A Federal UK

Need for a Written Constitution.

An unwritten (non-codified) constitution just won’t do. Politicians can hide behind the fact that since the current British Constitution is hidden from plain sight, they can get away with all sorts of things without anyone noticing. You always have to rely on so called experts to explain things to you. With a written constitution they can’t do that, and would have to tow the line more carefully. More importantly, every household in the UK could have a copy of a written constitution, so that ordinary people can know what is allowed and what isn’t in their daily lives politically and legally, socially and nationally.

Generally a written constitution (codified), has a beginning a middle and an end like most written documents. Sometimes these divisions aren’t as easy to define. This is the case with the American Constitution. However, only when you read the US Constitution do you get some sense of organization. Yet at the end of the constitution you get what’s called ‘The Bill of Rights’, which are called in the text of that constitution, Amendments. I don’t know about you but that word seems to relate to things added as an afterthought, rather than sections that are integral to a major piece of work.

So why should there be a need for a written constitution for the UK? Since 1998 when devolution was initiated by New Labour, not only did a great many people not know about it, just as many who did know of it didn’t properly know the consequences of it’s imposition. Not only does this politically sensitive imbalance need sorting out, a written constitution is the best way of detailing how that is to be done, but also allows people to know what place they have in the great scheme of things. It also shows people what their rights and freedoms are, in a way that no police officer, government official or politician can ever deny them. The greatest thing is that should anyone try to deny the people their rights and freedoms, they can be protected by testing those rights and freedoms in court. Since such rights and freedoms are clearly written in a document that everyone can own, it will be much harder for anyone to deny the people those rights and freedoms. That is the most important reason why we should have a written constitution.