The British constitution is like a vintage Rolls Royce, splendid in its day, giving smooth delivery of power to the privileged few, but with brakes not designed for emergencies in today's traffic.
The Scott Report shows how hard it is to stop the juggernaut of government. Parliament had no way of finding out that government policy had changed. Three businessmen who were assured, in great secrecy, that it really had changed, found themselves facing criminal charges. Senior ministers signed a document to prevent the release of papers which proved their innocence, but, by fortunate chance, the judge in the case insisted on seeing the documents for himself, and the three were acquitted.
Written constitution
It is argued that to adopt a formal written constitution would take away our flexibility to adapt to changes. Certainly the American founding fathers would be appalled at the ability of today's US Supreme Court to interpret their written constitution in favour of abortion and against religious liberty.
