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AQA AS Politics GovP2 09/06/16 Official Thread

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Reply 80
For the Core Executive, what comparisons can be made between Prime ministerial and presidential systems

I'm sure it hasn't come up yet so there's a high chance it will be a 5 or 10 marker.
Reply 81
Does anyone have an essay plan on ' the sources of the constitution give it both flexibility and stability'
Reply 82
Original post by BirdIsWord
How? xD
I may be wrong but I am certain that through using say standing committees you can scrutinise the government, the mp could then go to the House of Commons and raise these concerns, surely that is representing people as the House of Commons will be informed about the issues in society or constituencies, then actions could be taken, as you can pass private member bills to. I`m sorry if this is not helpful. If you do find anything that answers your question directly, please let me know. Also which exam board are you for politics?
Difference between early day motions and private members bills???? Anyone
Original post by _polticsstudent
What are the impacts of the human rights act and the European court of human rights upon the British political system?


For Constitution, it's almost certain it's constitutions turn haha, we only had a constitution question in 2014

For parliament- Maybe discuss the extent parliament is dominated by government

For -Party discipline- Mps are bound to party in search of promotions
Against- however, the select committees are members from the government who openly scrutinise government policy, e.g Home affairs committee/ HS2 but select committees have party majority in them so party loyalty is inevitable
For- PM can use patronage to his advantage- House of Lords full of Conservative peers even though 92 hereditary peers were stripped of the house in 1999
Against- House of Lords openly scrutinize the chamber, their lack of party majority and composition of cross benchers provides balance and effective constraint of government's power- blocking bills- tax credit cuts 2016

Overall, parliamentary sovereignty has been undermined through devolution and membership of the EU, the recent rise of SNP raises the West Lothian question - government is less dominative with two strong opposition parties in the house of commons
what is good example of common law?
Original post by Sademajek
what mark would you give this?
The British constitution has become increasinglycodified, discuss. A constitution is a set of rules that defines themanner a country is run. The British constitution is said to be an unwrittenconstitution, more accurately it is uncodified as much more of the British constitution is written down, however, theyare not all written down in a single document like a codified constitutionwould require as how the US is, however draws from several different sourcessuch as; statutes laws, common law, conventions, EU laws, authoritativedocuments etc. Statute law, is a written law passed down by parliament forexample the human rights act of 1998 which brought the European convention onhuman rights into British law, conventions is another source of the Britishconstitution, they are unwritten laws considered binding on members of thepolitical community for example the Salisbury convention which made sure thatthe house of lords does not obstruct proposals contained in the governmentsmost recent manifesto. Has the British constitution become increasinglycodified? Its not the case that the British constitution is being written in asingle document but in fact that more of the constitution is being written downas there is increasingly more written statutes that have great constitutionalimpacts as they are passed by parliament making them more rigid therefore harder to change as parliament has ultimatesovereignty, however you could say the EU laws are exempt from this, thesignificant examples of statute law with great constitutional impacts are suchas the TheHuman Rights Act [1998]which was put inplace under Tony Blair, the Human Rights Act enshrined into constitutional lawbasic human rights that appear as articles of the European Convention of HumanRights, However does allow for changes to be made by the government to theseterms. The Act's terms include: Article 2 (Right to Life), a citizen's right tolife is protected by law. No citizen can be deprived of their lifeintentionally, except in the case of serving a criminal sentence. Article6 (Fair Trial), all citizens are to be tried fairly and equally in a court oflaw, and are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Article12 (Marriage and Family), all men and women have the right to marry and start afamily. Anotherexample that could be used is Devolution for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as much of it hasthe character of fundamental law, it has limited the powers of Westminster itcontributes to the case that the British constitution has becomemore codified in the sense that it is more rigid and hard to change because itis derived through referendums, defying this means that the government is againstthe wish of the people. Another statute that supports that indeed theBritish constitution is becoming more codified is the 2005 constitutionalreform act which separate the judiciary form the executive and legislature bycreating a supreme court court which more adopts the idea of separate powersmostly found n codified constitutions like the US for example , it also tookover the judicial work of the house of lords, establishing the judicialappointments commission. The prospect of a coalition government in 2010 opensup the discussion even more as it led to the coalition agreement for stabilityand reform and called for constitutional clarification by the cabinet secretary,which demonstrates that indeed the constitution is becoming more codified asthere was a need for ‘clarification’ which without a doubt a codifiedconstitution does establish. Authoritative documentation has undoubtedlybeen imbedded into the constitution for example the ministerial code firstpublished as questions of procedure for ministers in 1992, and now as a set of‘rules’ for ministers. The cabinet manual also demonstrates hugely the changeof the British constitutions as traditions are being replaced as it set out howthe government and civil service relate to the monarchy, devolvedadministrations and international institutions such as the EU. In conclusion there is no doubt that theBritish constitution is becoming more codified not in the sense that everythingis written down on piece of authoritative document making it highly entrenchedbut in the sense that there is a growing body of codified statute la, that aremaking the constitution more rigid, however it is still a far cry from a completecodified constitution as laws and be flexibly changed by the sovereignty ofparliament just needing a majority.


