?‘The UK Constitution is no longer fir for purpose’ Discuss. The constitution is a set of rules that established the duties, powers and functions of the institutes of the government and defines the relationships between them. As well as this, it outlines the relationship between the state and the individual. The UK Constitution is special in its self that it’s drawn from a number of sources which include; statute law, common law, royal prerogative, EU laws and treaties, conventions and works of authority, thus making the UK Constitution un-codified, flexible and open to interpretation.
I believe that the Constitution is no longer fit for purpose because it’s far too easy to amend and is not fix which puts the individual rights into risk as they find it difficult to interpret the Constitution to protect their rights. One reason is that it has produced an imperfect separation of powers, allowing the executive too much control over the legislative branch. This allows too much power, as there are inadequate constitutional safeguards in place.
This highlights that many powers of the executive branch are ill defined and defined without limitations. Therefore the drift to excessive executive power can be checked by a codified, entrenched constitution which provides an opportunity for checks and balances of powers. Another reason is that the Constitution is far too easy to amend by a government with a large majority in Parliament. This can be detrimental as temporary government who are only in for one term can affect how the Constitution is run.
The Essay on Defining The Five Presidential Powers In The American Government
... United States, the Head Executive is also given lawmaking powers although these are strictly defined by the Constitution and by a system ... with the general purposes of government set out in the Preamble of the US Constitution. The Executive Head is not only ... Government (Legislative and Judicial being the last two branches) which makes sure that the laws of the United States are obeyed. The Executive ...
Therefore the government can carry out their decisions which serve its own purpose. This highlights that power is much too centralised and so threatens democracy. Because it’s so vague and un-codified it does not carry the obvious authority of some other constitutions, such as the USA. Individual rights are not well protected because Parliament is not subjected to constitutional control. Furthermore that it is not codified means that citizens find it difficult to understand therefore struggle to protect their rights.
Therefore the rights of citizens can be arbitrarily removed. This shows that the current system is too flexible and so allows too much for the exercise of arbitrary power thus Britain needs to be brought into line with other modern systems as it does not conform to the normal picture of a modern constitution and allows undemocratic institutions such as the House of Lords. However the Constitution is still seen to be fit for purpose because it still provides for a strong, decisive government which is not constrained constitutional rules.
