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UK Constitution part 3 - reforms (Labour Constitutional reforms 1997 -…
UK Constitution part 3 - reforms
Attempts to reform constitution
Early 20th century
the 1970s
Thatcher and Major (1979 - 1997)
FPTP came under pressure conservative seemed to be favoured
Sleaze stories reduced peoples trust in politicians
joined European economic community 1972
Elective dictatorship - Lord Hailsham
Irish free state created - republic of Ireland
parliament act 1911 reduced powers of house of lords
Labour Constitutional reforms 1997 - 2010
freedom on information act 2000
house of lords act 1999
human rights act 1998
Scotland act 1998 / wales act 1998 / northern ireland act 1998
constitutional reform act 2005
Devolution
power passed down to scottlan, wales and ireland
leaves uk as a quasi-federal state
Decentralisation
Local authorities given more power
elected mayors in cities
Elecroal reform
Proportional representation used in certain elections
FPTP not changed though
Human rights act
Brought in by EU
took over many common law provisions
all new laws had to be compatable with HRA
courts can declare incompatibilty
House of lords act
abolished all bu 92 heredity peers
Constitutional Reform Act
created supreme court
got rid of law lords separated judeges from house of lords
Wanted to abolish Lord Chancellor but didnt
Freedom of information act
Public right to access info held by gov
Effects of the reforms
Enhanced Democracy
Evolutionary
Constitution remained uncodified
Parliamentary sovereignty preserved
power passed to EU and devolved assemblies
HRA and Constitutional reform presevered some sovereignty
the rule of law
Citizens rights improved due to HRA and freedom of info act
Unitary state
reforms under the coalition
referendum on AV - 68% no
fixed term parliament act 2011
House of lords reform act 2014
Further devolution to wales and scotland
Attempted reforms
reducing MPs from 650 to 600 will happen in 2020
allowing recall of MPs
Key constitutional concepts
Collective ministerial responsibilty
cabinet members must publicly support decisions of gov
Ministerial code
rules of gov ministers and how they work
Civil service code
civil service must uphold values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality
Cabinet manual
setting out main prinicples of how gov works