Should Britain Have a Codified Constitution
Codified constitution
For
• A new constitutional settlement is needed to disperse power more widely. • The rights of citizens are under threat and require greater protection. • The police have been given increasing powers as crime and the threat of terrorism have increased. • The state holds a huge amount of information about individuals. • Rights in the workplace need firmer guarantees as trade unions have become weaker. • Parliament has the potential to make and unmake any law as its powers are unrestrained. • There will be less constitutional crises as there will not be confusion as to what is 'unconstitutional behaviour'. • Basic rights of citizens are identified and guaranteed. • For protection from extremists. A written constitution would offer protection if an extremist came to power and wanted to disregard democratic procedures.
Against
• Britain has survived very well until now with an unwritten constitution. The public is not clamouring for a written constitution because it understands the conventions which govern political procedure. • Written constitutions are ruled upon by judges. In Britain our judges are unelected and it is therefore undemocratic to take power away from our elected representatives and give it to judges who tend to be quite reactionary. • Iraq has a written constitution. If somebody wanted to flaunt democratic procedures it would be as hard now as it would with a written constitution. • The current situation is flexible and adaptable. The British constitution has been able to adapt to circumstance. • An entrenched constitution or Bill of Rights would remove the sovereignty of Parliament. It would challenge the institutions of the monarch and Parliament. • It would challenge the institutions of the monarch and Parliament. • What would go in a written and codified constitution? Politicians on the left and right would disagree massively over the
For
• A new constitutional settlement is needed to disperse power more widely. • The rights of citizens are under threat and require greater protection. • The police have been given increasing powers as crime and the threat of terrorism have increased. • The state holds a huge amount of information about individuals. • Rights in the workplace need firmer guarantees as trade unions have become weaker. • Parliament has the potential to make and unmake any law as its powers are unrestrained. • There will be less constitutional crises as there will not be confusion as to what is 'unconstitutional behaviour'. • Basic rights of citizens are identified and guaranteed. • For protection from extremists. A written constitution would offer protection if an extremist came to power and wanted to disregard democratic procedures.
Against
• Britain has survived very well until now with an unwritten constitution. The public is not clamouring for a written constitution because it understands the conventions which govern political procedure. • Written constitutions are ruled upon by judges. In Britain our judges are unelected and it is therefore undemocratic to take power away from our elected representatives and give it to judges who tend to be quite reactionary. • Iraq has a written constitution. If somebody wanted to flaunt democratic procedures it would be as hard now as it would with a written constitution. • The current situation is flexible and adaptable. The British constitution has been able to adapt to circumstance. • An entrenched constitution or Bill of Rights would remove the sovereignty of Parliament. It would challenge the institutions of the monarch and Parliament. • It would challenge the institutions of the monarch and Parliament. • What would go in a written and codified constitution? Politicians on the left and right would disagree massively over the