constitutional reforms

the issue of constitutional reform

from the 1960s various demands for constitutional reform began to grow.

attempting to prevent an elective dictatorship

the decline in conventions covering ministerial behaviour, resignations and the extent of royal prerogative powers adds fuel to the debate

new labour reforms (under Tony Blair gov):

House of Lords reform 1999

• Goal was to remove the right for hereditary peers to stay in the House of Lords.

  Reduced to 92 hereditary peers in the House of Lords

  Keir Starmer wants to scrap all 92

Electoral reform

• Electoral systems used in the devolved nations (Scotland, Wales etc)

  • Scotland + Wales use AMS.

  • Ireland uses STV

  Wanting it to be truly representative, not tyranny of the majority

  Introduced because in 1997 Good Friday Agreement formed, England can't trust NI to run itself without fighting. Forms a power sharing government where the government work together, else the country won't run

Freedom of Information Act 2000

• Citizens have the right to know what's going on in the country in terms of something that is readily available e.g the cost of a new scheme. Makes things more transparent

Devolution

• The transfer of government from the central government to regional or local governments

Human Rights Act 1998

• Protects rights (taken from the EU but UK took exact copy and put it in their law)

Constitutional Reform Act 2005

• Took the law lords out of the house of lords and put them in the supreme court. More independent and more neutral when judging

coalition reforms under David Cameron (tory) and Nick Clegg (LibDem)

Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011

• set a default fixed election date for general elections It remained in force until 2022, when it was repealed. Designed to provide more predictability and fairness in the timing of elections.

• an election could only be triggered outside of the normal five-year Parliamentary cycle by one of two scenarios: if two-thirds of the House of Commons voted in favour of one, or if the Government lost a vote of no confidence

• Before the Act, the Prime Minister could request the monarch to dissolve Parliament and call a general election, a process often criticized for giving ruling parties an unfair advantage

AV (alternative vote) Referendum 2011

• Alternative vote aims to avoid the tyranny of the majority. 

•  67.9% of votes opposed changing the electoral system to the alternative vote on the 5th May 2011. Turnout was 42% so majority of the public did not vote as they didn’t care

• This was put forward to tackle the flawed FPTP voting system where a candidate the majority dislike can win and still become PM

Reduction of MPs

• reduction in the number of MPs from 650 to 600. This change aimed to improve efficiency and reduce costs in the House of Commons.

• effort to equalize constituency sizes, ensuring that each MP represented a similar number of constituents.

• this didnt happen

Conservative reforms (under multiple PMs)

Scottish Independence Referendum 2014

• 16-17 year olds allowed to vote. Would've possibly led to the breakup of the UK. Westminster promised them devolved power if they stayed and that they’d be able to join the EU as Scotland is too small to join alone.

• no independence : independence 55:45

Brexit Referendum 2016

• UK wanting to leaving the EU. Increases Parl-sov, gives them opportunity to remove EU legislation 

• stay : leave 52:48

British Bill of Rights 2022

• Legal framework aimed at protecting rights of citizens

• wanted to replace HRA

• introduced by Dominic Raab (tory justice sec)