Help with Politics 40 mark question please!!

Question: To what extent have constitutional reforms since 1997 reduced the powers of UK governments?

My 3 main points are:
Devolution
Human Rights Act
Lords Reform

Could someone help me out please?

Question: To what extent have constitutional reforms since 1997 reduced the powers of UK governments?

My 3 main points are:
Devolution
Human Rights Act
Lords Reform

Could someone help me out please?

Constitutional reforms:
Judiciary - independent branch (reform act (2005) can interpret, actively create common law and case law - reducing power of government to propose legislation.
Judiciary review - can hold government accountable for decisions made.
Devolution - devolved power - power to Scottish and Welsh assembly / acts 1997-1999 / however Scotland reform for independence 2013- has it gone too far? Government power decreased, however Ireland still have some decisions made at Westminster.

House of Lords reform - ( Blair who is drawn from government reduced seats in 1999 from 666 to 92) enhancing power of government? Reducing parliament / appointed members of parliament.
U.K. Government still suggest and propose legislation and arguably ratify once in parliament. Government is drawn from parliament ( parliamentary government/ fused powers)

How has house of lords reform weakened government? Its weakened parliament but I don't see how a reduction of a body who scrutinises the Government has made them weaker :/


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Arguably it has, at least the executive branch, because the removal of the hereditary peers (excepting 92 Conservative peers who were permitted to remain) means that the Conservative government is much less able to force its proposals through the Lords. We've seen this with recent government defeats in the Commons, including the one on tax credits in October 2015. This makes it less able to pass highly controversial legislation and ignore significant opposition.

Full House of Lords reform (making the Lords wholly or partly elected) would weaken the Conservatives even further. The Coalition did propose elected Lords with 7-year terms, but that plan fell through.

So, here's an essay structure for this:
Intro) There are four ways in which the UK's constitution has been reformed since 1997:

1. Democratisation
(a) House of Lords Reform
(b) Introduction of proportional electoral systems, e.g. regional party lists in Europe, AMS in Scotland, etc- compare these to FPTP, which overly exaggerates the majority- include stats on 2015 election, state how FPTP is also the *main* electoral system for the UK as its used in Westminster.

2. Decentralisation
(a) Devolution via Scotland Act (1998) and Wales Act (1998)- decentralisaed power from Westminster and provided people within different regions with more of a voice.
(b) There have also been Mayoral Elections for local areas- a recent one coming up is a vote for the Mayor of London, between Sadiq Khan and Zac Goldsmith (chuck in a current affair)
(c) Then; however, these devolved bodies do not necessarily hold much of a say in foreign affairs or major economic policies, for example.

3. Restoration of Rights
(a) Introduction of the Human Rights Act (1998)- a written set of rights available for citizens, rather than what was present previously (residual rights existed previously, all were based on common law and went by the following; "If it is not permitted, then it is prohibited." = rights of citizens are now more safeguarded.
(b) However; Cameron recently tried to "scrap" the HRA and replace it with a British Bill of Rights, which illustrates how the govt. still holds power in the fact that they can bring alternatives to a HUMAN RIGHT.
(c) Although, you still have the Freedom of Information Act (2000), which provides citizens with access to official government documents and thus, holding them to account easily.

4. Modernisation
(a) The use of referendums is very frequent now- they take place at times of major constitutional reform- e.g. devolution, Scottish Independence (2014), and recently, the approaching EU Referendum (2016). Referendums take away from govt. power as they take away from parliamentary sovereignty and shift to popular sovereignty in the hands of the people (which also increases democratic legitimacy)
(b)- However, the govt. can decide WHEN these referendums occur- they may choose times which favour their choice in the referendum.

(Conclusion: Balance up your points and come to an overall conclusion on whether govt. power has been reduced significantly or not since these 1997 constitutional reforms)

(NB: don't say too much on electoral systems and- only a few points on this as you don't want to include too much of Unit 1)

hope this helped