Consitution

C reform- 1997- Blair

Constitutional reform package. 753 peers reduced to 92 peers in Cranborne Compromise.

C Reform- 1997- electoral reform

Jenkins Committee concluded that FPTP was going to be ineffective in devolved organisations.

C Reform- 2000- HoL

1330 peers to 669 peers

C Reform- 2000- Act

FOI

C Reform- 2005- Act

Constitutional Reform Act

C Reform- 2005- trial

Hirst vs UK- ECHR found that the UK breached prisoners voting rights through denying them a vote.

C Reform- 2009

MPs Expenses Scandal exposed byDaily Telegraph FOI request. 392 politicians were ordered to repay £1.3 million. 6MPs and 2 peers were sentenced to prison.

C Reform- 2009- reform

Wright Reforms

C Reform- 2010- HoC days

Backbench Business Committee

C Reform- 2010- manifesto

Labour promised an electoral reform referendum in their manifesto.

C Reform- 2011- electoral reform

AV referendum failed.

C Reform- 2014- HoL reform

HoL Reform Act allowed peers to resign or retire, to be expelled for misconduct, or to be removed for prolonged non-attendance.

C Reform- 2015- Conservative govt plan

Replace the HRA with a watered down British Bill of Rights.

C Reform- 2015- Act

Recall of MPs Act- Ian Paisley Jr and Chris Davies lost their seats after 10% of their constituents signed petitions.

C Reform- 2016- Act

Investigatory Powers Act which increased the ability of the state to obtain data from UK citizens.

C Reform- As of Dec 2023

174 peers have resigned or retired, and 10 have been removed from the HoL.

C Reform- 2024- HoL reform

Remaining 92 hereditary peers were removed, yet bishops remain- uneven?

C Reform- 2024/25 Labour constitutional reform plans

Plan to introduce an 80yr retirement age to HoL.

Plan to reduce voting age to 16yrs in all elections.

Plan to introduce automatic voter ID registration, putting millions onto the electoral roll.

Plan to introduce new participation requirements on HoL.

Codification- Post 9/11

Anti-terrorist measures passed in spite of HRA, like holding suspected terrorists for 28 days.

Codification- 1970s

Internment without trial of suspected terrorists in NI. After this, not a single IRA ‘terrorist’ was actually then charged (so holding innocents in prison).

Codification- 1996

Dunblane Massacre where 16 primary school children died- UK restricted sale of guns quickly. Snowdrop Campaign petition with 150000 signatures led to repeal of the Firearm Amendments Act.

Codification- 2019- Cons mandate

Conservatives won 365 seats, getting the mandate to ‘Get Brexit Done’.

Codification- 1998- Act

Adopting the ECHR in the form of the HRA.

Codification- 2022, 2022, 2023

Elections Act- voter ID requirements

Policing Act- police powers to arrest protestors

Public Order Act- bans noisy protests

Codification- France and the USA

France, with a codified constitution, is still able to respond to national crises.

Trump introduced the Cares Act and Biden introduced the American Rescue Plan to deal with economic hardships.

Codification- USA

An amendment to the constitution requires a 2/3rds majority in Congress, plus 3/4s of state legislatures.

Codification- 2024- election

Labour got 63% of seats with 34% of votes. 74% of the population- 21.2 million people- cast wasted votes (did not directly affect the outcome of the election).

Devolution- 1701 and 1706

Acts of Union abolished the Scottish Parliament.

Devolution- 1998- Scotland/Wales/NI

Scotland Act- established a Scottish Parliament that can vary income tax by 3% with AMS.

Wales Act- established a Welsh Assembly with administrative powers.

Belfast Agreement- set up a NI Assembly to end sectarian violence with STV.

Devolution- 2000- regional devolution

London Assembly and London Mayor set up using AMS and SV (now FPTP).

Devolution- 2004

North East England referendum was rejected by 78%.

Devolution- 2011- Wales

The Welsh referendum asked the Welsh public whether the Assembly should have law making powers. They voted 63.5% YES, so the Silk Commission was set up to review how this could take place.

Devolution- 2012- English referendums

English mayoral referendums asked cities if they wanted an elected mayor. 11 voted yes.

Devolution- 2014- Scotland and Wales

Scottish independence referendum was voted 55.3% against.

The Government of Wales Act granted power over landfill tax and gave stamp duties to Wales.

Devolution- 2016- Scotland

The Scotland Act devolved many powers to the Scottish Parliament (devomax). This gave them regulation of the energy industry, control Scottish airport revenue, and control over half the VAT receipts in Scotland.

Devolution- 2017- Wales

The Government of Wales Act changed the Assembly to the Welsh Senedd. It gave them administrative and legislative powers and the creation of the Welsh Revenue Assembly to collect Wales based taxes.

Devolution- NI Assembly

Has been suspended 5 times- the most notable are:

2002-2007 (failure of ministers to cooperate with each other), 2017-2020 (Renewable Heat scandal so Sinn Fein left the government and 2 elections failed to resolve the dispute) and 2022-2024.

Devolution- asymmetry with Scotland

Scotland has powers on disability living allowance, and their students are not required to pay university fees.

Devolution- public expenditure

The Barnett Formula is a mechanism to adjust the amount of public expenditure to Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England based on their economies. As England is wealthier, they receive less money per head of the population. £6.6 billion have been allocated to the devolved bodies for 2025-26.

Devolution- 2012- tax

The pasty tax proposed by the government would have affected foodstuff mainly produced in the East and West country, demonstrative of a UK government too distant from regions in the UK.

Devolution- 2002- Unis

It was a result of Scottish MPs voting YES to increasing university tuition fees to £3000 for English students that the measure passed.

Devolution- 2024 mayors and 2025 plans

There are 12 metro mayors, with plans for it to extend to 4 more areas in 2025, to cover 64% of the population.

Devolution plans 2025

Proposed new plans for devolution in England will give metro mayors control over rail.

The Labour government aim to extend devolution in England to cover 85% of England by the next parliament.

Devolution- overlooked areas

Large urban centres like Southampton, Stoke, and Leicester remain overlooked without devolution.

Devolution- covers…

48% of England’s population, 54% of economic output, and 26% of land area.

Devolution- 2023- Act

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 set out a new devolution framework, extending devolution beyond metropolitan areas for the first time, and setting a tiered ‘levels’ system for devolution.

Devolution- 2015-2022

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