Parliamentary Supremacy and Internal Market Bill

This report discusses the concept of parliamentary supremacy and its relevance in the UK's constitutional framework. It explores the stages involved in passing a bill and the power of the Parliament to enact laws. The report also delves into the Internal Market Bill and its impact on the rule of law, as well as its violation of the Brexit agreement. It highlights the criticism and controversy surrounding the bill, including the resignation of senior officials.

Law Case

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Set out what is meant by critical discussion................................................................................3
Set out why this hypothetical question is relevant question in constitutional terms...................3
Construct a mind map of the issues the question presents..........................................................4
Provide an outline of how you plan to address this question in your Task 2..............................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Introduction.................................................................................................................................5
Main Body...................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
Internal Market Bill.....................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The Constitution is that document which provides the rules which decide the UK's
political governance. The United Kingdom has the unwritten and uncodified Constitution which
is embodied in the special legislations passed by the Parliament of UK which takes special
constitutional status and the Supreme Court of UK has recognised the principles of constitution
in its precedents which includes rule of law, parliamentary supremacy, upholding international
law and the democracy1. The Parliamentary supremacy is one of the principle of the
Constitution of UK which gives supreme sovereignty to Parliament to enact any law which the
courts of UK also cannot challenge. This report is divided into three task, the first two shall
cover the hypothetical question on the concept of parliamentary sovereignty and the third task
shall deal with the internal market bill.
TASK 1
Set out what is meant by critical discussion
Parliament is the supreme authority which is entrusted with a duty to create any law or
end any legislation. It has the unlimited and absolute power to enact any law. The written
constitution often binds the Parliament to act in a certain way but the unwritten constitution of
UK makes the Parliament central to the states. The Parliament consists of House of Commons
and the House of Lords which has the joint power to create any law. This is power is so absolute
that the Courts of UK cannot question the validity of any law made by the Parliament2. Any law
whether it is a breach of rule or not, this right to create any law is absolute and no body or person
which is recognised by the laws of the England can over ride or set aside the said legislation.
Set out why this hypothetical question is relevant question in constitutional terms.
The Parliamentary supremacy is a principle of Constitution which is embodied in the
special Acts of Parliament and the court judgements. It is a relevant question because the
Parliament has the absolute power to make or unmake any law. This principle has got three
1 Tan S, 'Between Judicial Oligarchy And Parliamentary Supremacy: Understanding The
Court's Dilemma In Constitutional Judicial Review' [2016] SSRN Electronic Journal
2 Zucca L, 'Why (Constitutional) Law Matters: A Debate' (2016) 13 International Journal
of Constitutional Law

sources which includes legislations of Parliament, courts which enforce every law of Parliament
without any exception and the relationship between all the parts of government.
Construct a mind map of the issues the question presents.
This hypothetical question presents the following issues which includes-
 Whether the Parliament has the supreme authority to enact nay law ?
 Whether the Parliament can pass any law which is a breach of rule of law ?
 Whether the courts have power to uphold such legislation ?
Provide an outline of how you plan to address this question in your Task 2.
The outline for discussing the said hypothetical question in Task 2 includes firstly the
concept of rule of law then the procedure which Parliament adopts for enacting any law,
parliamentary sovereignty and the power of courts to uphold any legislation passed by the
Parliament.

