Understanding the UK Parliamentary System and Constitutional Reforms

This study material from Desklib provides a detailed understanding of the UK Parliamentary System, Constitutional Reforms, and the role of the judiciary. It covers topics such as the process of passing bills, the importance of vox populi, the European Convention of Human Rights, and the Constitutional Reform Act. The content also discusses the role of the House of Lords, the Privy Council, and the Supreme Court in the UK's constitutional framework.

Running head: PUBLIC LAW
PUBLIC LAW
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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.

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constitutional reform as the peers as well as the judiciary has always voted against the powers
of the constitution8.
Question 3
The European Convention of Human Rights ensures that the bills that are passed by
the Parliament need to uphold the principles of the Constitution and that they should not
hamper the basic principles and the impacts of the Constitution9. The Supreme Court came in
action later and all the bills that were passed were done so by the Scottish Parliament10. The
Privy Council later came to be known as the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council had the authority to check the competence of any
bills and pending its decisions, no approval could be granted. The Constitutional Reforms Act
was passed in the year 2005 and its role was to wider the applicability of the higher courts
that were already present in the United Kingdom11. The senior judges who were presiding in
the Courts had the power to evaluate and analyze the impact of the Convention and also
check if the new laws passed were violating the previously held principles. This shows that
the role of the judiciary as well as the different arms of the Government is enhancing. The
entire judicial system changed post the passing of the Constitutional Reform Act and the
entire restricting took place of the role played by Lord Chancellor. The fundamentals of the
8 Bater, Kristin L., et al. "A dual approach to understanding facial perception before and after
blepharoplasty." JAMA facial plastic surgery 20.1 (2018): 43-49.
9 Long, Robert, Paul Bolton, and Andrew Mackley. "House of Commons Library: Debate Pack:
Number CDP-2017-0100, 27 March 2017: Schools funding in London." (2017).
10 Pattie, Charles, Todd Hartman, and Ron Johnston. "Incumbent parties, incumbent MPs and the
effectiveness of constituency campaigns: Evidence from the 2015 UK general election." The British
Journal of Politics and International Relations 19.4 (2017): 824-841.
11 Crouch, Colin. "Can there be a normative theory of corporate political power?." Complex
Democracy. Springer, Cham, 2015. 117-131.

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Constitution are to maintain a status quo regarding the appointment of the ministry and also
the role played by the Crown. In the year of 2003, there was a sudden cabinet reshuffling that
took place, as a result of which the Office held by the Lord then, Lord Chancellor was
abolished and in its place came the establishment of the Supreme Court. This was an abrupt
reshuffling and was also done without any due regard of the legal status that the Lord
Chancellor was holding12. The judiciary did not take any participation in the decision making
and also the Government was not consulted in the entire process of making the decision
where the Lord's position was done away with. The treatment that the new reform got was
overwhelming as the Lords came in support claiming that the Constitution was of the highest
authority and that in cases when the document will not help in clearing ambiguities, the
doubts will be cleared by referring to the Concordat.
There was a significant development in the role that was played by the Lord
Chancellor and then it shifted to the realm of the Supreme court and the similar roles were
played by the Chief Justice of England and Wales. The purpose of the Constitutional Reform
Act along with the Concordat was therefore essential as it talked about the roles that the
leaders were playing13. The biggest criticism that was received by the reshuffling was the fact
that Lord Chancellor had his seating changed and though he sat at the Head of the Judiciary,
he had the powers to work as the Chairman and also had the authority to work as the head of
the arrangement14. Therefore, there was a dissolution of the interdependence that the judiciary
12 Foreman-Peck, James, and Leslie Hannah. "UK corporate law and corporate governance
before 1914: a re-interpretation." (2015).
13 Kellermann, Michael. "Electoral vulnerability, constituency focus, and parliamentary questions in the
House of Commons." The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 18.1 (2016): 90-106.
14 Blagden, David. "Global multipolarity, European security and implications for UK grand
strategy: back to the future, once again." International Affairs 91.2 (2015): 333-350.

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felt and became essentially important to consider that the House of Lords also had the power
and the authority to raise issues concerning the violation of Human rights15.
The Court that has been set up needs adjustment and also has to accommodate the
changes that have taken place with regards to the incorporation of the judiciary and the
legislative. The Constitutionality of the Act has been questioned but the setting up of the new
court will check if a law has violated any law passed by them. The Department for
Constitutional Affairs will look after the actions and see what is the new recommendation
that is essential16. The statute is important as it will change the roles of responsibility and it
will thus offer more resources to the legislative system.
15 McGuinness, Feargal, and Jennifer Brown. "House of Commons Library: Research Paper: Number
7119, 12 July 2017: Understanding statistics on employment, unemployment and earnings." (2017).
16 Kellermann, Michael. "Electoral vulnerability, constituency focus, and parliamentary questions in the
House of Commons." The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 18.1 (2016): 90-106.

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Reference:
Ayres, Sarah, Matthew Flinders, and Mark Sandford. "Territory, power and statecraft:
understanding English devolution." Regional Studies 52.6 (2018): 853-864.
Bater, Kristin L., et al. "A dual approach to understanding facial perception before and after
blepharoplasty." JAMA facial plastic surgery 20.1 (2018): 43-49.
Blagden, David. "Global multipolarity, European security and implications for UK grand
strategy: back to the future, once again." International Affairs 91.2 (2015): 333-350.
Boyle, Katie, and Edel Hughes. "Identifying routes to remedy for violations of economic,
social and cultural rights." The International Journal of Human Rights 22.1 (2018): 43-69.
Cane, Peter. Controlling Administrative Power: An Historical Comparison. Cambridge
University Press, 2016.
Crouch, Colin. "Can there be a normative theory of corporate political power?." Complex
Democracy. Springer, Cham, 2015. 117-131.
Foreman-Peck, James, and Leslie Hannah. "UK corporate law and corporate governance
before 1914: a re-interpretation." (2015).
Gee, Graham, and Alison L. Young. "Regaining Sovereignty? Brexit, the UK Parliament and
the Common Law." European Public Law 22.1 (2016): 131-147.
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.
Gordon, Michael. Parliamentary sovereignty in the UK constitution: Process, politics and
democracy. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.

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Gordon, Michael. Parliamentary sovereignty in the UK constitution: Process, politics and
democracy. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.
Hayton, Richard. "The UK independence party and the politics of englishness." Political
Studies Review 14.3 (2016): 400-410.
Heywood, Andrew. Essentials of UK politics. Macmillan International Higher Education,
2015.
MacKinnon, Danny. "Devolution, state restructuring and policy divergence in the UK." The
Geographical Journal 181.1 (2015): 47-56.
Nazir, Mudassir, Tauseef Ahmad, and Mohammad Aman Khan Afghani. "Separation of
Power: A Comparative Analysis." (2018).
Ramey, Adam. "Vox populi, vox dei? Crowdsourced ideal point estimation." The Journal of
Politics 78.1 (2016): 281-295.
Robertson, Jamie. "5th Report, 2015 (Session 4): Legislative Consent Memorandum on the
UK Welfare Reform and Work Bill (LCM (S4) 38.1)." (2015).
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.
Sutherland, Keith, Ernest Callenbach, and Michael Phillips. A People's Parliament/A Citizen
Legislature. Vol. 2. Andrews UK Limited, 2015.

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