From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Commonwealth of Britain Bill was a
bill first introduced in the
House of Commons in 1991 by
Tony Benn ,
[1] then a
Labour
Member of Parliament (MP). It was seconded by the future
Leader of the Labour Party ,
Jeremy Corbyn .
The Bill proposed abolishing the
British monarchy , with the
United Kingdom becoming a "democratic, federal and secular Commonwealth of Britain", or in effect a
republic with a codified
constitution . It was introduced by Benn a number of times until Benn's retirement in
2001 , but never achieved a
second reading . Under the Bill:
The monarchy would be abolished and the constitutional status of
the Crown ended;
The
Church of England would be
disestablished ;
The
head of state would be a
president , elected by a joint sitting of both Houses of the Commonwealth Parliament;
The functions of the
royal prerogative would be transferred to Parliament;
The
Privy Council would be abolished, and replaced by a
Council of State ;
The
House of Lords would be replaced by an elected House of the People, with equal representation of men and women;
The
House of Commons would similarly have equal representation of men and women;
England ,
Scotland and
Wales would have their own devolved National Parliaments with responsibility for devolved matters as agreed;
County Court judges and
magistrates would be elected; and
British jurisdiction over
Northern Ireland would be ended.
The
judiciary would be reformed and a National Legal Service would be created.
The Constitution would be codified and an amendment process established.
The voting age would be lowered from 18 to 16.
MPs and other officials would swear oaths to the Constitution, not the Crown.
[2]
See also
References