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Crown Prerogatives (Parliamentary Control) Bill

This is the text of the Crown Prerogatives (Parliamentary Control) Bill, as presented to the House of Commons on 3 March 1999.

 
 
  
Crown Prerogatives (Parliamentary Control) Bill
 
 
 
 
ARRANGEMENT OF CLAUSES
Clause 
1.Exercise of Crown prerogatives.
2.Motions in pursuance of section 1.
3.Short title.
 

 

 
 
A

B I L L

TO

Make the exercise of certain Crown prerogatives subject to the assent of the House of Commons.

Whereas Crown prerogatives go back to the middle ages through periods of history extending well before and long after the universal adult suffrage was introduced and have no democratic legitimacy;

And whereas these Crown prerogatives are, by long-established custom and practice, now almost all exercised solely by the Prime Minister without any legal or constitutional requirement for the House of Commons to be informed, to consider, or to decide whether or not they should be exercised in any particular way at any particular time;

And whereas these same Crown prerogatives are used by Ministers of the Crown in the European Union to give their assent to European legislation which has legal effect in the United Kingdom and may supersede statutes passed by the United Kingdom Parliament which are in conflict with it;

And whereas the Crown prerogative of making war, without the prior consent of Parliament, can endanger the peoples of these islands without the prior consent of their representatives in the House of Commons;

And whereas the powers of patronage vested in the Crown also allow the Prime Minister of the day to appoint archbishops and bishops, judges, peers, Ministers and United Kingdom commissioners to the European Union and make many other important public appointments, all without any requirement to seek or secure the consent of Parliament;

And whereas the same powers, exercised in the form of advice to the Crown, Can secure the dissolution of Parliament before the end of its statutory life without the House of Commons having any opportunity of considering alternatives;

And whereas these powers, in the hands of one person, may be abused, and have in the past been abused, in the absence of any provision for democratic accountability to Parliament and those elected to serve in it;

And whereas the changes now being made to the constitution of the United Kingdom are designed to share power with the many rather than limiting it to the few:-

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
 

Exercise of Crown prerogatives.     1. - (1) The following Crown prerogatives, listed below, shall not be exercised on any occasion unless the assent of the House of Commons has first been obtained-
 
 
    (a) to dissolve Parliament before the expiry of the five year period laid down by statute;
 
    (b) to invite a person to form an administration;
 
    (c) to declare war or commit United Kingdom forces to armed conflict, save in self-defence;
 
    (d) to sign or ratify treaties;
 
    (e) to recognize foreign governments;
 
    (f) to assent to any European Community legislation;
 
    (g) to appoint bishops, judges, peers, Ministers, European commissioners, ambassadors or the chairs of public bodies;
 
    (h) to establish Royal commissions;
 
    (i) to make Orders in Council, other than under statutory powers which make such Orders subject to approval by resolution of the House of Commons;
 
    (j) to exercise executive powers not conferred by statute;
 
    (k) to declare a state of emergency.
Motions in pursuance of section 1.     2. Proposals relating to the exercise of the powers listed in section 1 shall be published and submitted to the House of Commons in the form of a motion requiring an affirmative resolution before they shall have legal effect or come into force.
 
Short title.     3. This Act may be cited as the Crown Prerogatives (Parliamentary Control) Act 1999.
 
 

 
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