Article 50 – The Article of the Lisbon Treaty that allows a country to give notice that it seeks to withdraw from the European Union.
Bill of Rights (1689) – A significant statute law which codified a number of rights of Parliament and parliamentarians, including parliamentary privilege.
Carswell Convention – A convention that looked set to emerge but failed to do so.
Cash for Access Scandal (2012) – A political scandal relating to the fact that access to senior government Ministers appeared to be being sold in return for financial donations.
Cash for Honours Scandal (2007-08) – A political scandal relating to the fact that wealthy donors to the Labour Party appeared to have been nominated for peerages.
Clause IV – The clause of the Labour Constitution that committed the party to supporting nationalisation of key industries.
Coalition Agreement – The agreement signed between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in 2010 to enable a programme for Government.
Collective Ministerial Responsibility – A convention that dictates that the government is collectively responsible for decision-making.
Common Law – This law is made by taking into account the previous conclusions of judges. This creates a judicial precedent for judges to use in the future. This is often referred to as judge made law. Importantly, it ‘fills the gaps’ left by Statute Law.
Convention – A rule that is followed, but is not legally binding. In Britain’s uncodified constitution conventions are extremely important.
Cranbourne Money – The equivalent of Short Money in the House of Lords.
Data Protection Acts – A series of acts that allow citizens access to the personal data held by bodies, both public and private. They are often confused with the Freedom of Information Act.
Denison Convention – A convention that dictates how the Speaker votes in the event of a tie in the House of Commons.
Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act (2022) – An Act of Parliament passed in 2022 which repealed the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act and returned the power of the calling of general elections to the Prime Minister.
Dissolution of Parliament – The formal term for the end of a Parliament before a general election when a new Parliament will be formed.
Early Parliamentary General Election Act (2019) – The Act passed by the Conservative Government in December 2019 that allowed them to circumvent the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act.
Ecclestone Affair – A political scandal for New Labour after it appeared that a £1 million donation to the Labour Party by F1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone, may have led to a change in policy.
Excepted Hereditary Peer – One of the 92 hereditary peers who retain the right to it in the chamber of the House of Lords.
Financial Privilege – The privilege that belongs to the House of Commons that means only they can agree to bills that raise taxes or change spending.
Fixed-Term Parliaments Act (2011) – A now repealed constitutional reform that set General Elections for a set date in five years, under which an early election could be held only if two-thirds of MPs voted for it or if a government lost a vote of no confidence.
Government-in-Waiting – The notion that the Official Opposition is ready to step into government following a General Election. A good opposition will clearly represent a ‘government in waiting’. This was the case under Blair in 1997.
Great Officers of State – The term given for the four highest offices in the UK: Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Only James Callaghan has ever held all four.
Hereditary Peer – Someone who holds a title within the peerage of Great Britain, Scotland, England or Ireland.
House of Commons – The Lower Chamber of the UK Parliament. It currently has 650 members who face election at least once every five years.
House of Lords Act (1999) – A reform bill that saw the removal of the rights of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords in all but 92 cases.
House of Lords - The Upper Chamber of the UK Parliament. It currently has 800 members. Most are Life Peers who are appointed to the chamber, however, there are also 92 hereditary peers and 26 bishops.
Individual Ministerial Responsibility – A convention that holds individual ministers to account of their actions.
Judicial Precedent – A legal principle that follows that once a court makes a decision the standard set should be followed by other judges unless there is a compelling reason to diverge from the previous judgement.
Justiciability – The term for whether an issue can be ruled on by the judiciary.
Lascelles Principles – A set of principles that formed the conventions under which the monarch could refuse a Prime Ministers request to hold an early general election.
Law Lords – The judges who made up the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords.
Life Peer – A member of the House of Lords who holds their title for the remainder of their life. These were made possible under the Life Peerages Act (1958).
Male-Preference Primogeniture – A system of inheritance that sees the eldest male child inherit the titles of their father.
Manifesto – The promises that a Government makes during a General Election campaign.
Motion of No Confidence – A mechanism in the UK Parliament via which a government can be removed in the UK.
MPs Expenses Scandal – A major political scandal in 2009 surrounding the publication of expenses relating to MPs.
Nationalisation – The process of bringing industries under the control of the Government.
New Labour – The brand of Labour bought under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown that sought to find a Third Way.
No-Deal Brexit – A Brexit that would have seen Britain withdraw from the European Union without signing a deal with the European Union. Many commentators believed that such a Brexit would have been disastrous.
Old Labour – The term now given to refer to the Labour Party before its transformation under Tony Blair in the 1990s.
Parliament Act (1911) – A significant statute law that removed the power of the House of Lords to block a bill and instead only allowed it delay a bill for two years. It also stipulated that a General Election had to be held every five years.
Parliament Act (1949) – An Act that reduced the delaying powers of the House of Lords to one year.
Parliamentary Sovereignty – A central principle of the UK constitution under which no body can overrule parliament and parliament can ‘make and unmake any law’.
People’s Budget 1909-1911 – A constitutional crisis that occurred between 1909 and 1911.
Phillips Report – A report into public financing in 2007 that recommended both donations and spending limits. Nothing was done to take the report forward.
Repeal – The term for when a piece of legislation is removed from the statute book and is therefore no longer a law.
Representative Money – The equivalent of Short Money but that which is given to parties that are abstentionist, like Sinn Fein.
Royal Prerogative – Powers that although technically belong to the monarch in reality belong to members of the Government and most significantly the Prime Ministers. These powers included the ordering of military action.
Salisbury Convention – A convention in the UK constitution under which the House of Lords do not oppose bills that were clearly part of the Government’s manifesto.
Secondary Legislation – Legislation that can be enacted by a Government Minister or another body after being enabled in primary legislation.
Sewell Convention – A convention that dictates that the Westminster Parliament will not legislate on devolved issues.
Short Money – Money given to Opposition parties in the House of Commons to enable them to carry out their parliamentary roles.
Snap Election – An election called earlier that the date required. This is a power held by Prime Ministers under the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act (2022).
Stare Decisis – A legal principle that says that points of law should be determined by precedent and that precedent should only change if necessary.
Statute Law – Laws created via Act of Parliament. They are considered the superior form of law.
Statutory Instrument – Statutory Instruments are the most common form of secondary legislation and have to be either confirmed or rejected by Parliament.
Supermajority – A majority that is above a simple majority (50% of any vote).
Third Reading – The final stage of the legislative process within each individual house. It is the Third Reading that a bill must pass in order to be passed to the other House or in order to go on to receive Royal Assent.
Third Way – A political philosophy that aims to find a centrist approach to political and economic issues.