54 terms in Topic1.1
Devolution
The transfer of powers from the UK Parliament at Westminster to elected assemblies and governments in Scotland, Wales, a
The UK Constitution and Government
Devolution
Scotland's devolved legislature (Holyrood) and executive, with powers over areas including education, health, justice, a
The UK Constitution and Government
Devolution
Wales's devolved legislature (the Senedd) and executive, with more limited powers than Scotland, though these have been
The UK Constitution and Government
Devolution
Northern Ireland's devolved power-sharing institutions, created by the Good Friday Agreement to bring nationalists and u
The UK Constitution and Government
Devolution
The constitutional problem that English MPs have no separate English parliament, yet Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish
The UK Constitution and Government
Devolution
Assessing whether devolution has been successful in improving governance, representation, and stability, or whether it h
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
The elected chamber of Parliament
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
The unelected upper chamber of Parliament
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
How Parliament checks the government's power
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
Parliamentary committees that investigate government departments
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
MPs acting on their own judgement, not just following voters
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
MPs following voters' wishes or their party's programme
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
MPs who are not government ministers or shadow ministers
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
How parties keep their MPs voting together
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
The main party not in government
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
Legal protections for what MPs say in Parliament
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
How laws are made in Parliament
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
Public votes on specific political issues
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
The Lords not blocking the government's manifesto promises
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
Different ideas about what it means to represent people
The UK Constitution and Government
Parliament
How Parliament relates to the executive and judiciary
The UK Constitution and Government
The Core Executive
The network of institutions and people at the centre of UK government who control policy-making, including the PM, cabin
The UK Constitution and Government
The Core Executive
The head of the UK government who leads the executive, chairs cabinet, and exercises significant powers including patron
The UK Constitution and Government
The Core Executive
Latin for 'first among equals' — the traditional view that the PM is simply the most senior member of a cabinet of equal
The UK Constitution and Government
The Core Executive
The senior committee of approximately 20-25 government ministers who meet weekly to discuss policy, coordinate departmen
The UK Constitution and Government
The Core Executive
Smaller sub-groups of cabinet ministers that handle detailed policy work on specific areas, reporting back to the full c
The UK Constitution and Government
The Core Executive
The convention that ministers are personally accountable to Parliament for their own conduct and the work of their depar
The UK Constitution and Government
The Core Executive
The convention that all cabinet ministers must publicly support government policy, even if they privately disagree, or e
The UK Constitution and Government
The Core Executive
The broader principle that ministers must answer to Parliament for their decisions and actions, through questions, debat
The UK Constitution and Government
The Core Executive
The changing extent of PM dominance from the post-war period to the present, showing how different PMs have exercised po
The UK Constitution and Government
The Core Executive
The academic argument that the UK PM has become more like a president — dominating government personally, bypassing cabi
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
A written-down constitution
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
A constitution not written in one single document
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Laws made by Parliament
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Law made by judges through court decisions
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Unwritten political customs and practices
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Expert writings that explain the constitution
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Powers held by the Crown but exercised by ministers
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Everyone is equal before the law
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Parliament is the supreme legal authority
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Rights held by people individually and as a group
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Historic documents that established key rights
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Laws that limited the House of Lords' power
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Major changes to how the UK is governed since 1997
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the UK's constitutional system
The UK Constitution and Government
The Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
The law that brought European human rights into UK courts
The UK Constitution and Government
The Supreme Court and Judicial Review
The highest court in the UK, established in 2009, which hears appeals on points of law of the greatest public importance
The UK Constitution and Government
The Supreme Court and Judicial Review
The principle that judges must be free from political pressure and influence so they can make decisions based solely on
The UK Constitution and Government
The Supreme Court and Judicial Review
The principle that judges must decide cases without personal bias or favouring any party, basing decisions purely on the
The UK Constitution and Government
The Supreme Court and Judicial Review
The constitutional principle that the three branches of government — legislature, executive, and judiciary — should be i
The UK Constitution and Government
The Supreme Court and Judicial Review
A legal term meaning 'beyond the powers' — used when a public body or minister acts outside the legal authority granted
The UK Constitution and Government
The Supreme Court and Judicial Review
The process by which courts examine whether decisions made by public bodies and ministers are lawful, fair, and reasonab
The UK Constitution and Government
The Supreme Court and Judicial Review
The relationship between the courts and Parliament, including tensions over judicial activism and parliamentary sovereig
The UK Constitution and Government
The Supreme Court and Judicial Review
How the ECHR, incorporated into UK law through the Human Rights Act 1998, has empowered courts to protect individual rig
The UK Constitution and Government