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UK government essay plansEvaluate the view that the case for further english devolution is overdue. PARA 1 - correct
answer-P1 - metro mayors. There are 9 metro mayors and a 1 additional combined
authorities without mayors and one Cornwall 'unitary authority with devolution'. A metro
mayor oversees a combined authority, that is many councils come under this mayor such as
the West of England and is given more powers. Including Greater London, 41% of England's
population (representing 43% of economic output but just 14% of land area) now live in
areas with some form of mayoral devolution deal. asymmetric devolution. London Mayor who
has enormous powers over transport and planning and also has a London Assembly to help
him. These mayors all have budgets and varying degrees of powers over transport, housing,
further education and infrastructure. For example Greater Manchester's mayor, Andy
Burnham doubles up as a police crime commissioner and has control over local transport.
Andy Burnham is calling for 'deep devolution' - argues this will allow areas to flourish.
Greater Manchester does have power over transport, but not the West of England for
example. This is because it follows the principle of subsidiarity and is in line with many
western liberal democracies like Germany. • Subsidiarity is the principle that the best
decisions are the ones that are made locally. The analysis is that this is the only way to 'level
up' - the criticism of Burnham is that the current agenda relies on Westminster and the
Whitehall civil service, that does not understand the north. • Mayors bring energy into an
area, like Steve Rotherham and Andy Burnham.
CA - The counter is that if metro mayors are meant to increase participation and build greater
buy-in then why is turnout so low? WM 2021 - 31% Liverpool city reigon 30%. And the more
you send powers to local areas the more you decrease democratic accountability at the
centre - people will no longer account
Evaluate the view that the case for further english devolution is overdue. PARA 2 - correct
answer-P2 - Another reason why further English devolution is a must is the resentment
devolution to the regions has caused in England. This is illustrated by the west Lothian
question. Most simply put, it asks why Scottish, Welsh or indeed Northern Irish MPs have the
same right to vote at Westminster as any English MP now that large areas of policy are
devolved to national parliaments and assemblies in areas such as health, housing, schools
and policing. It questions why such MPs can vote on english matters when english MPs
cannot vote on scottish or welsh matters. There were two incidents when loyal Scottish and
Welsh Labour MPs were needed to vote through Labour government policies because so
many of their English colleagues rebelled. In a vote to set up foundation trusts in the English
NHS, Blair's majority was cut to 35 because many English Labour MPs rebelled or failed to
vote; Blair needed 67 Scottish and Welsh MPs to push the trusts through. • Blair needed
similar levels of loyalty in January 2004 to introduce tuition fees, a policy firmly rejected in
Scotland by Labour MPs who held the policy of free education for Scots and not for the
English. John Reid, then MP for Hamilton and North Bellshill, was appointed Blair's health
secretary in 2003 when Holyrood had control over nearly all health policy in Scotland, Iain
Duncan Smith called it a "democratic monstrosity". • More-so that more tax payers money is
given to Scotland per head than to England. • Recently the SNP sought to vote down 3
English only bills, grammar schools, Sunday opening hours and repealing fox hunting - yet
these are devolved. This creates resentment in England. So need more powers.
,CA - There has already been attempts to deal with this through English Votes for English
Laws (EVEL). This was a weak piece of legislation but became overcomplica
Evaluate the view that the case for further english devolution is overdue. PARA 3 - correct
answer-P3 - Possibly what England needs is a fully fledged English parliament like that of
Scotland and Wales. • It would equalise the powers across the regions and cover all of
England. • Would make Britain more look like a federal system. • An English parliament then
would look at uniquely English issues - this parliament can consists of mayors from across
the country. • It will resolve the asymmetrical devolution
CA - the problem with an English parliament is that it will take power away from local people
and place it in a centralised authority. • What would be the position of Westminster mps? It
would be redundant and the whole idea would be very costly • Westminster is already
dominated by English MPs • Sovereignty would then lie in many places - and the
Westminster parliament would be no more than symbolic. • Turnout would decline even
more. Voter fatigue. • England is too small to have devolution - it will confuse matters
because people live and work in multiple cities. • Interim Judgement - having devolution
through metro mayors makes more sense than having a parliament that is distanced from
the people.
Evaluate the view that there are more advantages to having a codified constitution than
remaining with an uncodified constitution INTRO - correct answer-In the UK we have an
uncodified constitution meaning ultimate sovereignty lies in parliament and they can override
any decisions. This can be seen as beneficial due to the flexibility, ability to meet current
demands and accountability of MPs but it can also be seen as damaging as it means the
government has the power to make decisions which could harm our rights. Ultimately there is
not a massive demand to have a codified constitution and an uncodified constitution
fundamentally gives the government flexibility which is in the interests of the public.
