Discuss the case for and against a written constitution for the UK
CONSTITUTION “Discuss the case for and against a written constitution for the UK” A constitution is an institution or body, which governs through law and regulation, protects the rights of the people from abuse also legitimizes state governance. It can be either written or unwritten. A written constitution would consist of the most basic law of the country and from also which, other rules and laws are derived hierarchically. It also has to be constantly read in reference to ever-changing social, political and economic circumstances. An unwritten constitution, adopted by the UK, has an array of rules that has no hierarchy of statutes and are all ordinary. As per AV Dicey mentioned, the UK’s constitutional laws are spread over legal rules like the Magna Cart 1215 and Bill of Rights 1689, and non-legal rules like conventions. It does not have a single document defining the government’s powers and rights. Separation of powers In UK, a separation of functions exists between the executive, legislature and the judiciary. However there is no strict separation of powers. F.F Ridley commented in ‘There is no British Constitution,’ that ‘Parliament can make or unmake or unmake any law,’ which shows UK having Parliamentary Sovereignty. In contrast, a written constitution, like the United States of America (USA), works on the basis of constitutional sovereignty. A
General Election Process In The Uk
General Election In the UK we are lucky to have what is called a democracy. This is when we allow people to give their opinion in the form of voting. This lets the people of the UK have a say in how the country is run - after all they do live there. General Elections give the people who vote a chance to vote for a new representative for their area. The country is divided into areas called constituencies and the person who wins the vote in his or her constituency will become a member of parliament or MP. Here are the phases of how the General Election works. Dissolvement of parliament https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/r2w3ZauSodv5ygU5RCEbbOPYC2_hC-74lV0nP58n-3-Sa2HZcvG4YLwvnBir0JZ5fal4jlTnPnV96-9e8jxZZ_zLLgygojEyaV-f8gxlkoCiwfbegB3DDlhwQ72snvlVmg The current prime minister makes the formal announcement that soon it will be time to vote for a new party. He asks the Queen to dissolve (suspend) parliament and sets the date for the Election Day. Six days later parliament is dissolved. This mean all the current MP’s that won last time lose their jobs and have to campaign to get reelected. They do this as keeping things the same isn’t a good thing. Refreshing the government means new ideas which makes people happy. We do this so that there is change, it wouldnt be good if we never brought new ideas to the table. How to be eligible to create a party Anyone can start a
Should the Constitution of the UK remain uncodified?
Should the constitution of the UK remain uncodified? [40] In the UK, we currently have an uncodified constitution. This means that it is not written down in full, and is implemented in a few ways: statute law, common law, conventions, works of constitutional authority and the European law and treaties. This differs from the USA, where they have a codified constitution, which contains all the laws that govern the states. One reason it is argued the current constitution should remain is that by being unwritten it is flexible. It can adapt to changes in society, and in the fast moving, currently volatile political climate, this is vital. The constitution can be changed very easily – it only takes a policy to be passed by Parliament. An example of when this has been beneficial is when Brown introduced a convention in 2007 that stated that the UK would never declare war without the decision first being passed through Parliament. This was as a result of the second Iraq war, and just recently, this convention has come into play. When Cameron was deciding whether or not to send airstrikes into Iran, it was passed through Parliament first (For: 524, Against: 43). However, campaigners for a codified constitution would argue that it would stop all uncertainty – it would be the be all and end all, as with our current set up, there is room for ambiguity, whereas if there were a
To what extent are the Conservatives committed to their traditional principles?
To what extent are the Conservatives committed to their traditional principles? The Conservative party has drastically changed since 1979 – first with the extreme right Thatcher, then with the more centralised current party under Cameron. Although the current party can be seen as retaining the traditional principles (for example, Euro-scepticism), they have moved away from their origin in other cases, such as in taxes and education. One way the party has retained its original principles is through Euro-scepticism. This is definitely a traditional value – Thatcher was constantly having tussles with the EU (the most significant of these being the threat to withhold VAT payments). Cameron has been very critical of the EU Parliament in the past, saying it is ‘indecisive’ and there is a sense of a ‘European Dictatorship’. The Conservatives haven’t been entirely clear on their stance of leaving or remaining in the EU, either, and have instead put the issue on hold until they are re-elected. Cameron also recently (2011) vetoed an EU-wide treaty concerning the euro-crisis, which goes further to show the Conservatives reluctance to cooperate with the EU, even though they are in a coalition with the Lib Dems, which should dilute the government’s overall stance. Overall, it is clear that the current Conservatives have stayed committed to this principle, and they seem
The case for Britain retaining its uncodified constitution remains strong. Discuss.
“The case for Britain retaining its uncodified constitution remains extremely strong.” The UK has an uncodified constitution which means that the laws and regulations are not systematic. They are not written down in one document (such as the USA’s constitution is codified and can be brought on eBay). This means that the constitution is easily amended which helps it to keep up to date with the ever changing society we live in. There are several arguments for and against the use of an uncodified constitution with the main two comparisons in government being the UK (uncodified) and the USA (codified). To begin with, an uncodified constitution is written down in many different documents. Although the UK does has Works of Authority (Books containing as much as the constitution as possible), there still isn’t a set book of what the constitution is. You can’t learn your rights or what the constitution entails off by heart as it is ever changing. Our constitution is very flexible which enables laws to be easily amended. This was due to the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005. It would be incredibly hard to make Britain codified as all the documents are separate with different sources. We couldn’t all agree on one interpretation of the constitution. Part of our freedom is to interpret the law and constitution. As well as this, the main point is that the uncodified
Referendums and Pressure Groups in the UK.
