Current issues in United Kingdom constitutionalism: An introduction

Abstract

The law and politics of the United Kingdom’s constitution would seem to be in a state of considerable flux. At a political level, the creation in May 2010 of a coalition government with an agreed five-year program,1 including the waiving in certain agreedupon circumstances of the constitutional convention of collective responsibility,2 involves a radical departure from received (or, at least, recently received) constitutional practice. Furthermore, as the 2010 general election took place against the backdrop of widespread public disillusionment with political structures and practices, driven to a large extent by revelations concerning expense claims submitted by Members of the 2005–2010 Parliament, it is unsurprising that the government has committed itself to continuing the cleanup of Westminster-level political practices and to a further downward distribution of power3—proposals which will themselves have significant constitutional implications if implemented in full . These current developments must, however, be seen against the backdrop of the immediately preceding period of sustained and deep-level constitutional change, in the form of legislative measures concerning the protection of human rights (the Human Rights Act 1998), the devolution of power (the Scotland Act 1998, Government of Wales Acts 1998 and 2006, and Northern Ireland Act 1998), freedom of information (the Freedom of Information Act 2000), and reform of the judiciary (the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) enacted while the former Labour government was in office between 1997 and 2010. The United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union has also had continuing deep-level significance for debate about the ongoing viability of Parliamentary sovereignty as the bedrock constitutional rule or principle of the domestic constitution. Additionally, the courts have continued to develop for themselves the power of judicial review of executive action, and a few senior judges