PPEMHP Prelims 20056

1
PPE/MHP Prelims 2005/6

• British Politics Lecture 1, MT 05

2
Courts and the Constitution

• Iain McLean
• Iain.mclean_at_nuf.ox.ac.uk

3
Outline of lecture

• The (incoherent) traditional theory
• Recent developments
• Decline of Parliament?
• Europe and Devolution
• Factortame the Human Rights Act
• Constitutional reform since 1997
• Predictions for the current Parliament

4
The incoherent traditional theory

• Parliament has, under the English constitution,
  the right to make or unmake any law whatever
  no person or body is recognised by the law of
  England as having a right to override or set
  aside the legislation of Parliament A. V.
  Dicey, 1885
• I.e., Parliament can do anything except bind its
  successor
• Courts cannot override statutes (cf USA)

5
But

• Are parliamentary promises worthless?
• E.g., Act of Union 1707 Sc/W/NI Acts 1998?
• Even Dicey said 1707 was fundamental law
• What about Europe?
• What about human rights?

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The Decline of Parliament?

• Fusion of legisl., exec govt gets its way
• But subj to b/b revolts
• And to House of Lords
• Lords reform is Labours trickiest issue 1
• (2 is council tax)

7
Europe and Devolution

• Parliamentary authority leaks
• Up to Europe
• Down to DAs
• Across to courts
• European Communities Act 1972 the very stones
  cry out - Powell
• European Directives decided by EU, member
  states must implement

8
Factortame 1991

• Merchant Shipping Act 1988
• Keep the Wops and Dagoes out
• Deny Spanish access to UK fishing quotas
• EU courts hold it in breach of Single European
  Act
• UK courts agree
• Claim not to breach parl. Sov., because UK could
  always repeal 1972 Act
• But upholds earlier statue against later

9
Human Rights Act 1998

• Incorporation of ECHR
• A Council of Europe not EU body British-drafted
  in 1950s
• UK plaintiffs have direct access to UK courts
• Again claims not to breach parl sov
• But cf Falconer statement on Charles and Camilla

10
Other reforms since 1997

• Devolution in theory reversible in practice?
• Lords reform all but 92 hereditaries removed
  1999
• Further reform stalled 2003
• But Lords has new sense of legitimacy
• Freedom of Information in force 2005
• A coherent programme?

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Predictions for the current Parliament

• Libs keenest on const change Cons least keen
• Nobody talking about it
• Nobody has clear theory of constitution
• Parly sovty is dead what will take its place?
• Lords are worst problem for govt (and they have a
  veto).

12
Additional references

• Dicey, A.V. Introduction to the Law of the
  Constitution 1885
• McLean I et al, None of the Above, Political
  Quarterly 74 (3), 2003, pp. 298-310.

13
PPE/MHP Prelims 2005/6

• British Politics Lecture 4, MT 05

14
Political Representation

• Iain McLean
• Iain.mclean_at_nuf.ox.ac.uk

15
Outline of lecture

• Does the British political  system now more
  effectively represent voters than it did in 1945?
• Prior question what does represent mean?
• Bias and responsiveness
• Effects of PR
• First analysis of 2005 results

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Two concepts of representation

• Descriptive map image microcosm
• Implies PR and maybe affirmative action (women,
  ethnic minorities)
• Principal-agent the people are the principals
  and the govt is their agent
• May imply first-past-the-post is best
• But most arguments for this are bad need a
  better one.

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Bias and responsiveness

• Electoral system is biased if at equal votes one
  party has more seats than the other
• Sources of bias
• Wales (formerly Scotland)
• Population movement
• Lab vote more efficiently distributed than Cons
• Cons more vulnerable to 3rd-party wins

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Bias and responsiveness (2)

• Electoral system is responsive if 1 more votes ?
  gt 1 more seats
• Neither good nor bad in itself. Descriptive
  theorists want resp 1, p-a theorists want resp
  gt 1
• The cube law 1906-70. Resp 3
• Now 1.5 lt resp lt 2.

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Effects of PR

• Now in force for Sc/Wales/NI/London/Europe
• NI to inhibit extremes (not doing very well)
• Scotland to keep out SNP (doing pretty well)
• London to prevent rotten boroughs (OK)
• Europe because EU demanded it

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Effects of PR (2)

• Descriptive repres
• Has saved Cons in Scotland Wales
• Better for women not proven
• Better for minorities only if they cross PR
  threshold
• Increases turnout no evidence

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Are there any good arguments against it?

