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Politics Essay

Decent Essays

Explain the term 'conventions' as used in the extract. (5 marks)!

The United Kingdom has an uncodified constitution; meaning no single, comprehensive document exists in order to outline the structure and workings of government institutions and relationships between them, and between the government institutions and the private citizen.
Constitutional experts argue that this is not to say that our constitution is non-existent, rather it exists in various sources.

'Conventions' are an example of one of these constitutional sources; these are practices or procedures which are considered correct in particular circumstances through the method's repeated usage. In other words, in terms of the constitution, 'conventions' are rules or …show more content…

Constitutions can be used to outline where power lies and the structure of governing bodies; in the cases of both the British and American legislature, a bi-cameral system is in place to separate the two main houses and their powers. Having a second house can work as an effective check and balance on the power exercised by the executive. The House of Lords, for example, is the second chamber to the Houses of Parliament that government legislation must pass through before becoming an Act of Parliament, that has the power to delay and make amendments to Bills. An example of where the powers of the House of Lords have prevented government legislation from being passed is the recent Tax Credits Bill, which the Lords brought a huge amount of press attention to, resulting in George Osbourne's (the chancellor) budget 'U-Turn' where he scrapped the proposal entirely. The opposition in the House of
Commons chamber, in 2015 the main opposition against the Conservatives is the Labour party, also act as an immediate regulatory body, preventing the government from making irrational or extreme decisions. Last week, the Commons chamber took part in a vote on the appropriate action to be taken towards ISIL and bombing in Syria. This vote is evidence that the opposition have a say when it comes to decision making. Overall, I would argue that the biggest way in which the constitution regulates the conduct of government, is through our legislature's

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