British Politics For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Part III

The Ins and Outs of Parliament

Five limits to parliamentary sovereignty

Parliament may have huge power within the UK constitution but it’s subject to limits. Here are the main ones:

• Devolution: Since the late 1990s the decisions of the UK parliament have been playing less of a role in the lives of people living in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Some areas of law-making in these nations, such as education and health care, have been devolved from the UK parliament to the Scottish parliament and the Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies. I cover this power transfer in detail in Chapters 12 and 13, but I just want to note here that the move to devolution is now a major check on the sovereignty of the UK parliament in Westminster.
• Elections: Parliamentary elections are held every few years. If the laws the governing political party has passed are unpopular, it may be voted out of office.
• EU membership: As a part of its membership of the European Union (EU), Britain has to agree to its laws. In fact, EU law has precedence even over statute law passed by parliament – see the nearby sidebar, ‘Witnessing the growing role of European law’. Some commentators say that this situation undermines parliamentary sovereignty, but the UK parliament has the option to withdraw from the EU, thereby repealing the right of EU law to precedence over statute law.
• Media scrutiny: The press and TV examine parliamentary laws closely. Efforts to change the constitution get reported, as do the ...