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4.4 Location of Sovereignty in the UK Legal and Political Sovereignty -…
4.4
Location of Sovereignty in the UK
Legal and Political Sovereignty
Where sovereignty now lies
remains true that UK Parliament is legally sovereign
= ultimately, Parliament is omni-competent and can determine how power is distributed in the UK
HOWEVER, if we look at sovereignty in a broader sense (i.e: political sovereignty) the location of sovereignty depends on the following circumstances:
in a referendum, the
people are sovereign
despite (technically) the result of a referendum is not binding on Parliament
at a GE, the
people are sovereign
as they determine who shall exercise power for the next 5 years
for issues that are part of the government’s electoral mandate, it can be said that the
government is sovereign
as it has popular consent for what it is doing
with devolved issues, the
devolved administrations are effectively sovereign
as it is unthinkable that they would be overruled by the UK Parliament
when implementing the ECHR, the
Supreme Court becomes sovereign
Distinction between legal & political sovereignty
Legal sovereignty
means ultimate legal power
no other body/institution can overrule Parliament (has legal sovereignty)
courts will only enforce laws passed by the UK Parliament and will only uphold powers granted by the UK Parliament
Political sovereignty
refers to where power lies in reality
although we know the UK Parliament is
legally sovereign
, we have to
understand that real power may lie elsewhere
= called
political sovereignty
Key Term(s)
Legal sovereignty:
ultimate legal power
is no higher political authority
legal sovereignty cannot be set aside by any other body or by constitutional rules
Omnicompetent:
a description of the UK Parliament stating that it is able to take any action and pass any law it wishes
are no constitutional restraints on what the UK Parliament can do
Changing location of sovereignty
one aspect location of legal sovereignty in the UK has changed: all the sovereignty shared or passed to the EU since 1973 (when the UK joined) has been returned since 2021
location of
political sovereignty
has changed in many ways:
political sovereignty has moved to the devolved administrations
some
of the political sovereignty
of the executive
is shifting towards the UK Parliament
= is particularly true in the areas of foreign interventions and negotiation of foreign treaties
increasing use of referendums has transferred political sovereignty to the people
Prime Minister has lost control over the date of general elections under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act
Human Rights Act shifted control over the enforcement of rights from the UK Parliament to the Supreme Court