Tuesday, March 14, 2006
A Written Constitution?
After looking at the excellent new website Liberty Central, I come across this post originally made on a blog called two4tea. The post suggests New Labour's greatest legacy may be a written British constitution:
The UK has had a long history of muddling through in constitutional matters.
The primary reason that we have existed so long with an unwritten constitution is that there has been broad consensus on what limits the unwritten words place on the executive, parliament and the Judiciary. This is no longer the case.
[...]
When the inevitable abuses from the currant populist attacks on civil liberties become apparent, then there will be a backlash and a search for ways of protecting the people of the UK from a repeat of such stupidity.
One of the primary advantages of a written constitution has over an unwritten one is that it takes a large consensus to get a change. One person can not decide the “rules have changed” and suspend jettison constitutional safeguards that have existed for hundreds of years. But if there is a broad consensus that there is a need for change then the changes can be enacted.
There is something I just can't put my finger on, some abstract feeling which makes me think there is something "unBritish" about a US style written constitution. But then, what this government is doing, pissing all over hard fought liberties parliament once took the king to war over many centuries ago to establish, makes me think it would be by far the lesser of two evils.
Looking at the current state of our civil liberties, all I could do to end on is say this: If you're not OUTRAGED, you're not PAYING ATTENTION!!!
# posted by Chris Hughes @ 3:37 am 
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Here here we need a written constitution to stop all Blairs infringements It needn't change a lot of the laws and day to day stuff but it would simplify the process, look at what Ireland is.
As for those who say that the monarchy would be abolished,no
Just look at the Netherlands or Belgium. They'd win the referendum on their existence, its just sorting out the second chamber so its representative of the nations and regions and giving England a parliament of its own should it so wish so that all citizens are governed equally.
James
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As for those who say that the monarchy would be abolished,no
Just look at the Netherlands or Belgium. They'd win the referendum on their existence, its just sorting out the second chamber so its representative of the nations and regions and giving England a parliament of its own should it so wish so that all citizens are governed equally.
James
# posted by 
: 2:40 pm
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