A New Constitution

The future of the House of Lords could be included in a new written constitution which would deal with all sorts of problems in one go; for example, the status of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the problem of the voting system. Now might be a good time to abolish or at least reform the monarchy, which has lost much of its popular support. The question of Britain's relations with the EU also needs to be resolved.

Also, there is a fundamental point missing from Britain's unwritten constitution – human rights. These rights only exist in a sort of negative form at present; you can do whatever you like if it is not against the law. In the Thatcher era some very basic rights seemed to be under threat; for example, unions were banned at GCHQ, the government's electronic spy center, and in 1984-5 the police were used as a political force against striking miners.

In 1988, a group called Charter 88 started a campaign for a written constitution, while others demanded a Bill of Rights and a Freedom of Information Act. At the beginning of the new millennium, the Labour Government was considering legislation on freedom of information, and was moving towards incorporating the European convention on Human Rights into British law. But the idea of a written constitution is still rather alien to the British; perhaps it would actually make it harder to reform institutions rather that easier. At present Parliament is all-powerful, and can make any constitutional change it wishes to at any time. There may be dangers in this, but it is a quick and simple system.

The EU

There is very good reason for not writing a new constitution just yet. Obviously, as EU member countries move closer to merging into a single state, all their constitutions will need rewriting; in the end perhaps they will all make do with one big constitution. Britain signed the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, and some of its provisions now form part of UK law. In commercial areas, EU law has gradually replaced UK legislation; in criminal law, or civil law (divorce, libel and so on), Britain is still completely independent. It is a very complicated subject, but the general principle is clear: British law now comes under European law in those areas where treaties exist.