Human Rights Act, and the Freedom of Information Act have proved widely popular, the House of Lords and the Regional Assembly proposal are still to be completed. Others, such as the reform of the voting system, and party funding have yet to get under way, if, indeed, they ever will.
Government and Politics Essay