My Lords, the government has a major record of constitutional reform. Since 1997 we have created a Scottish Parliament and Assemblies for Wales and Northern Ireland. We have enacted the first House of Lords Act, the Human Rights Act, and the Freedom of Information Act. We have given the Bank of England independence in the setting of interest rates. Last week the Deputy Prime Minister set out our plans to allow the creation of Regional Assemblies in those regions of England that vote for them. We have enhanced the role of the select committees - including my Right Honourable Friend's announcement that he will be the first Prime Minister ever to appear before the Liaison Committee. And we are modernising the working practices of both Chambers. Taken together, this is the most substantial programme of constitutional reform for over a century and will stand as one of this government's historic achievements.
House of Lords Reform: Next Steps
Oral Statement by the Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine of Lairg 13 May 2002
The United
Kingdom is defined by the Encyclopaedia Britannica as
"a constitutional
monarchy
and a parliamentary
democracy."
What follows will
help
you to have a better understanding of the concepts behind the words
by means of
explanations
and examples.
Let us first
examine
the term "constitutional".
In many countries, this refers to a fully written corpus of articles called "constitution" that defines the basic rules along which the nation is organised - by way of an example click here to see the US Constitution.
In those circumstances, what does "constitutional" refer to?
It is common practice to define constitutionalism along the following series of basic features :
Now, the country's organisation draws upon three major sources for its legal framework :i.Procedural stability; citizens must be able to know how the rules of the game change.
ii.Accountability; the process through which those in charge are responsible for their acts.
iii.Representation;those in charge express the views of the ones they represent and act accordingly.
iv.Division of power; a necessity to prevent arbitrary decisions made without a control.
v.Openness and disclosure; letting people know about the past and current businesses together with the prospects affecting them.
vi.Constitutionality; a respect of the rules, inherited out of customs or developed through a well established process.
vii.Constitutional change; change requires provisions made for adapting the system to evolving needs, which in turn will ensure the constitution's longevity.
viii.Constitutional stability; too much or too frequent change may result in nobody knowing what the rule is, but no change at all can create a damaging rigidity that blocks evolution.Every feature above is part of the British organisation of public life as you will be able to see for yourself from this page.
One should nevertheless note that European regulations and decisions increasingly constraint the margin left to British institutions. .
The
UK is also a
Monarchy.
The reigning
monarch
is permanent head of state.
He or she is also the
Head
of the Church
of England
and of the Commonwealth
of Nations inherited from the British Empire.
The title is hereditary.
For more click here
Far from being absolute, royal powers are basically formal and honorific.
The monarch
retains
the power to appoint Prime Ministers for example,
but uses will have
it that the leader of the party
that wins general
elections is systematically appointed.
More, the right to
veto
legislative acts
has not been
exercised since the early 18th century.
The British Parliament
Legislative Acts (or Statutory law) are the result of the Parliamentary process.
Parliament
consists
of the monarch and two chambers,
namely the House
of Commons and the House
of Lords.
Historically the House
of Lords came first
and consisted of Lords
Spirituals ( Bishops) and herediatry peers.
In the course of
time,
the power of
the upper house was reduced (1911 Act & 1949 Act).
Its composition
was also altered.
The latest makor changes
are the introduction of Life peers in1958
and a drastic reduction
in the proportion of the hereditaries
from over 1,000 down
to 92 (House of Lords Act 1999)
Its role is also under review
and the government has plans
to severe the existing link between the executive and the judiciary,
which would result in reduced powers for the House of Lords (Law Lords).
See
White Paper
The lower house
- the
democratically elected House
of Commons -
has drawn upon its
democratic
legitimacy to increase its influence
and gather exclusive
powers in matters of taxation and finance.
After general
elections,
its political
composition
also determines whom
the monarch will
appoint
as the Prime
Minister.
We've seen that the influence of the monarch is now severely limited.
The very existence
of
a House of Lords is being questioned
and softer voices are
calling for a democratically elected second chamber.
Nevertheless, the democratic
process currently provides the country
with a chief of
the executive drawn from the ballot-box.
The UK is divided
into
659 constituencies,
each constituency
sends
a Member of Parliament (or MP )
to the Commons in
Westminster
(London).
The system
is
homogeneous throughout the country.
It is known as "first
past the post"
i.e. the
candidates
with the higher score wins the constituency.
General
elections are usually held at five years' intervals.
Parliament
controls the action of the government
(referred to as The
Cabinet)
through a series of
votes on such important issues as the budget.
Parliament also revises
and produces legislation
through amendments
and new laws as we shall see in
Section
2.
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