Three sections: 1 a codified constitution protects rights 2 it would place powers in the hands
of an impartial judiciary 3 it would clarify the roles and powers of the PM and executive and
remove unwritten conventions
Evaluate the view that there are more advantages to having a codified constitution than
remaining with an uncodified constitution PARA 1 - correct answer-A codified constitution
would entrench rights - such as the bill of rights in the US. • At the moment parliamentary
sovereignty means that rights are subject to the will of parliament. • A majority can overturn
rights. • Dominic Raab, The Justice Secretary is looking to repeal the Human Rights Act
1998 - it was in the Queens Speech and so will come to the Commons this coming year. •
The right to family life, under Article 8 of the ECHR will not be able to reach court as much as
often, with 70 percent of foreign criminals who lodge deportation appeals currently doing so
under the terms of the clause. • The Government is proposing to add a 'permission stage' at
the start of human rights legal cases. • This plan will mean that before a case can get off the
ground, the person whose rights have been violated will have to show they have faced a
"significant disadvantage" caused by the abuse of their rights. • Under government plans, the
meaning of a right in the Bill of Rights won't be the same as its meaning in the European
Convention on Human Rights and UK judges won't even have to take European judgments
, into account (which they currently have to do) • A 'British Bill of Rights' means that foreign
citizens or migrants may not have the same protections. • This Bill of Rights would be harder
to interpret as they will be more specifically phrased.
The Nationality and Borders Act is one such piece of legislation it allows the government to
do the following: • To process asylum claims in Rwanda and for these refugees to not have a
right to stay in the UK • The ability to deprive British people of their citizenship without notice
(previously they had to give notice but could still do so - eg Shabina Begum) • Asylum
seekers that come to the Uk without a visa will be breaking the law and can go to prison.
Evaluate the view that there are more advantages to having a codified constitution than
remaining with an uncodified constitution PARA 2 - correct answer-P2 - The last few years
has demonstrated that elected politicians can abuse their positions or undermine the
constitution in return for populism. • The government's attempts to prorogue parliament in
2019, and obvious attempt to shut down scrutiny was successfully challenged in courts. •
Judges have security of tenure and independence (CRA 2006) that enables them to make
more rational and independent decisions. • Politicians are always looking to win elections. •
In the US, judges of the supreme court act as guardians of the constitution. • If a future
government decided to radically change the UK, there are currently very few safeguards. •
Most modern liberal democracies - the supreme court acts as a check on the other branches.
Because judges are impartial and independent. • Analysis: you can link the judiciary being
guardians of the constitution to liberalism - it allows for a separation of the branches,
preventing the tyranny of an overbearing government (synoptic link) • Judges are impartial
and that means they believe in the rule of law, recent events have shown that we cannot
trust politicians to uphold the rule of law (Iraq and Partygate).
CA
• Uncodified Constitutions place the power in the hands of elected politicians • Who are
accountable to the people • They make the balance between rights and security because
ultimately they know the political consequences. • They are able to make democratic
decisions and are held accountable at elections and through parliamentary committees. •
Judges have to be above this accountability, so there are few public mechanisms to hold
them in check. • At the moment we do not have judicial activism as the accusation is made
against the US supreme court that now has a conservative bias. • Judges remain 'above the
fray' and that is a better system.
Evaluate the view that there are more advantages to having a codified constitution than
remaining with an uncodified constitution PARA 3 - correct answer-P3 - A codified
constitution will clarify the role of government. • It will place into higher law the many
conventions and prerogative powers that are ill defined and subject to constant abuse. • Blair
was able to break cabinet government for his entire 10 years and run a sofa cabinet (as
dubbed by Lord Butler) whereby he conducted one to one meetings and not have proper
minuted meetings through the cabinet. • Never once did he have a vote (John Prescott's
claims) • The problem today is the constitution was designed to be applied by 'good chaps' -
honourable people that apply the spirit of the constitution. (Peter Hennessey) • This good
chap doctrine no longer applies. • Johnson repeatedly misinformed parliament over parties at
number 10. • He did not sack Priti Patel, who violated the ministerial code by bullying a civil
servant. • This is because ultimately these conventions are not statute. • Johnson has
rewritten the code to dilute grounds for dismissal. • This lack of clarity allows for Prime
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