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Summary Constitutional reform
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Component 2: Part 1 UK Governments - set of comprehensive notes full with case studies , statistics and facts for the AS & A-Level Politics course.
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Component 2 : Parliament
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CONSTITUTION REFORM SINCE 1997NEW LABOUR:
- The reformed Labour Party
- No longer a left-wing party
- Most centralised approach to politics
- Tony Blair who is Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007
- Gordon Brown succeeded him for three years until 2010
constitutional reforms are a fundamental change the structure of powers of government or between
government and citizens
REASONS FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM UNDER NEW LABOUR:
DEMANDS FOR MODERNISATION:
- Open to demands from pressure groups
- Support from liberal democrats who Blair thought he may have to work with
EXPERIENCE OF CONSERVATIVE RULE:
- Conservative refused to undertake constitutional reforms
- To gain support labour was pro-reform
- Scotland felt ignored by London under conservative rule
LABOUR PARTY FACTFILE:
- Founded in the 20th century
- Generally supported by working classes
- Ramsay MacDonald was the first labour pm
- Led massive reforms post world war two under clement Attlee who attempted to solve the
five problems at the time
- Harold Wilson later legalised homosexuality, abortion, and voting at 18
- They faced 18 years of conservative rule from 1979 to 97
- One of 197 seat majority in 1997 in a landslide majority with tony Blair as the leader
- Tony Blair made many constitutional reforms including:
o Devolution to Scotland and wales
o Good Friday agreement
o London mayor
o Human rights Act
o House of Lords reform
- He lost popularity due to the invasion of Iraq a reluctance to in criticise Israel.
- Gordon brown succeeded him in 2007 -10 before losing to conservative David Cameron
, KEY MOMENTS IN CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY:
1215 Magna Carta
- limited the power of the monarchs, gave women rights to own property, stated war could
be declared on the King if he did not obey the Magna Carta
1689 Bill of Rights
- Establish frequent elections
- Frequent parliaments
- Freedom of speech
- Freedom from government interference
1701 Act of Settlement
- Secured Protestant succession to the throne and strengthened the Bill of Rights
1707 Acts of Union
- Established terms of joining Scotland in England as one entity
1911 and 1949 Parliamentary Acts
- Reacted to David Lloyd George people budget
- Reduce the powers of House of Lords
1972 European Community Act
- Incorporated EU law into UK law
SCOTLAND DEVOLUTION:
- Happened in September 1997
- Held a referendum asking whether there should be a Scottish Parliament
- 60.4% voter turnout
- 73% in favour of Scottish Parliament
- Devolved Scottish Parliament convened for the first time in May 1999
WELSH DEVOLUTION:
- Occurred in May 1997
- There was a small voter turnout with only 956 thousand votes
- 50.2% voted for Welsh devolution
- However no separate branch of government was implemented until 2006 despite the
referendum being in 1997
DEVOLUTION OF NORTHERN IRELAND:
- Good Friday Agreement on the 10th of April 1998
- Peace was established between UK and Ireland
- There would be no borders between Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
- Unionists and nationalists would share power
HUMAN RIGHTS ACT OF 1998:
- Incorporation of EU rights into international law
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