The balance of power in our constitution has been lost

Until recently, we used to comfort ourselves with the thought that the United Kingdom’s uncodified constitution was a great national strength. We didn’t need guidance laid down in one document because precedence, compromise and common sense were enough to ensure the smooth operation of power. As soon as a document is written, power passes from democratic institutions to courts where activist judges can interpret these documents in a political way. In Britain, this is not meant to happen. Our legal system has been seen, world over, as politically neutral, one of the most trustworthy in the world.

So what are we to make of a Supreme Court granting itself powers over the government? The courts used to refuse to adjudicate political squabbles, so why have they started now? There are two answers. One is the rise of a new breed of activist judges, who aspire to an American-style system where politicians make judicial appointments in an overtly political system. The other is two decades of constitutional reforms, which have steadily weakened the system.

The current paralysis of government can be traced back to David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s Fixed-Term Parliaments Act — a stitch-up to ensure that a Conservative prime minister could not pull the plug on his Liberal Democrat coalition partners and call an election when the polls looked favourable for the Tories. If only both parties had felt able to trust each other more on this point. Instead, they created legislation which has had the unforeseen consequence of allowing opposition parties to hold a Prime Minister hostage who does not have a majority.