UK Constitution: Oversight and Responsibility (Report from the Constitution Committee)

Lord Bellamy Excerpts

Friday 4th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bellamy (Con)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the wise words of the noble Baroness, Lady Alexander. I declare my present membership of the Constitution Committee, although not when the committee produced this report.

It is true that there is no single document in this country called the constitution, as there is in the United States and other countries, but it is not entirely correct to say that our constitution is unwritten. On the contrary, almost all our myriad laws, powers, judicial decisions, conventions and practices are written down somewhere, often in great detail. It is just that they are not written down in one place, in an accessible form. In consequence, much of our constitution remains a mystery as far as the general public are concerned.

With that in mind, and mindful of the powerful speech of my noble friend Lord Bates, I make three points. First, a constitution that is not fully understood, or that is partially inaccessible, may be a particular weakness in an age of political discontent. If established constitutional norms can come under challenge even in countries such as the United States, then we, with an uncodified constitution and depending also on constitutional convention, may find ourselves vulnerable. In those circumstances, it has never been more important for the general public to understand at least the basics of our constitution—parliamentary sovereignty, the rule of law, separation of powers and the devolution settlements, to name but a few. In that context, I warmly commend the publication by the Library of the other place on 23 June, Monday last week, of a most impressive briefing paper, The United Kingdom Constitution—A Mapping Exercise, which sets out over 300 pages many of the basic elements of our constitution.

But that is only a start. There should henceforth be an accepted constitutional responsibility that it is the active duty of the Executive to explain and demystify the constitution for the general public. Among many possibilities, there is a role for GOV.UK to bring together in one place, with appropriate links, an accessible source of important constitutional materials, to give one example. An active approach, led by the Government, to full openness and transparency about how the constitution works, perhaps even an updated Cabinet Office manual—as several noble Lords have already suggested and as recommended by a previous Constitution Committee—should be combined with increased civic education in schools and universities on the basic principles of our constitution.

I do not suggest that our constitution should be reduced to a single document or codified, but it should not be kept in a cupboard and brought out only in times of crisis. It should be actively woven, by education and awareness, deep into our national DNA, so that every citizen understands and can access the basic principles. I hope that the Minister will indicate whether the Government are prepared to undertake such an active project.

Secondly, on whether we need a second senior and authoritative Minister to support the Prime Minister, as the committee suggests, my respectful answer is no, for the reasons that other noble Lords have given. I simply add that many constitutional issues will arise in one way or another in relation to the rule of law, the role of the courts and access to the courts. In that respect, we already have a guardian of the constitution. Admittedly, it is only in England and Wales, but de facto it spreads out across the United Kingdom in the shape of the Lord Chancellor.

In the previous Government, I had the honour of being answerable to your Lordships for the affairs of the Ministry of Justice on behalf of the Lord Chancellor. I was given, as one is at the start of one’s duties, a list of responsibilities. Nestling among such matters as powers of attorney and the affairs of the Legal Aid Agency, I saw the awesome words, “the constitution”. I asked, “What is my responsibility for the constitution?”. I was told, “You’ve no need to worry; it’s only there just in case”. I relaxed, but only for a short while because, unfortunately, “just in case” happened almost immediately. We had the constitutional issue arising from the Horizon scandal and whether it was constitutionally appropriate for Parliament to pass legislation to quash convictions duly made by the criminal courts. In those circumstances, I suggest that only the Lord Chancellor—a senior and respected Lord Chancellor I had the great pleasure to serve under—had the authority to deal with such an issue, which he did. Whether you think the decision was right or wrong, at least the constitutional proprieties were fully observed. My conclusion is that we do not need any more formal mechanisms to safeguard our constitution. It has survived, intact, serious upheavals over the last few years.

Lastly, on a completely different point, I somewhat squirmed to read in the report that when the then Prime Minister caught Covid and became very seriously ill, the Cabinet Secretary found himself consulting constitutional academics on what he should do if the worst should happen. Surely there should be in place, as in the United States, a settled constitutional procedure to determine who is to take over ad interim immediately and automatically if, heaven forfend, the Prime Minister suddenly dies or is incapacitated. That lacuna in our present arrangements should be filled as soon as possible.