sovereignty in the uk politics system

legal and political sovereignty definitions

• Legal sovereignty is the legal right by which sovereignty can be exercised

• Political sovereignty is the ability to exercise sovereignty in practice

movement of sovereignty

• Sovereignty has shifted from Parliament to the executive through the use of royal prerogative powers

  • EX: In 2018, PM Theresa May ordered airstrikes on Syria in response to the regime’s use of chemical weapons without seeking parliamentary approval

• The HRA 1998 incorporated ECHR rights into UK law, allowing courts to issue declarations of incompatibility, though Parliament retains legal sovereignty

sovereignty to eu and judiciary

• The UK’s membership of the EU from 1973 to 31 January 2020 moved sovereignty away from Parliament towards the EU

• The 1990 Factortame case saw the European Court of Justice rule that the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 was incompatible with EU law, requiring UK courts to disapply it

• The HRA 1998 incorporated ECHR rights into UK law; courts may issue declarations of incompatibility but cannot strike down Acts of Parliament

constitutional reform

• Constitutional reform has moved sovereignty away from Parliament to other UK political institutions

  • EX: The devolution of power in 1988 transferred authority to the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly, covering areas such as education, health and the environment

  • EX: The CRA 2005 established the SC, transferring the HoL’s role as the UK’s final appeal court to the new body

legal sovereignty of parliament

• Parliament demonstrated its legal sovereignty by passing the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017, triggering Article 50 and beginning the process of leaving the eu

• Parliament retains legal sovereignty over the UK’s most important powers, including foreign policy, taxation and defence

limits to political sovereignty

• Referendums place sovereignty in the hands of UK voters, enabling citizens to make key political decisions

  • EX: The 2016 EU referendum, in which over 33.5 million people voted to leave the EU, showed that popular sovereignty can override parliamentary decisions

• Prior to Brexit, the EU could make laws that overruled Acts of Parliament, including directives and regulations

• The executive can restrict parliamentary sovereignty by deploying troops without a parliamentary vote