What impact has Europe had on the process of Constitutional reform in the UK?

Helen Barlow

JXR – Government and Politics.

Constitutional reform in the UK has been affected by their membership of the EU since 1979, it has included such aspects as Tutelary law, Referendums and other peripheral issues have been influenced by it also including such things as Multi-partyism, Freedom of information and Electoral reform.

Referendums, before 1975, were only minor in the UK, meaning that the government had never had to rely on direct democracy. However Harold Wilson’s government in 1975 proposed the people with the question of staying in the EEC, although referendums have become a regular feature of British political life since, it was instigated by the European question, an effect the EU has had on the British constitution and on constitutional reform. Referendums may appear to be a relatively small constitutional reform its effects have been far reaching, from the original use of a national referendum in 1975, referendums have since been directed at various controversial issues and have been used under the guise of direct democracy to attempt to settle disputes about issue such as devolution and the antiquated question of Irish Home Rule. With regard to the EU’s impact on these there have also been other examples of the same type of use, a proposed referendum on Economic Monetary Union and on the single currency, other issues that would inevitably have an impact on the UK constitution through their further integration of Europe and European politics.

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Tutelary Law, laws which denote social behavior have also been affected by the European Union and the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into the UK constitution has been another far reaching constitutional reform. The Human Rights Act, originally the Social Chapter of the 1992 Maastricht treaty, enshrined new and traditional conventions and statutes into one codified document. This may seem, as with the referendums, a minor issue compared to some reforms however its effects on the UK constitution have again been far reaching. The Convention ultimately gives Judges more power as they are now able to scrutinize British statute law, both past and present, that are not in accordance with the Human Rights Convention, constitutional reform is therefore affected by this procedure as the judges are given a more political role. As the Judges now have to scrutinize legislation in accordance with the Convention, the natural consequence of this is an even more ominous constitutional reform, Judges, in their more powerful role must then become accountable resulting in an elected tier of the judiciary and another contest to the sovereignty of parliament.

The EU has had the most impact on these issues of constitutional reform yet there have been others that have been indirectly influenced by the EU. To a certain extent the demands for both a Bill of Rights and a Written Constitution have been influenced by the EU, not only through the codified Convention on Human Rights but also through example, many of the member states of the EU have both of these aspects, this same theory is applicable to the Freedom of Information Act, another European idea that is to be implemented in Britain in 2005.

Despite the influence and impact that he EU has had on the UK’s constitutional reform there has been much more impact on UK from within the UK itself. Internal pressures for reform gave come form various different sources, Robin Cook, for example demanded a referendum on Electoral reform, Charter 88 campaigns for a written constitution and the late Lord Hailsham's comments on “An elective dictatorship” in 1976 have influenced such aspects as Select committees and general government accountability. These examples subvert attention from Europe’s influence on constitutional reform in the UK though it remains a powerful tool for such actions.

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