UK Constitutional Law Association
1. Responsible Government
Parliament is an institution of responsible government. The essence of the common law principle of responsible government is the constitution of a regime of confidence: a government is required to carry the confidence of Parliament. This is the fundamental connexion of the executive (the Government) to the Parliament.
The European Union (Withdrawal) (No 2) Act 2019 does two main things. It requires the Prime Minister to write a wholly dictated letter seeking a further extension of the Brexit date, and it requires from the executive certain reports to the Parliament as to progress in the Brexit negotiations. The first I shall show is unconstitutional because it is (a) inconsistent with the principle of responsible governance, (b) it is undemocratic, and (c) it is not an Act of real legislation at all. But the second is clearly valid: progress reports by the executive to the Parliament are a…
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