The UK's Constitution Is No Longer Fit For Purpose - Discuss
The UK's Constitution Is No Longer Fit For Purpose - Discuss
The UK's Constitution Is No Longer Fit For Purpose - Discuss
purpose
An uncodified constitution, such as can be found in the UK, is one which
has not been written down in a single document; it may be partly written
but cannot be found in one place. Among the reasons it can be said that
the UKs constitution is no longer fit for purpose are that it lacks clarity of
rights and does not conform to the modern world. However, that it is able
to adapt in modern day scenarios and that it does provide a strong
Government suggest it is still successful. It will be argued that the UKs
constitution is still fit for purpose, the main reason being due to its
unentrenched nature and flexibility.
The first and possibly most important reason the UKs constitution may be
said to be no longer fit for purpose is that human rights are not strongly
protected. Despite the adoption of the European Convention on Human
Rights, shown by the passing of the Human Rights Act in 1998, often
people are not aware of their rights, or certainly as aware as they would
be within a state with a codified constitution, such as America. The Act
remains weak in that it can be overridden by Parliament, who is sovereign
over any legislation, as has happened with terrorism legislation. This lack
of protection with regard to human rights suggests that the UKs
uncodified constitution is no longer fit for purpose as social beliefs have
developed towards equality and so this should be reflected in enforced
legislation set out in a constitution.
However, the fact that Parliament does have sovereignty allows for
decisive action to be taken in the UK, for example introducing credit
crunch measures. The UK constitution helps to make UK governments
stronger, due to the fact that government decisions backed by parliament
cannot be overturned by the judiciary, and the UK Westminster model of
parliamentary government and the whipping system ensure governments
usually get their way in parliament. The concentration of power allows for
UK governments to take strong action, best shown in radical reforming
governments, such as in the Thatcher governments of 1979-90 which
introduced privatisation. The provision of strong government under the
current UK constitution shows that it is still fit for purpose because they
are able to make strong decisions with sovereignty lying in one place.
On the other hand it could be said that the UK constitution allows for the
executive to be too powerful. The single tier nature of British law and
parliamentary sovereignty mean that it can be too easy for the executive
to dominate politics without adequate checks and balances. The
entrenched nature of the uncodified constitution means that it can be all
too simple for law to be amended against the wishes of the general public.
Recent Prime Ministers such as Thatcher and Blair have arguably been too
dominant, allowing for unpopular policies, for example Thatchers Poll Tax
and Iraq under Blair. This flexibility and underlying executive control make
the UKs constitution appear no longer fit for purpose as the Government