According to British constitutional theory Parliament is sovereign. How far is this really the case in the UK today?

An example of parliamentary sovereignty is that even though the Prime Minister can use the royal prerogative to negotiate treaties, or even sign them, it will require an act of parliament to make it legal, for example, John Major's government signed the 1991 Maastricht Treaty but then had a lot of trouble getting it through parliament, mainly due to the persistence of the Conservative backbenchers. And, no UK institution has the power or authority to make laws or overrule the laws made by parliament. As the majority party in the Commons the government controls most of the business of parliament. Also, traditionally, a vote of no-confidence results in the resignation of a government.

Over the past years, there have been laws inflicted by parliament which limit the amount of power they have. These developments have been such as the devolution of both the Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly. Also the introduction of the Human Rights Act in 1998 and the UK's entry into the EU in 1972 have limited parliaments' sovereignty. Also, due to the introduction of the Supreme Court this year, this means that the House of Lords is no longer the final court of appeal. Although these laws do restrict parliaments' power, they do not fundamentally reduce its sovereignty as they do have the power to repeal any of these laws put in place.

Since joining the EU the UK has had to make some legal adjustments. In some areas the EU's impact is negligible such as, for example education. But although the EU does not have actual control over some policy areas they can be very influential towards policies involving the economy or immigration for example. But in other areas, and these are the ones which weaken parliaments sovereignty, they have complete jurisdiction and its laws are superior to that of the UK's, laws involving trade or employment regulations etc. The UK courts must carry out EU laws; the highest court in the EU is the EU Court of Justice, and not the UK's Supreme Court. The involvement of the EU and it influence upon parliament suggests a pooled sovereignty as parliament cannot pass any law that contradicts with EU law. Taking this into account though, parliament may withdraw from the EU at any point so in the end, parliament does have sovereignty.

N. Wilde