Assess the strengths of the U.K. Constitution Exam Questions with Verified Answers

Strengths - ANSWER--Flexibility -Democratic Rule -Effective Government -History and tradition Flexibility (Chief strength) - ANSWER-Due to the UK's uncodified nature, statute law is supreme meaning the simple process of an Act of parliament can change the constitution. This means that the UK constitution is changeable and can easily remain up-to-date. Thus, it can effectively adapt to changing social and political circumstances and not be held back by a rigid codified constitution. (e.g. Marriage (same sex couples) Act 2013- able to be passed with relative ease). Another example includes the Dunblane tragedy (1996), in response to this the government introduced the firearms Acts of 1996& 1997 that banned all private ownership of all cartridge ammunition and hand guns. The flexibly of the UK constitution enabled the government to act quickly and efficiently in dealing with the issue. It is important to note that the UK constitution's praised flexibility is only apparent due the the uncodified nature of the constitution. The Scotland and Wales Acts (1998) that established the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly were introduced as a result of the rising nationalism. Democratic Rule - ANSWER-The long period of unbroken democratic rule in the UK is seen as evidence of its constitution's strength. Unbroken democratic rule in the UK is also credited to the importance of parliamentary sovereignty- this doctrine makes government relatively accountable and therefore ensures it acts responsibly. Moreover, the uncodified nature of the UK constitution means that supreme constitutional authority is ultimately vested in the ELECTED House of Commons, keeping the influence of unelected judges (and the HoL) to a minimum. Therefore, constitutional changes have come about as a result of democratic pressure e.g. devolution in Scotland and Wales as a result of rising nationalism and the reduction of powers of the HoL through Acts of parliament during the 20th century due to the growing belief that an unelected second chamber should no longer have the right to block the policies of elected governments. The UK's two party system means that the consequences of ignoring the people can be profound when it comes to election time (e.g. Labour failed to get even a simple majority during the 2010 general election under Brown due to the recession the previous year). Effective Government - ANSWER-With NO authoritative document constituting higher law, government decisions that are backed by parliament cannot be overturned by the Judiciary. Thus, UK government is able to take strong and decisive action to meet the changing needs of its citizens. Furthermore, the principle of PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT seeing the fusion of the executive and legislature branches of