Understanding the UK Parliamentary System and Constitutional Reforms

Running head: PUBLIC LAW
PUBLIC LAW
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1PUBLIC LAW
ANSWER 1:
In UK, there is no written form of constitution and therefore, certain rules are there to
change or make any amendment in the constitution. According to the Parliamentary system,
the constitution is four phrases such as statute law, common law, parliamentary conventions
and works of the authority1. In this present context, it has been observed that the new
organised party has taken certain steps to amend certain constitutional provisions and the
newly appointed government wants to create one nation again. In this case, parliament has to
pass new statutes. This process could be generated through Acts of Parliament. The bills that
are attempted to make any amendment in the constitutional provisions are required to get
approval from the Parliament. Approval from Parliament includes consent of the Monarch,
House of Lords and House of Commons. There are certain situations where the House of
Commons do not have to take any consent from the other house. However, consent from the
monarch is also necessary in this case. According to the parliamentary rule of law, the
parliament can pass any legislation it can2. However, the basis of the Act should be
constitutional and it should not harm any provisions of the regular laws. In this given case, it
has been observed that the main theme of the bill is to create one state. This idea should
obtain the consent of the parliaments and according to the norms, the Monarch and both the
houses should give permission in this case. However, it is to be stated that the parliament
should give consent after verifying all aspects of the bills3. A welfare state system is
processing in UK. There are certain possibilities that the idea of One Nation could block the
1 Gordon, Michael. Parliamentary sovereignty in the UK constitution: Process, politics and democracy.
Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.
2 Robertson, Jamie. "5th Report, 2015 (Session 4): Legislative Consent Memorandum on the UK Welfare
Reform and Work Bill (LCM (S4) 38.1)." (2015).
3 Gilchrist, David. "Westminster system, parliamentary sovereignty and responsible government: Executive
accountability in New Zealand and Australia." Public Sector Accounting, Accountability and Governance.
Routledge, 2018. 55-66.

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welfare bill, as there could be certain meaningless cuts in the present governmental system.
Further, certain tax related questions will also crop up. According to the decisions made in
Entick v Carrington [1765] EWHC J98 (KB), none the legal apprehension should be based on
the breach of the present law and therefore, it can be stated that any person can do anything
unless it is breaching the provision of law4. The concept of making one nation is a
controversial statement and it requires consents of other state. Therefore, it is not valid
ground create one nation again.
Under the notion of parliamentary power, repeal bills are important in nature. The
term repeal means reverse of any processed law. Repeal could take place either in the form of
re-enactment or repeal without any replacement. In the case of repeal bills, it is important to
maintain the provisions of Interpretation Act 19785. Further, the nature of parliament in UK is
sovereign and in this case, repeal of all devolution Acts could be termed as political suicide.
It is obvious to state that the constitution of Britain is unwritten; however, from the nature
and character of constitution, it can be stated that parliament can do anything it wants, but no
autocratic decisions it could take in this perspective. The term devolution means a situation
that supports the decentralisation process and in this case, the one central authority will take
all the decision-making processes6. Such situation is not common or permissible under the
sovereign system. Further, certain bills are also required to get consents from three temples of
parliamentary system. Further, government should have to form a memorandum of
understanding in between the government and all the devolved administrations. There are
certain protocols to be maintained in this case. Therefore, it could be advised to the
4 Gee, Graham, and Alison L. Young. "Regaining Sovereignty? Brexit, the UK Parliament and the Common
Law." European Public Law 22.1 (2016): 131-147.
5 Hayton, Richard. "The UK independence party and the politics of englishness." Political Studies Review 14.3
(2016): 400-410.
6 Smith, Anne, Monica McWilliams, and Priyamvada Yarnell. "Does Every Cloud Have A Silver Lining: Brexit,
Repeal of the Human Rights Act and the Northern Ireland Bill of Rights." Fordham Int'l LJ 40 (2016): 79.

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government to maintain all the protocols required in this case and make the grounds
constitutional and legal in nature.
Question 2
The most important rule of the democracy is that laws should correspond with the law
of the nation and how closely the preferences of the nation meet with that of the document
that has been the authority. Vox populi is the voice of the people and it is the majority opinion
that needs to be considered and the law of democracy is that the interests of the citizens
should be put at the highest preference7. The choice of the voters should be taken seriously
and should also be given the most importance. The democratic interest of the parties is that
the preferences of the voters are primary and the judgment of the voters and the judgments of
the citizens should be given widest importance. By understanding vox populi, it is important
to understand the importance of the majority and the significance they hold in a majority. The
function of the representative is that they are obliged to look at the interests of the citizens.
The populis are important as they infer what the popular sentiment it and as a bill if their
rights are curtailed, the constitutional rights of the people become defunct. The world has to
be seen in the light of the represented as well as the people who have the right to vote any
individual to power. The whole point of a representation is that the decisions that are taken
has to be justified. The justifiability of any bill or constitutional impact or purport of any bills
has to be checked in the light of the justifiability. The power of the House of Lords is
significant as they have the right to veto a bill and they have exercised justifiable rights in
that department. With the help of the secondary legislation, it is also important to prove that
veto power is an absolute power and this is owed to the secondary legislation. This is not a
7 Ramey, Adam. "Vox populi, vox dei? Crowdsourced ideal point estimation." The Journal of
Politics 78.1 (2016): 281-295.