Summary AQA Politics UK Government and Politics Evidence/Example Bank

Example Bank Politics

1.The nature and source of the UK Constitution
1.1 Sources of the Constitution
- SCCLAT: Statute law, Common law, Convention, Landmark decisions,
Authoritative Works, Treaties
- Easy way to remember:
- SCCREW (Statute law, Common law, Conventions, Royal prerogative,
External constitutional agreements/treaties, Works of authority e.g
A.V. Dicey)

1.2 Development and Changes to the Constitution Focus is on post-
1997 constitutional reforms -> keep evidence modern and relevant!

1. 1215 Magna Carta - guaranteed certain basic rights including
citizens shouldn’t be imprisoned without a trial

2. 1701 Act of Settlement - outlines succession to the throne

3. 1707 Acts of Union - created Great Britain by formally joining
Scotland to England + Wales

4. 1911 Parliament Act - removed from the House of Lords the power
to veto a Bill, except one to extend the lifetime of a Parliament

5. 1928 Representation of the People Act (women’s voting rights)

6. 1949 Parliament Act (re-written)

7. 1970 Equal Pay act (men can no longer be paid more than a woman
for the same jobs)

8. 1972 The European Communities Act

9. 1997 Devolution

10. 1998 Human Rights Act

11. 1999 HoL Reform - abolition of all but 92 hereditary peers and
26 CofE bishops

12. 2000 Freedom of Information Act - provides public access to
documents held by public authorities

13. 2005 Constitutional Reform Act - creation of UK Supreme
Court

14. 2010 Equality Act

15. 2010 Constitutional Reform Act - elected chairs of committees

, 16. 2011 Fixed Term Parliament Act (Repealed & replaced with the
Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, hence Sunak was
able to call an election before the Conservative’s full 5 year term)

17. 2014 Wales Act - power to make primary legislation imposing
taxes was to be devolved to Wales.

18. 2014 House of Lords Reform Act - members can resign
(previously impossible as Lords held seat for life).

19. 2015 Recall of MPs Act

20. 2015 (-2021) English Votes for English Laws (EVEL).

21. 2016 Scotland Act

22. 2017 Burns report suggested reducing the number of Lords,
and implementing term lengths.

23. 2019 Johnson’s failed attempt to prorogue Parliament (R v
Miller 2)

24. 2020 UK left EU (officially)

25. 2024 debate of HoL (Hereditary Peers) Bill, seeking to remove
the 92 remaining hereditary peers

1.3 Devolution

 UK constitution remains unitary despite devolution: Quasi
federalism?

 The Scotland Act 1998 was used in 2023 to block the Gender
Recognition Act passed in the Scottish Parliament.

 In 2016, Greater Manchester became the first local authority to have
granted power to control its own budget for health and social care

 A proposal to establish an assembly in north East England was
defeated by a 78% ‘no’ vote in a 2004 referendum

 Spending per head in England is lower than any other region in the
UK:

REGION: SPEND PER HEAD (2022-
2023):

SCOTLAND £14,456

NORTHERN IRELAND £14,453

, WALES £13,967

ENGLAND £12,227

 Establishment of Stormont based on the Good Friday Agreement in
1998 and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 successfully ended The
Troubles (1968-1998)

 Local government decides to gain devolved power or not: Local
Government Act 2000 gives local government the power to hold a
devolution referendum to decide if a devolved power is needed

 Northern Ireland assembly still dominated by Westminster: dissolved
on multiple occasions, eg. 2002-2007, 2022-2024

 Breaking down of `the Bute House agreement in Scotland, 2024

 Different sets of electoral systems used: Scotland, Wales and
Greater London Authority = AMS; Northern Ireland = STV; mayoral
elections (until 2021) - SV

 The turnout of mayoral election is low - showing that people
are not bothered to have a mayor in their local area (low
public support and legitimacy)

 London: 2024 - 40.5%; 2021 - 42.2%; 2016 - 45.3%; 2012 -
38.1%

 Manchester: 2024 - 32%; 2021 - 34.7%; 2017 - 28.9%

 West Midlands: 2024 - 29.8%; 2021 - 31.2%; 2017 - 26.7%

 EVEL (2015-2021) - West Lothian questions only asked and
answered by English MPs, while questions about devolved areas
should only include decision making in groups of Scotland, Wales,
and Northern Ireland MPs

 However, this was repealed because MPs of constituencies near the
boundaries complained for the unfairness while discussing issues in
devolved bodies

1.4 Debates on Reform

 Boris Johnson’s repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 to the
Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, has seen the return
to the convention of PM’s choosing when to call general elections.