To what extent should referendums be used more widely in the UK? Referendums are a form of direct democracy which allows the electorate to vote for or against a singular issue. The most recent referendum was in 2014 for Scottish independence in which the outcome was no. Referendums can offer a clear answer to a political dead lock as well as influence politicians as to what the people desire such as the 1975 referendum on leaving the European Economic Community. This helps to renew mandate due to the answers given. They increase turn out with the 2014 Scottish referendum having a 90% turn out. This eliminates protest or tactical voting as it is a clear issue which is not on party policy. This direct democracy allows for constitutional or moral issues which make the electorate feel more involved. The participation on controversial issues allows for more people to want to get involved. Alternatively, referendums undermine our representative government. Former prime minister Attlee (1945-51) said referendums are “devices alien to our tradition” and “instruments of demogues and dictators” in which referendums are able to manipulate the electorate. The main example of this, is under Hitler’s reign to which he used referendums (phrased ambiguously) to justify the legislation he was passing. With all political apathy, if you increase the amount of referendums, people
Is Anarchism merely liberal individualism taken to its logical extreme?
Is Anarchism merely liberal individualism taken to its logical extreme? The anarchist ideology is based on the central belief that political authority in all its forms is evil as well as unnecessary. However there are two forms of anarchism, Collectivist and Individualist, which base there ideologies on two very different traditions, Liberalism and Socialism. As there are two forms of anarchism it would be wrong to argue that anarchism is simply liberal individualism taken to its extreme, especially as the philosophical roots of collectivist anarchism lie in socialism rather than liberalism, thus clearly Anarchism is a more complicated ideology than simply being liberal individualism at its extreme. However Individualist Anarchism could be said reach its conclusions by pushing liberal individualism to its logical extreme. The basis of Individualist Anarchism lies in the central Liberal idea that the individual is supreme above the collective, the belief in the sovereign of the individual. This leads to a belief in the central importance of individual freedom, most definitely a central theme of individualist anarchism. William Godwin's anarchism amounts to a form of extreme classical liberalism and he developed a form of liberal rationalism that amounted to an argument for human perfectibility based on education and social conditioning, reflecting closely the arguments
Electoral Systems.
Electoral Systems. First-Past-The-Post How the System Works: The current system for electing MPs to the House of Commons is called First-Past-The-Post. There are 659 separate constituencies across the UK each electing one single Member of Parliament. In order to vote you simply put an 'X' next to the name of the candidate you support. The candidate who gets the most votes wins, regardless of whether he or she has more than 50% support. Once members have been individually elected, the party with the most seats in Parliament, regardless of whether or not it has a majority across the country, normally becomes the next government. The system is used: for elections to the House of Commons and local elections in the UK and in USA, Canada and India. Arguments used in favour: * It is simple to understand. * The voter can express a view on which party should form the next government. * It tends to lead to a two-party system. The system tends to produce single party governments, which are strong enough to create legislation and tackle the country's problems, without relying on the support of any other party. * It provides a close link between the MP and their constituency. * The system represents the views of the people, as the candidate with the greatest support wins through a fair process. * The UK's democracy is one of the strongest in the world, it works and since
Political Parties
Political Parties Questions (a) What is the purpose of a political party? (5) A political party is an organisation that seeks to win political power by putting up candidates for election. They mobilise support in order to win power. They offer differing policy positions across the political spectrum in order to give the electorate a diversity of choice when voting in an election. For example, the Labour Party traditionally believed in providing extensive help for the working-class and trade unions. Furthermore, political parties help to get people active in politics by creating local organisations in every UK constituency. This is very useful for political parties looking to recruit new members. (b) By what means do MPs seek to serve their constituents? (15) MPs are elected by their constituents to represent their local and national interests in Parliament and elsewhere. They achieve this through several means available to them. One way is through the media. Evidently, the media is a force that can influence many people. In 1997, journalist Martin Bell ousted Neil Hamilton from the Tatton constituency - his aim was to rid Parliament of the 'Tory sleaze' from the Major years. He used the media very effectively during his campaign. Another example of an MP using the media for politics is George Galloway's appearance on Celebrity Big Brother. This enabled young people to
To what extent does Parliament control executive power?
Transfer-Encoding: chunked To what extent does Parliament control executive power? Executive is the branch of government that is responsible for the implementation of laws and policies made by parliament. They hold a substantial amount of authority and responsibility and have the ability to enforce legislation, formulate government policies and govern general maintenance. Alongside the PM, the cabinet and all the ministers form an alliance together to form this exclusive body of executive power. The parliament consists of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, which includes various party representatives, Lord Hailsham stated that the UK has an ‘elective dictatorship’, implying that executive is able to dominate the legislature, meaning that they used to have more power than parliament, but many things have changed so has parliaments power, but it can be improved. There has been a strong argument that parliament does control executive efficiently. Standing and select committees, are chosen by an independent body as of 2010 under the Bercow and Wright reforms, which are able to act by an independently from the executive, often giving greater power to backbenchers, junior ministers and the H.O.L committees peers and therefore scrutinising department effectively; the H.O.L committees perhaps to an even greater extent given the greater time and expertise involved.