TASK 2
Introduction
The Parliamentary supremacy and the Parliamentary sovereignty are the terms which are
used interchangeably. The word Parliamentary supremacy is used for the joint powers of House
of Commons and the House of Lords who together pass any law with the support of each other.
The concept of rule of law is a fundamental principle of the Constitution. The unwritten and
uncodified Constitution of UK includes rule of law along with the parliamentary sovereignty and
the court rulings. This essay shall cover the hypothetical question set for Task 1 and 2 which
deals in rule of law, parliamentary supremacy, procedure of enacting law and the court's power
to uphold any legislation.
Main Body
This term of rule of law is derived from the phrase ' la principe de legalite' which means
that a government must be based on principle of law and not of the men. It clearly states that the
law must govern the country and not the arbitrary decisions made by the individuals (government
officials). Rule of law includes three principles which involves firstly the supremacy of the law,
equality before law and the predominance of the legal spirit3. The UK has an unwritten
Constitution so the principle of rule of law is recognised by the courts through judge made laws.
The Parliament has the supreme authority to make or unmake any law. It consists of
House of Commons and House of Lords and the Royal Monarch. There are various stages which
are undergone by the bill in order to make a law. Initially the first step involves first reading
where the bill arrives at either house of Parliament and the name of the bill is read in a chamber.
Then the second reading comes where the debate is began on the purpose and aims of the bill
together with the key areas of bill. Generally no voting is taken at this stage4. The third step
involves committee stage where detailed scrutiny of the bill is done line by line and amendments
are suggested. It revolves from front to last of the bill. Votes are taken at this step for making any
changes which are suggested. The next step involves report stage where further opportunity is
3 Ananieva E, 'UK Internal Market Bill' (2020) 17 Scientific and Analytical Herald of IE
RAS
4 MacKay R, 'Coke: Parliamentary Sovereignty Or The Supremacy Of The Law?' (2017)
22 Michigan Law Review

given to examine the bill and suggest any changes. Debates are done on amendments and votes
are taken to decide as to whether to make any changes or not. The next step involves third
reading where loopholes are closed and final chance of amendments is given to the members.
The next step is consideration of amendments where if the Lords have made changes in the bill,
it is send to Commons and the House of Commons may accept or reject the changes. This may
involve many rounds of this process which is called Ping Pong. And the final step is Royal
Assent where a bill is sent to Royal Monarch for the approval when both the houses agree on the
draft. When the Royal Monarch gives assent to the bill, it becomes an Act or Law of Parliament.
The Parliamentary supremacy is the absolute and unlimited power of the Parliament to
make any law. This supremacy is derived by the Parliament through the Constitution of UK
which is embodied in the special Acts of the Parliament, court rulings and other other sources.
The term supremacy and sovereignty of Parliament is used interchangeably but the term
sovereignty is used for the joint power of both houses of Parliament. In case of Jackson v.
Attorney General, the court held that the courts in the UK Country have no power to declare any
law invalid which is enacted by the Parliament5.
The parliamentary sovereignty is based on another principle apart from creating any law
which includes that the courts cannot overrule or set aside any law which is passed by the
Parliament. Hence the concept of Parliamentary sovereignty can be summarised as firstly the
Parliament can enact law concerning anything, secondly the Parliament cannot bind the future
Parliament and thirdly a valid act which is made by the Parliament cannot be questioned by the
court as it is the supreme authority.
This sovereignty is not given to Parliament in terms of politically sovereign where if the
Parliament passes any law which is unpopular or oppressive, then it cannot be made in practice.
So the judiciary can interfere and purposely interpret the said law and make any law from the
precedent upon the same subject matter in the similar manner. This does not mean that the
Parliament is not legally sovereign, rather the parliament can legally pass any law which it
wishes. In case of Madzimbamuto v. Lardner Burke, the court held that it is often said that if
Parliament of UK does any certain act which is unconstitutional, it would be improper for it. But
5 Poole T, 'Constitutional Exceptionalism And The Common Law' (2016) 7 International
Journal of Constitutional Law

it does not mean that it is beyond its power. Rather if the Parliament chooses to do any certain
act, the courts cannot hold the Act of the Parliament as invalid6.
Conclusion
It is concluded from the above essay that the Parliament is the supreme authority to enact
any law and has the sovereign power to make or unmake any law. The Parliament consists of
House of Commons and House of Lords which have joint sovereignty. It can pass law on any
subject and the valid law cannot be questioned by the courts of UK. The Parliament undergoes
various stages to pass a bill to make it a law which involves first reading, second reading,
committee stage, report stage, third reading, consideration of amendments and the royal assent
from the Monarch. A bill must be passed through a valid procedure so that its validity cannot be
questioned. Hence, it is summarised that the Parliament has sovereign power to enact any law
and no court can uphold any law which is legally made by the Parliament.
6 BUCKLEY J, and HOWARTH D, 'Internal Market: Gesture Politics? Explaining The
EU's Response To The Financial Crisis' (2017) 48 JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies

