The Student Room Group

Strengths and weaknesses of the UK constitution being flexible?

help please
Strengths:
the govt is able to be strong and decisive in times of crisis (e.g. after 9/11 and 7/7 the govt was able to quickly pass security and defence legislation)
it evolves with the times and attitudes of the era bc nothing is entrenched so is adaptable (like in america it could be argued that the gun laws are out of date)

Weaknesses
Doesn't adequately protect the rights and civil liberties of citizens (e.g. the conservatives wanted to remove european convention of human rights)
following on from that, it could be argued that it creates an all powerful executive (govt) bc there isn't anything to limit their powered the constitution could be abused (e.g. belmarsh case- after 9/11 etc govt could imprison suspected terrorists indefinitely- which actually tuned out to be unlawful, and the govt can't do anymore)
As the constitution is so flexible it constantly needs re-interpretation and clarification by un-elected and unaccountable judges

Hope this helps, I just had a mock on this on friday!

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