Ruby Ladlow

To what extent has the location of sovereignty in the UK changed in recent years?
Sovereignty is in essence ultimate and unchallengeable power.
Parliamentary Sovereignty, which makes Parliament the supreme legal authority in the UK, is threatened by devolution. Devolution was the transfer of power to subnational governments, this changed the UK into a quasifederal state; central government does not make all domestic policies, this means that laws passed in Westminster do not apply across the entire territory of the UK. The shift of Westminster’s power has led to a raft of different legislation emanating from these new bodies. This is illustrated by the fact that in England students pay fees for University whereas Scotland decided to keep university fees completely free. The devolution of power has put a constraint on Parliamentary Sovereignty. However it can be argued that devolution preserves in principle the sovereignty of Parliament.
The Westminster Parliament could continue to legislate for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland even on devolved matters; and it can, if it wishes, simply abolish the devolved bodies by a simple Act of Parliament, as it did with the Northern Ireland Parliament in 1972.
Secondly, the UK's legal sovereignty is challenged by the EU. The membership of the EU, along with the introduction of the Human Rights Act
1998, has diminished the supremacy of Parliament. The legal basis for
British Membership was provided by the European Communities Act 1972, the constitutional implications of this act meant that EU regulations did not need to receive an explicit assent of parliament before they become binding. EU law also has precedence over domestic British law which led to
British law being amended. A key example being the 1990 Factortame case which resulted in the Merchant shipping act being disapplied as it