CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

Constitutional and Administrative Law

Constitutional and Administrative Law

Introduction

Constitutional framework of any country is the basic outline of the laws, rules and regulations remaining within which, the daily matters of the state are run. The constitutional reforms are introduced and constitutional framework is amended over a certain period, when required, so as to have alignment and reconciliation with the changes in the political and environmental factors. It is imperative for the matters to be effectively run and the expectations of the public be met. As significant as the introduction of constitutional changes, constitutional strategy holds the same weightage which is formed so as to implement and achieve the constitutional amendments made. A coherent overall strategy for constitutional development and implementation is substantial for the stability of the nation, its values, democracy and constitution. This prompts the relevance of the written constitutional reforms when the government is formed; especially in times of coalition government reign, where agendas usually differ and conflict of interests arises.

Discussion

As discussed above, constitutional reforms become inevitable over a period of time and thus needs to be introduced. The formation of Coalition government in the May 2010 elections depicted the need for the constitutional reforms accompanied with the written constitution for it brings in clarity and wards off disambiguated thoughts. Coalition governments are mostly found to be having disagreements over some issues; thus pre-dominantly registering conflict of interest to a certain extent. This prompts the need for the constitutional reforms and written constitution that triggers the assistance of the legislators so as to produce more profound impact on the state matters, if they are not run effectively by the government; which in this case is coalition, thereby making the government to undertake matters putting aside their personal agendas.

In May 2010, the coalition government was formed out of the hung parliament, unlike previous coalition governments which formed as a result of the national emergencies; they being the times of war and financial emergency. This is not the first time Britain is having hung parliament, they have been there before as well but did not lead to coalition government though. The hung parliaments in the year 1923, 1929 and the year 1974 led to the formation of temporary minority governments. Thus the impact and the need of the written constitution are not clear and has become a bone of contention, but it is inevitable if the objective is to advance fundamental rights. This makes most sense in the situation of the coalition government where replacing Human Rights Act (HRA) with a British Bill of Rights and Responsibilities should be curbed and HRA should be backed and maintained. Human Rights Act forms the top priority point of the constitution and removing or replacing it is simply xenophobic, quoting Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke's comment on the under discussion proposal made by David Cameron.

The Coalition government as depicted from the above discussion is Constitutional Innovation. But although this constitutional innovation is embraced effectively, the constitutional convention is regarded as unclear and undecided ...