Abstract
This chapter addresses the question of whether it is legally possible to entrench legislation in a way that safeguards it from repeal by the traditional ‘simple majority in Commons and Lords plus Royal Assent’ formula; and, if so, under what political circumstances it might legitimately be employed. It argues that the Blair government’s commitment to establishing a pluralist political culture is head and shoulders above any of their twentieth-century predecessors. This is most evident in its devolution legislation as well as in its embrace of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty. The same observation may be made about the Blair government’s promotion of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. Yet these initiatives, desirable though they may be, can hardly be seen as engineering a constituent reformation of the political system.
