The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill had its second reading last month. It is the latest instalment in a programme of constitutional reform, which the government has been pursuing in a leisurely and random fashion since it came into power in 1997.
The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill had its second reading last month. It is the latest instalment in a programme of constitutional reform, which the government has been pursuing in a leisurely and random fashion since it came into power in 1997.
The new Bill has been trumpeted as ending the hereditary principle in the House of Lords. It does little else to repair the “democratic deficit”— the yawning imbalance of power in favour of the executive as against Parliament and the electorate. A coherent plan of reform is long overdue.
The UK is, of course, famous for its lack of a written constitution. Over the centuries a body of practices and conventions has gained acceptance which many regard as a sufficient basis for stable government.
Yet weaknesses in our system have emerged which impose increasing strains on this