• Most anti arguments are vested interest
• But one good argument in p-a theory
• Majoritarian govt is responsible govt
• Gives the people what they ought to want
• More fiscal responsibility
• Smaller welfare state

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First analysis of 2005 results

• Huge bias to Labour remains (140 seats)
• Boundary Commission will help Cons but not much
  (40 seats max)
• Bias results from differential efficiency at
  piling up votes where needed and not where not
• Why oh why dont the Conservatives adopt PR?

23
Additional references

• G. Tsebelis, Veto Players, Princeton 2002.
• T. Persson and G. Tabellini, The Economic Effects
  of Constitutions, MIT Press 2005.
• I. McLean, The national question in A Seldon
  and D. Kavanagh ed., The Blair Effect (CUP 2005),
  pp. 339-61.

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PPE/MHP Prelims 2005/6

• British Politics Lecture 8, MT 05

25
Centre-Periphery Relations

• Iain McLean
• Iain.mclean_at_nuf.ox.ac.uk

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OOPS I MADE A MISTAKE

• In lecture 4 I said there were no Cons. seats in
  Wales.
• There were none in the Parliament of 2001-05.
• At GE 2005 they won 3.
• SORRY and thanks to the student who reminded me.

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Outline of lecture

• Core-periphery politics, always there
• The crisis of unionism 1886-1921
• Ireland and The Troubles
• Scotland Its Scotlands Oil
• And to a lesser extent Wales
• English regions and Prescotts blood
• Core-periphery in 2005 Parliament

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Core-periphery politics, always there

• The centre always expands, the periphery resists
• Military reasons 1690/1745/1916/1941
• Wales in 1536. Scotland 1707. Ireland 1800
• Illegitimacy of Irish Union
• 1886-1921

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The crisis of unionism 1886-1921

• When did the Leader of the Opposition finance
  armed resistance against the PM?
• When did the monarch last think of ejecting a PM
  with a Commons majority?

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The crisis of unionism 1886-1921

• When did the Leader of the Opposition finance
  armed resistance against the PM?
• 1914
• When did the monarch last think of ejecting a PM
  with a Commons majority?

31
The crisis of unionism 1886-1921

• When did the Leader of the Opposition finance
  armed resistance against the PM?
• 1914
• When did the monarch last think of ejecting a PM
  with a Commons majority?
• 1913

32
Ireland and the Troubles

• The Irish problem as a zero-sum game
• 1920-72 a Protestant Parliament for a Protestant
  people
• Since 1972, direct rule with occasional bursts of
  optimism
• Now, violence declined
• But constitutional settlement no clearer than in
  1800/1886/1921

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Scotland Its Scotlands Oil

• Bought and sold for English gold
• Goschen (1888) Barnett (1974/78)
• SNP surges 1967, again 1971-5
• 1974 Lab swings to devolution
• Defeated 1977 by English backlash
• Returns 1989 Const. Convention
• Smith and Dewar implement 1989 programme
• Now stable politically, but Barnett and WLQ remain

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And to a lesser extent Wales

• Cultural basis of Plaid Cymru
• Language, chapel, dry Sundays
• Intense but narrow not credible threat to UK
• But admin devo offered 1964, polit. 1979
• 1997 just arrived at last gasp
• But here to stay now

35
English regions and Prescotts blood

• Blood on the carpet prediction 2001
• English regional assemblies plan
• Scuppered in govt, then by people of NE (2004)
• But issues wont go away
• Ken
• Unelected regional bodies

36
The 2005 Parliament

• Scotland and Wales here to stay
• NI peace but no govt
• England unequal growth problem
• The two great unsolved problems
• Representation (WLQ)
• Finance (Barnett, and formula funding in England)

37
Additional references

• I. McLean and A. McMillan, The distribution of
  public expenditure across the UK regions, Fiscal
  Studies 241, March 2003, pp. 45-71.
• I. McLean, The Fiscal Crisis of the UK, Palgrave
  2005.
• I. McLean and A. McMillan, State of the Union OUP
  2005