Where does sovereignty lie in the UK?

Where does Sovereignty lie in the UK?

The UK is a parliamentary democracy, with an un-codified constitution that is also unwritten, never the less contained with in this constitution is the article which states where the UK's sovereignty lies. Sovereignty is the legitimate and exclusive right to exercise power in a specific area, basically stating that sovereignty is a form of ultimate/ supreme power. In the UK the Parliament, more specifically the House of Commons, have the power to pass or reject laws and legislation, however is this really where the Sovereignty lies?


Firstly, in the UK's constitution it states that Parliament holds supreme authority in the UK, therefore it is the only real body in the UK which is able to pass, reject or remove laws. Additionally almost all key decisions have to go through parliament in order to become legitimised, however issues regarding military and foreign affairs can be passed and decided by the Prime Minister, additionally parliament is not bound by its predecessors, for example this states that any previous parliaments cannot influence the current one. Although some might argue that local councils have control of their constituencies it is actually parliament that allows them to do this, as power is dedicated to them by parliament, yet this power can be repealed if necessary. Therefore these points make it clear that parliament holds true power in the UK, and as a democracy it shares this to various places.

On the other hand parliamentary sovereignty can be argued due to a variety of reasons, to begin with the UK is part of the European Union meaning that in many cases UK law is inferior to that of the laws set in place by the EU, the Treaty of Rome in 1973 made this point apparent. Therefore it is debated that power has been stolen by the European Union and is limiting the UK's sovereignty, never the less parliament can vote and withdraw from the EU at any time. Furthermore since the introduction of the fixed term act an election is held every 5 years, some argue that at this point sovereignty really lies with the people as its their votes that holds true power, upon the end of the election power is transferred back to parliament.

Overall despite various arguments against where sovereignty lies, its clear to say that parliament holds the sovereignty. The fact that its written in to the constitution, via a statute, only reinforces this point, some say that with devolution the parliament lost some of its sovereignty however this was merely parliament spreading out its supreme power, and it could very easily take all of that power back if it wished. A parliament being sovereign is somewhat common place in the political world with countries such as India and Canada following suit.