Hurts to look at this. Can you divide it into paragraphs?
Original post by Sademajek
what is good example of common law?


The right to remain silent and the right for home owners to tackle intruders
Original post by Shsjsk
Does anyone have an essay plan on ' the sources of the constitution give it both flexibility and stability'


I would go through each source of the constitution so I would do European Law, statute, common, authorative works and conventions

European law- give it stability, established law that is accepted by 27 other member states.. Factortame case 1991 established its authority over statute law

Statute law- laws made through parliament with royal assent, e.g devolution acts, parliament acts 1911& 1949- HRA, it is all stable because it has parliamentary sovereignty however these acts are repealable by governments, for example, the HRA is under threat for the replacement with the bill of rights (we already have bill of rights 1689- created after the glourious revolution,,,,what is cameron doing haha)

Common law- gives the constitution flexibility because its based upon judges rulings who are faced with different court cases each day...e.g James Bulger case 1991 changed the laws on youth imposinment etc- allows the constitution to evolve with the times...but half of common law had the purpose of protecting civil rights but the HRA does that so it becomes irellevant

Authorative works- give constitution clarity, flexibilty in the sense that it allows scholars to clarify parts of the constiution, e.g AV Dicey's rule of law principle of the constution- as society evolves, these works of authority can adapt to the changing society

Conventions- these give the constitution flexibility as they are not written, this means that they can be breached if necessary, HOL breached the salisbury convention on identity card ban (a manifesto pledge) as they thought the govt didn't have a strong mandate- this gives the constitution felxibilty and the people are not always bounded to conventions because breaching it would not be illegal

in conclusion, the Uk's uncodified constituion gives the constituion flexibilty and stability, but the idea of a uncodified constiution helps it keep up with modern times and evolve to protect the people effectively therefore the flexibilty element is key for citizens protections, however without stability, the constiution would suffer abuse, therefore an equal amount of both characteristics should be most sustainable
Original post by sazriah
The right to remain silent and the right for home owners to tackle intruders


Also 1700s- a judge ruled that slavery should be abolished

James Bulger Case 1991- made parliament re-consider the age of when youth offenders are responsible for their crimes
Reply 90
Original post by Warriner4
I would go through each source of the constitution so I would do European Law, statute, common, authorative works and conventions

European law- give it stability, established law that is accepted by 27 other member states.. Factortame case 1991 established its authority over statute law

Statute law- laws made through parliament with royal assent, e.g devolution acts, parliament acts 1911& 1949- HRA, it is all stable because it has parliamentary sovereignty however these acts are repealable by governments, for example, the HRA is under threat for the replacement with the bill of rights (we already have bill of rights 1689- created after the glourious revolution,,,,what is cameron doing haha)

Common law- gives the constitution flexibility because its based upon judges rulings who are faced with different court cases each day...e.g James Bulger case 1991 changed the laws on youth imposinment etc- allows the constitution to evolve with the times...but half of common law had the purpose of protecting civil rights but the HRA does that so it becomes irellevant

Authorative works- give constitution clarity, flexibilty in the sense that it allows scholars to clarify parts of the constiution, e.g AV Dicey's rule of law principle of the constution- as society evolves, these works of authority can adapt to the changing society

Conventions- these give the constitution flexibility as they are not written, this means that they can be breached if necessary, HOL breached the salisbury convention on identity card ban (a manifesto pledge) as they thought the govt didn't have a strong mandate- this gives the constitution felxibilty and the people are not always bounded to conventions because breaching it would not be illegal

in conclusion, the Uk's uncodified constituion gives the constituion flexibilty and stability, but the idea of a uncodified constiution helps it keep up with modern times and evolve to protect the people effectively therefore the flexibilty element is key for citizens protections, however without stability, the constiution would suffer abuse, therefore an equal amount of both characteristics should be most sustainable



Thank you!!
[QUOTE="LowkeyLogical;65566187"]
Original post by LenniesRabbit
House of Commons scrutiny device -
Select Committees
Backbenchers /Private members bills
PMQ
Legislative Process

HO Lords
Legislative Process
Delays/Veto of bills
Debate

Thankss, what is the definition of private members bills and how does it scrutinise government?


Ooops, sorry this isn't an example of scrutiny, I don't know why I put that there ignore it!
It's a way that backbenchers can influence the legislative process. Each year time is set aside for them to introduce their own bills.

