1. KahnDennis
Discuss the view that the constitutional reforms since 1997 have been of
limited impact
The Britishconstitutionhasbeenchangedmanytimessince 1997 whennew labourcame to power.
Some of these changeshave includedthe devolutionof powerswere both the ScottishandWelsh
governmentswere givenmore power.Argumentshave alsobeenmade forotherparliamentary
reformstotake place suchas a reformto the humanrightsact andthe House of Lords. Many people
argue that althoughsignificantchangeshave takenplace inregardstothe UK constitutionthatthe
reformsdonot go far enough.
One of the reformstothe Britishconstitutionhasbeenthe devolutionof powersreform.Inthis
reformact the powerto governwasdecentralisedfromLondontoallow walesandScotlandto
partiallyself-govern.Thiscanbe arguedas havingimpactas itallowsthese countriestohave their
ownlimitedpower,forexampleitgave Scotlandthe powertovary itstax levels.Therefore itcanbe
arguedthat thisconstitutional change hadanimpactthat wassignificant;howeveritcanbe argued
that the reformdidnot go far enough.Some people suchasPlaidCymruandthe Scottishnational
party believe thatfurtherreformsshouldtake place togive the twocountriesmore powerandmove
it awayfromthe UK parliamentcompletely.Thesepartieswantabiggerimpactbybeinggivenmore
powerstodo thingssuchas create theirownlawsandcontrol theirownfinances.Howeveran
opinionpoll intowhetherScotlandshouldleave the UKand gain itsowngovernmentprovedthatthe
people of Scotlandwouldratherkeepthe limitedpowersithadand remainpartof the UK.
Therefore itcanbe arguedbothfor and againstthe amountof impactthat thischange to the UK has
beensignificant.
Another‘reform’tothe Britishconstitutionhasbeenthe House of Lordsreform.Thisreform
happenedin1999 whenTonyBlairwas inpower.Thisreformact didseveral things,the reform:
removedthe rightsof hereditarypeersandreducedthe numberof lordsto around600 members
that consistedof mostlyappointedlife peersbutalso some bishopsandlaw lords.The UK
governmentof the time arguedthatthisreformof the House of Lords createda fairersystemasit
had removedthe rightsof the remaininghereditarypeersandhadcreateda fairlyelectedchamber.
Howevermostpeople believeotherwiseandbelievethatthe House of Lords reformhasnot gone far
enough,manypeople believethattocreate a fairersysteminthe lordsthenthe publicshouldbe
allowedtodecide whoisputinthe lordsmuch like the commons,the argumentsof the people is
that theyare beingunfairlyrepresenteddespitereformasmostof the lordsisstill made upof
elderlywhitemales.Itcan be arguedthat to make the lordsmore representative thenthere should
be more diversityamongstthe lordstorepresentthe people better,forexample inacommunity
that consistsof a mostlyyoungAsianpopulationitisnotcorrectto have an elderlywhite male
representthatareaas the cannotrelate withone another.Thereforeitcanbe arguedthat reforms
mad to the House of Lords have beenof limitedimpact.
Furtherreformsthathave beenbroughtintothe Britishconstitutioninclude the introductionof the
humanrightsact. The humanrightsact wasbroughtintothe Britishconstitutionin 1998 although
not comingintopoweruntil the year2000, thisreformwas createdtoallow the UK to enforce the
EuropeanConventiononHumanRightsintheirowncourts.Many people were happywiththe

2. KahnDennis
creationof the human rightsact as it createdmanynew lawsthat protectedthe people i.e.the right
to a private personal andfamilylife.Howeverthe actwasalsomet withcriticism, some people
arguedthat the humanrightsact was protectingpeoplewhodidn’tdeserveitsuchas terroristsor
illegal immigrants.Thesepeople arguedthatrightssuchasthe rightto freedomshouldnotapplyto
certainindividualsastheyactunconstitutional bybreakingthe law andtherefore giveup their
rights.Therefore itcanbe argued thatalthoughthe humanrightsact had an impactby creatinga fair
and justcountrythat it can alsobe a bad tool usedbythe unjust.
To conclude,there have beenmanyreformsmade tothe Britishconstitutionsince the year1997, it
can be arguedforsome of these suchas the devolutionof powersreformthatthere hasbeen
significantimpacthoweverinotherareasof constitutionalreformsuchasthe House of Lordsreform
there hasbeenlimitedimpact.However,intheoryanychange made to a constitutionissignificant
as it israre for a constitutiontochange sooften.