Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Commonwealth of Britain Bill
The Commonwealth of Britain Bill was introduced by Tony Benn, who was then a Labour Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, first in 1991. It proposed abolishing the British monarchy, with the United Kingdom becoming a "democratic, federal and secular commonwealth", in effect, a republic with a written constitution. It has been read in Parliament a number of times since, but has never achieved a second reading. Under the bill:
- The constitutional status of the Crown would be ended;
- The Church of England would be disestablished;
- The head of state would be the President, elected by a joint sitting of both Houses of the Commonwealth Parliament;
- Many functions of the Royal Prerogative would not be transferred to the President, but instead 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 National Parliaments;
- County Court judges and magistrates would be elected; and
- British jurisdiction over Northern Ireland would be ended.
10-26-2009 08:16:03
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details