TASK 3
Internal Market Bill
The UK government's Internal market bill is a public bill which was published by the
Parliament on 9th September 2020 and passed the stage of third reading in the House of
Commons on 29th September 2020. This bill is intended to set up the arrangements by the
government for trading among four countries of the UK. The purpose set by the government of
UK is that it guaranteed the continued functioning of internal market of UK and also to ensure
that the regulations from 1 part of UK is recognised across the whole country,
This bill was introduced to eliminate the internal trade barriers which are within the UK
after the Brexit transition period ends. Currently, the UK follows European Union standards on
the goods and services but after the transition period ends, the countries will be able to
implement its own policies and regulations7.
The Internal Market Bill impact the rule of law as it breaches the international law in
specific and limited way. It over rides the Article 4 of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement which
modifies the movement, sale, certification and oversight of a product in the Northern Ireland.
Further in November 2019, the government of UK and the European Union have agreed for a
treaty which shall govern their future relations. This international treaty was the EU Withdrawal
Agreement Treaty which was enforced in February 2020 which provided protection to free
movement, intellectual property and many more.
The EU challenged this bill under the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement Treaty as this bill
violated the EU Withdrawal agreement. For example the Article 4 of the treaty agreement states
the direct effect by ensuring the obligations and rights of the agreement shall apply in domestic
courts of UK and the government of UK has also given effect to this under the EU (Withdrawal)
Act, 2018. The Attorney General of the UK approved to this and stated that Article 45 of the
Internal Market Bill would dis apply the provisions of the EU agreement. This bill also violated
Article 5 of the agreement which provides that the UK government would work with good faith
and mutual respect to fulfil the obligations of the agreement8.
7 Kullaa R, 'The European Parliament And The UK Parliament: A Relationship In Foreign
Policy' (2016) 35 Parliamentary History
8 Gordon M, 'Brexit: A Challenge For The UK Constitution, Of The UK Constitution?'
(2016) 12 European Constitutional Law Review

The criticism against the bill have revolved from the senior member of judiciary and bar,
David Neuberger who provided that the clauses of this bill will prevent the judicial review. It
shall also bring dictatorship in the nation as it eliminates the right to challenge the bill. This bill
also provoked the resignation of many senior officials which includes senior government lawyer,
Advocate General, Head of government, Legal Department and Lord Keen of Elie.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that parliament is in the supreme power to enact any
law and no court can uphold or question the validity of the law. The bill which is passed by the
parliamentary procedure is a valid law and no court can set aside that law. The bill is passed by
both the houses first and then is sent to the Monarch for royal assent. Further the internal Market
Bill is a public bill which violates the Brexit agreement and the EU Withdrawal Agreement
which was recently signed by the EU and UK on November 2019. this bill was highly criticised
by the senior officials which included senior member of judiciary and bar, government lawyer,
advocate general and many other and resulted in their resignation.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ananieva E, 'UK Internal Market Bill' (2020) 17 Scientific and Analytical Herald of IE RAS
BUCKLEY J, and HOWARTH D, 'Internal Market: Gesture Politics? Explaining The EU's
Response To The Financial Crisis' (2017) 48 JCMS: Journal of Common Market
Studies
Gordon M, 'Brexit: A Challenge For The UK Constitution, Of The UK Constitution?' (2016) 12
European Constitutional Law Review
Kullaa R, 'The European Parliament And The UK Parliament: A Relationship In Foreign Policy'
(2016) 35 Parliamentary History
MacKay R, 'Coke: Parliamentary Sovereignty Or The Supremacy Of The Law?' (2017) 22
Michigan Law Review
Poole T, 'Constitutional Exceptionalism And The Common Law' (2016) 7 International Journal
of Constitutional Law
Tan S, 'Between Judicial Oligarchy And Parliamentary Supremacy: Understanding The Court's
Dilemma In Constitutional Judicial Review' [2016] SSRN Electronic Journal
Zucca L, 'Why (Constitutional) Law Matters: A Debate' (2016) 13 International Journal of
Constitutional Law