Definition: "A private member's bill (PMB) in the Parliament of the United Kingdom is a type of public bill that can be introduced by either members of the House of Commons or House of Lords who are not Ministers. Less parliamentary time is given to such bills and as a result only a minority of PMB's actually become law."

Example of PMB introduced by backbenchers e.g. abolishment of capital punishment and divorce laws. Only a few are actually listened to though and most are rejected e.g. Fox Hunting Ban.

Not to do with scrutiny but it's important to know.
Original post by BirdIsWord
Hurts to look at this. Can you divide it into paragraphs?


ok ,
A constitution is a set of rules that defines themanner a country is run. The British constitution is said to be an unwrittenconstitution, more accurately it is uncodified as much more of the British constitution is written down, however, theyare not all written down in a single document like a codified constitutionwould require as how the US is, however draws from several different sourcessuch as; statutes laws, common law, conventions, EU laws, authoritativedocuments etc. Statute law, is a written law passed down by parliament forexample the human rights act of 1998 which brought the European convention onhuman rights into British law, conventions is another source of the Britishconstitution, they are unwritten laws considered binding on members of thepolitical community for example the Salisbury convention which made sure thatthe house of lords does not obstruct proposals contained in the governments most recent manifesto.

Has the British constitution become increasinglycodified? Its not the case that the British constitution is being written in asingle document but in fact that more of the constitution is being written downas there is increasingly more written statutes that have great constitutionalimpacts as they are passed by parliament making them more rigid therefore harder to change as parliament has ultimatesovereignty, however you could say the EU laws are exempt from this, thesignificant examples of statute law with great constitutional impacts are suchas the TheHuman Rights Act [1998]which was put inplace under Tony Blair, the Human Rights Act enshrined into constitutional lawbasic human rights that appear as articles of the European Convention of HumanRights, However does allow for changes to be made by the government to theseterms. The Act's terms include: Article 2 (Right to Life), a citizen's right tolife is protected by law. No citizen can be deprived of their lifeintentionally, except in the case of serving a criminal sentence. Article6 (Fair Trial), all citizens are to be tried fairly and equally in a court oflaw, and are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Article12 (Marriage and Family), all men and women have the right to marry and start afamily. Anotherexample that could be used is Devolution for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as much of it hasthe character of fundamental law, it has limited the powers of Westminster itcontributes to the case that the British constitution has becomemore codified in the sense that it is more rigid and hard to change because itis derived through referendums, defying this means that the government is againstthe wish of the people.

Another statute that supports that indeed theBritish constitution is becoming more codified is the 2005 constitutionalreform act which separate the judiciary form the executive and legislature bycreating a supreme court court which more adopts the idea of separate powersmostly found n codified constitutions like the US for example , it also tookover the judicial work of the house of lords, establishing the judicial appointments commission. The prospect of a coalition government in 2010 opens up the discussion even more as it led to the coalition agreement for stability and reform and called for constitutional clarification by the cabinet secretary,which demonstrates that indeed the constitution is becoming more codified asthere was a need for ‘clarification’ which without a doubt a codified constitution does establish.

Authoritative documentation has undoubtedly been imbedded into the constitution for example theministerial code first published as questions of procedure for ministers in1992, and now as a set of ‘rules’ for ministers. The cabinet manual alsodemonstrates hugely the change of the British constitutions as traditions arebeing replaced as it set out how the government and civil service relate to themonarchy, devolved administrations and international institutions such as theEU.

In conclusion there is no doubt that theBritish constitution is becoming more codified not in the sense that everythingis written down on piece of authoritative document making it highly entrenchedbut in the sense that there is a growing body of codified statute la, that aremaking the constitution more rigid, however it is still a far cry from a completecodified constitution as laws and be flexibly changed by the sovereignty ofparliament just needing a majority.
Original post by Shsjsk
Thank you!!


Is it okay to follow?
Also what are the differences between public bills committees and select committees?
could someone please answer this question

Using your own knowledge as well as the extract, identify and explain reasons why judgesmay have been accused of being ‘driven by a human rights agenda
Reply 96
Original post by Warriner4
Is it okay to follow?


Yeah it the question makes sense now :smile:
Original post by Jamesk123
Also what are the differences between public bills committees and select committees?


I think that public bill committees are the committees solely involved in the legislative process, and it could also be the Committee of the whole house who scrutinise the legislation then it's reported back to the house.
Select committees are involved with post legislative scrutiny so that's I think how they differ. Also the reason that public bills are only concerning the whole country not specific groups but then select committees look at all types of bills, private members and hybrid bills.

I think that's it. My guess haha


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Anyone else not revised enough and anything they have revised, they don't understand????? Please someone relate xD I'm panicking, don't know any government :frown:
I haven't done much revision either! I've found doing past papers with notes is a good way of getting some last min revision in.

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