Constitutional Reforms

Question 1

what was the HoL reform Act 1999?

Answer 1

• ended hereditary right to be a lord
• kept 92
• appointed life peers who were appointed on merit
• stage 2 was wholly elected HoL

Question 2

give examples of life peers?

Answer 2

• Lord sugar (business)
• Lord Coe (sport)
• Lord Lloyd-Webber (culture)

Question 3

give 3 problems solved by the HoL reform Act 1999

Answer 3

• removed conservative bias of house
• more representative as wider range of people - more minorities, more women, more religious
• more expertise - more legitimate house

Question 4

in 2018, what is the makeup of the Lords?

Answer 4

244 conservative
187 Labour
181 cross-bench

Question 5

why is the lords now more democratic ?

Answer 5

• represents wider range of society

- if PM just appointed friends would reduce legitimacy of govt

Question 6

give 3 ways in which HoL reform Act 1999 didn’t go far enough

Answer 6

• HoC remains superior to HoL
• failure to go through with stage 2 - HoL would have more power and reduced power of PM - could claim legitimacy
• 24 bishops + 2 archbishops - not representing other religions - we are multicultural country

Question 7

why do commons remain superior to lords?

Answer 7

they are elected - more legitimacy

Question 8

what problems did the HoL reform Act 1999 create?

Answer 8

• ultimately gave more power to PM - had control of every branch
• gained more lords legitimacy so more likely to challenge govt - more bellicose
• increasing in size still - nearly 1000 today

Question 9

What is an example of the Lords challenging the govt?

Answer 9

• terrorism act, reduced it from 90 - 28 day detention

Question 10

What was devolution in 1998?

Answer 10

• transfer of power from central govt to region - Scot & Wales
• Scotland gets tax varying powers +-3% of UK +primary legislative power
• Wales got secondary legislative power

Question 11

What problems did devolution in 1998 solve?

Answer 11

• pleased strong Scottish movement in Scotland
• differing needs for different areas - decentralisation - more power closer to the people
• reducing calls for independence/ decreasing risk of UK breakup

Question 12

why was nationalist movement in scotland pleased with devolution ?

Answer 12

• 19 yrs of tory rule who they hadn’t voted for - thatcher era
• generally voted labour
• Poll tax - thatcher tested on Scots 1yr before England

Question 13

in what ways was devolution in 1998 not successful?

Answer 13

• Scottish independence referendum 2014
• limited powers to both bodies (only have devolved powers)
• wales had different settlement to Scotland
• UK law remains supreme

Question 14

what problems did devolution create?

Answer 14

potentially further devolution
slows down decision making
increased costs and bureaucracy

Question 15

give examples of further devolution

Answer 15

2011 Wales - primary legislative powers

2014 - scottish independence referendum

Question 16

what was the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011?

Answer 16

• elections happen every 5 years on a fixed date

- unless 2/3 MPs vote for one

Question 17

in what ways was Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011 successful?

Answer 17

• prevented elections being called based on popularity - fairer, more democratic
• reduces power of govt, particularly PM

Question 18

in what ways was Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011 not successful?

Answer 18

• didn’t prevent snap election in 2017
• 5 years is actually quite long - shorter terms would have provided more accountability
• govt saving popular policies until the end to gain popularity

Question 19

What was the Human Rights Act 1998?

Answer 19

• codified fundemental rights for everyone in the UK

- comes from ECHR

Question 20

in what ways was the Human Rights Act successful?

Answer 20

• protected rights better e.g. right to life, not be tortured, guarantee of fair trial etc…
• limits power of govt. , can no longer just ignore rights
• more power for judges who now have one document to interpret

Question 21

in what ways was the Human Rights Act not successful?

Answer 21

• not well enough protected as no parliament is binding on any other
• potentially prioritises the rights of the few over the rights of the many
• far more challenges to govt. - rights based culture - people are far more willing to challenge + sue people

Question 22

What was the Constitutional reform Act 2005?

Answer 22

• reduced power of Lord Chancellor
• created UK supreme court - opens 1 oct 2009
• set up the Judicial appointments committe (JAC) - independent body to appoint judges

Question 23

How was the Constitutional reform Act 2005 successful?

Answer 23

• reduced role of Lord Chancellor - used to be in all 3 branches of govt.
• limits the executive/legislature branch of govt. by holding them accountable
• limits power of PM who can no longer have a role appointing justices

Question 24

give an example of judiciary holding govt to account?

Answer 24

ginna miller

Question 25

How was the Constitutional reform Act 2005 unsuccessful?

Answer 25

- supreme court is not sovereign - only limited ways in which it could have gone further - unelected judges with far more power than they used to have

Question 26

What was the electoral reform 2011?

Answer 26

-referendum to change electoral system in UK to AV voting instead of First Past the Post

Question 27

What were the results of the 2011 AV referendum?

Answer 27

- 42% turnout | - 67%/33% NO vote

Question 28

What are the problems of FPTP?

Answer 28

- governments are elected on a minority of the votes cast in a general election - leads to a lot of wasted votes - those who vote green and UKIP - leads to many people voting tactically - some votes have more value than others

Question 29

What is an example of a government winning with the minority of the votes and what is it called?

Answer 29

- 2005, Labour won with 35.2% of the vote | - tyranny of the minority

Question 30

What were the stats for voting with UKIP and SNP in 2015?

Answer 30

- UKIP 13% of vote - 1 seat | - SNP 5% of vote - 56 seats

Question 31

What problems were created by the AV referendum?

Answer 31

- only one option of electoral reform offered - made govt think don't want electoral reform - perhaps don't want AV - really low turnout - lack of education/political apathy