Working to make government more effective

Comment

Guest blog: A new Magna Carta?

Eight centuries since the Magna Carta.

Graham Allen

2015 will see the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta—one of the most important constitutional documents in history. The Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee, which I chair, has been looking forwards, rather than back, by working on a major project with King’s College London to ask whether the UK needs a codified constitution and to develop several examples. Now it’s holding an unprecedented public consultation on the results and offering people the chance to be a founding father or mother of one of the planet’s oldest democracies.

Three example constitutions The cross-party select committee has spent the past four years working with King’s College London on an unprecedented project to consider what would be involved in producing a codified constitution for the UK and to devise three examples of what form a codified constitution could take. The committee has now published the results of this project, along with a report called A new Magna Carta? The three example constitutions are: •A constitutional code: a non-statutory document setting out the essential existing principles of the constitution and the workings of government. •A constitutional consolidation Act: a consolidation of existing constitutional laws, the common law and parliamentary practice, together with a codification of essential constitutional conventions. •A written constitution: a document of basic law by which the UK would be governed, setting out the relationship between the state and its citizens, an amendment procedure and elements of reform. The Committee is holding a major consultation, running until 1 January 2015, asking the public for its views. Preparation and implementation The research that we published includes a paper on the practical issues a government might face were a decision taken to adopt a codified constitution for the UK. In it, Professor Robert Blackburn, who led the research, states that ‘the most challenging aspect to the debate in terms of practical politics is the process that might be adopted in its preparation, design and implementation.’ This section of the research provides an absorbing insight into how a government that decided it wanted to push ahead with codification might go about the task, and I urge you to read it and send us your thoughts on the issues it raises. The paper is a very practical guide to what steps would need to be taken if a decision were taken to proceed with codification. If there comes a time when a government recognises the need for a codified constitution, the groundwork will be there. Why now? Why does this matter and why now? There’s an old saying that ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. But UK politics is broke. Disillusion with mainstream politics is evident all around us, and particularly noticeable in the share of the vote gained by an anti-politics party at the most recent elections. The UK—and particularly England—suffers from suffocating over-centralisation and none of the mainstream parties has a credible plan to deal with it. But I don’t think people are apathetic. I just don’t think they feel engaged in mainstream politics as it is today, because it seems remote from them—inaccessible and, often, incomprehensible. The past 20 years have seen governments of different political stripes make significant constitutional changes—removing hereditary peers from the House of Lords, establishing the Supreme Courts, introducing fixed-term parliaments, extensive devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland—and I believe that a written constitution would provide a framework within which such change could take place in the future, and that it could substantially enhance people’s understanding of the United Kingdom’s constitutional arrangements. I believe that, as we are go through a period of considerable constitutional change, it is time to take this debate forward and decide what the future holds for the UK’s constitution. I personally—speaking as an individual, not as Committee Chair—think the UK should have a codified constitution. I think that every child at school, every member of our society, should be able to lay their hands on their own copy of how our society works. Others will, and do, disagree. What I want most of all is a proper discussion about whether a codified constitution is necessary.

Related content

08 FEB 2024 Insight paper

The Union and the state

Whether the UK survives in its current form or what it will look like if it doesn’t stay together, will hinge on which vision prevails.