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Summary UK Government (notes/essay plans)
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Notes on all topics in UK Government for Edexcel A-Level Politics, including essay plans
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Unit 2UK Government
,The Constitution
Constitution: The set of political principles by which a state is governed, especially in the rights
of the people it governs.
Constitutional convention: Unwritten rule which is considered binding even though it is not
law.
Codified: Contained in a single document, created at a single moment in time and constitutional
laws are clearly separated from other non-constitutional laws.
Uncodified: A constitution that is made up of rules what are found in a variety of sources in the
absence of a single document.
Unitary constitution: A constitution that concentrates sovereign power in a single body.
Federal constitution: A constitution that is based on the principle of shared sovereignty,
autonomous levels of both national and regional government.
Entrenchment: Something that is firmly established and difficult or unlikely to change.
Unentrenched Something not firmly ingrained and therefore easier to change according to
circumstances.
Devolution: The decentralisation of governmental power.
Quasi-federal: A division of powers between central and regional government that has some
features of federalism without a formal federal structure.
Human Rights Act (1998): Incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law
Referendum: A general vote by the electorate on a single political question that has been
referred to them for a direct decision.
Sovereignty: Autonomy and authority
Unitary constitution: A constitution in which the power is concentrated in the form of a central
government which has ultimate power and authority over its jurisdiction.
Federal constitution: The distribution of power is divided between a central government and
other smaller governments.
,Main sources of the UK Constitution
- Statutes
- Conventions
- Historical principles authoritative writings
- Common Law
- Tradition
Principles of the Constitution
- Parliamentary sovereignty
- Constitutional monarchy
- Parliamentary government
- Rule of law
Constitutional reform
Democratisation
- Too much of the British political system has been undemocratic
- Examples: the House of Lords and the FPTP electoral system
- Further attempts have been made to make the House of Commons more democratic
Decentralisation
- Addressing the problem of a centralisation of Westminster political power
- Example: Devolved powers to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
- Regional and city autonomy: elected mayors and police commissioners
- Example: Manchester granted devolved powers over health and social care (2016)
Stronger protection of rights
- During the 1980s, Labour had criticised a Conservative government for eroding the
rights of citizens
- Example: New Labour incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into UK
law (1998)
- Example: Freedom of Information Act (2000) was designed to create open and
accountable government
, Modernisation
- The UK constitution has become more aligned with other Western democracies
- Example: Fixed Term Parliament Act (2011)
- Referendums have become more common in line with EU practice
- However, the Lords remains unelected, FPTP is still the electoral system in use, and the
constitution is still uncodified.
Parliamentary reform (House of Lords)
- New Labour initially aimed to reform the House of Lords through the removal of
hereditary peers to be replaced with elected peers.
- A compromise was reached: House of Lords Act (1999)
Parliamentary reform (House of Commons)
- Departmental select committees (2004): The chairs of the committees given an
additional salary, and by 2010 they were elected by secret ballot.
- Backbench Business Committee: gave MPs control of over 20 parliamentary days to
debate issues of their choosing. This slightly increased the role and influence of
backbench MPs.
Human Rights reform
- Labour government passed the Human Rights Act (1998)
- Incorporated the ECHR into UK law
- Binding on all public bodies, including government
- All UK courts must enforce the Act wherever relevant in any case
Electoral reform
- Postal voting and online voting
- Proportional representation systems in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
- In 2011, AV electoral system was not endorsed in a referendum
- 1969, those entitled to vote was lowered from 21 to 18
- 2014 Scottish Independence referendum saw the inclusion of 16 year olds entitled to
vote
Judicial reform
- Constitutional Reform Act (2005): Separation of judiciary and government through the
removal of the role of Lord Chancellor, appointment of senior judges, supreme court
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