Constitutional Reform Act
From Democracywiki
Central Lobby
April 2005
On 21st March the House of Lords accepted the House of Commons amendments to the Constitutional Reform Bill.
Peers voted by a majority of 12 to allow an MP and not just a peer, to take on the role of the Lord Chancellor.
They also dropped their insistence that the Lord Chancellor must be a lawyer.
Candidates for the position of Lord Chancellor must be qualified by experience but that experience may now include experience as a Minister of the Crown, as a member of either House of Parliament, as a teacher of law in a university as well as a qualifying practitioner.
Peers had twice rejected the Commons position, threatening a stand-off between the two houses.
The Act, which received royal assent on the 24th March, creates a Supreme Court for the United Kingdom, which replaces the law lords as the ultimate legal authority in England and Wales. In addition the Lord Chancellor will no longer be the head of the judiciary and judges will be appointed by an independent appointments commission.
What the Bill does
Constitutional Reform Bill [HL Bill 30]
The Constitutional Reform Bill, which the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC, introduced into the House of Lords on 24th February continues to cause controversy.
The Bill abolishes the office of the Lord Chancellor and also creates the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and the Judicial Appointments Commission.
The Bill makes provision for the transfer of the three functions of the role of Lord Chancellor
- Ministerial powers including use of the royal prerogative will be transferred to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs
- statutory powers exercised by the Lord Chancellor as Speaker of the House of Lords will be transferred to the office of the Speaker of the House of Lords, the powers of which are to be determined by the House of Lords
- powers relating the judiciary will be transferred to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs or the Lord Chief Justice. The Lord Chief Justice will also become President of the Courts of England and Wales.
In its First Report in February the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee had recommended that the Bill should be published in draft to enable wider consultation on such a significant constitutional change and proposed that the changes should be introduced incrementally.
Further concerns were raised about the creation of the Supreme Court and maintaining the independence of the judiciary when the Bill was debated in the House of Lords. In a highly unusual move the Bill was then referred to Select Committee on 22nd March, allowing for pre-legislative scrutiny.
The Government agreed to some amendments during the Select Committee proceedings. After opposition to the proposals for appointments to the Supreme Court whereby the secretary for State would make the appointment from a list of 5 names, the Government amended the Bill so that the Secretary of State would be presented with one name but would have the right to refuse it once. If the Appointments Commission overrides the objection the appointment will be made.
However fundamental differences remained and the Select Committee on the Constitutional Reform Bill was unable to find a consensus. In two of the key issues in the Bill, the abolition of the office of Lord Chancellor and the establishment of a Supreme Court, the Committee's views were more or less evenly divided.
In yet another twist the House of Lords voted to retain the office of Lords Chancellor by 240 to 208, when the select committee report was debated on 13th July. The controversy surrounding Constitutional Reform Bill will continue when it is carried over into the next session of Parliament.
The Committees Report is available online [here]
The Constitutional Reform Bill was re-published with amendments as HL Bill 91 on the 2nd July, and is available [here]
