Britain Needs A Real Constitution – by Luke Hallam
Transparency is a key feature of liberal democracies. Citizens should know how their institutions function and why power is distributed the way it is. Generally, the workings of fundamental institutions are codified in national constitutions.
The United Kingdom is unusual for having an uncodified constitution. It does not exist in a single document, but is rather a combination of hundreds of years of convention, maxims, and laws with innumerable different sources.
This has numerous drawbacks. Many of the conventions that keep our democracy ticking are simply unknown to most of the British public. Meanwhile, the flaws in our current ad-hoc arrangements have become glaring over the past few years, with the convulsions over Brexit and now the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
It is high time for the UK to adopt a codified constitution. But what, exactly, needs codifying?
Terrible idea. Absolutely not. Leave your legal system alone. Resist any temptation. Learn from us. Leave well enough alone.