, The choosing of when to call a general election has now become a
political decision, in which the government wants to choose a time
which will ensure the most votes for them. Rishi Sunak called an
election for 4th July because the Conservatives lowered inflation
hence they are capitalising on this economic change

 In April 2024, the human rights charity Amnesty International
accused the UK parliament of “deliberately destabilising” human
rights through the Safety of Rwanda 2024, the Public Order Act 2023
(right to protest) and Sunak’s plans to criminalise rough sleepers.

 Lord Clarke warned that the Safety of Rwanda Bill would move the
UK towards an ‘elective dictatorship’. After the Supreme Court ruled
that the Rwanda scheme was unlawful as Rwanda was an unsafe
country, the government simply passed a bill to state that Rwanda
is a safe country, and so went ahead with the plan.

 During the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst it could be argued that the
PM Boris Johnson curtailed individual rights through the Coronavirus
Act 2020 which gave ‘emergency powers’ to the government. Our
freedom of assembly and freedom of movement were curtailed by
lockdown restrictions (article 5 provides the freedom of liberty and
security which was thus eroded). However, this was necessary to
stop the spread of the pandemic.

 Partygate exposed the abuse of power by the former PM and his
cabinet during lockdown, showing that the function of government is
not transparent to be scrutinised by the people.[a]

 However, the liaison committee later grilled Johnson about
Partygate and held him accountable for his misconduct and
misleading the Parliament during investigation[b], showing that the
government is checked by the Parliament which is more powerful to
balance the power to prevent ultra vires.

 Constitutional Reform Act 2005 established the UK Supreme Court
by separating the judiciary from the Law Lords in the House of Lords
to maintain judicial independence[c] and judicial neutrality.

 However, the Supreme Court is relatively weak and not powerful to
hold other branches accountable due to parliamentary sovereignty
and the uncodified and unentrenched constitution which has no
legal power to enforce other branches to obey the rulings

 The 2017 Burns report called for a reduction in the size of the House
of Lords, and term limits for members, suggesting that the HOL is
still in need for constitutional reform.

, Examples of the HOL being unrepresentative of the general UK
public:

 average age of lords is 71

 70% of Lords received private education

 only 28% are women

 only 2.6% are BME

 Freedom of Information Act 2000 enabled the public to check official
documents disclosed by public bodies for public interest, e.g. MP
Expenses scandal 2009 was exposed with the assistance of FOIA
2000.

 However, only the government can define what is “public interest”
and most of the details and information are blacked out (censored)

 There have been 5 vetoes over publications under the FOI.

 Tony Blair called himself “naive” and “foolish” for introducing the
act. He argued that:

 the freedom of information was not used by the people, but by
journalists for political purposes

 it reduces the effectiveness of government as ministers can no
longer discuss things with a reasonable expectation of
confidentiality

 Wright Committee (Reform of House of Commons Committee)
reported in 2009 and coalition government adopted changes in
2010 by regulating:

 Numbers and size of committees (limited to max. 11 members)

 Ensure chairperson is elected through secret ballot by alternative
vote

 Creation of Backbench Business Committee

 E-petition system

 Recall for MPs Act 2015 extends powers to the public (electorates)
to decide if their MPs should step down (10% of registered voters
signed the petition to trigger by-election)

 e.g. Fiona Onasanya (Peterborough) due to custodial sentencing.
This maintains the legitimacy of representative democracy through
a pathway of direct democracy.

,  There have been increased calls to leave the ECHR: Rishi Sunak “"If
we are forced to choose between our security and the jurisdiction of
a foreign court, including the ECtHR we will always choose our
security.”

 MP Suella Braverman: ECHR “is at odds with the will of Parliament or
British values” (shows rights are threatened)

 In Labour's 2023 manifesto they pledged to ‘remove the right of
hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords’, introduce a
mandatory retirement age at 80 and introduce a new participation
requirement.

Should there be a UK bill of rights?

Yes:

 Protection of rights

 Clarity and certainty

 Modernisation of democracy

 International standards

NO:

 Parliamentary sovereignty

 Flexibility

 Common Law Tradition

1.5 Rights in Context

 Major milestones in the development of rights since Magna Carta
1215

 Bill of Rights 1689

 Representation of people act 1918

 Social Chapter 1997

 Protection of workers' rights under EU law, including anti-
discrimination

 HRA 1998

 Incorporates ECHR into UK law

 Freedom of Information Act 2000

 ‘Right to access’ information