[bb101]

The current conservative government is on its last legs before being banished for at least a decade. It appears they already have their eyes on the lucrative private sector and are willing to vandalise the UK with little thought to public protest.

[laputan_machine]

Labour are even more in favour of this than the tories are. Lib Dems, too. No mainstream party in the UK values your privacy.

[Roark66]

I wonder if the UK ever decides to have a written constitution. On one hand they've been doing fine without one for centuries. On the other if this law passes the parliament that's it. There is no "constitutional court" to strike it down. No "president" to "not sign it". Etc.

[cjs_ac]

> There is no "constitutional court" to strike it down.

The Supreme Court exists for this very purpose, although it is subject to Parliamentary Sovereignty[0].

> No "president" to "not sign it".

Bills do not become law until given Royal Assent by the King. The King may refuse to give Royal Assent to any bill, although this has not been done since 1708.[1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_Ki...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_assent#United_Kingdom

[zarzavat]

The UK does have a system of judicial review and various laws are classed as “constitutional” (such as the Human Rights Act) and have special protection.

The UK courts are currently weak because the government threatens their independence. But the same thing is happening in other countries such as Israel, so it’s not something that a written constitution can prevent. Ultimately the only thing that can guarantee judicial independence is for people to believe in it, and for people to take to the streets. Most British people just don’t care, that is the problem.

[daveoc64]

The problem with relying on a written consititution is that it can easily be changed.

The USA is in a position where it seems to be perpetually stuck in a 50/50 split of the elected government, so it's not possible for major constitutional reform to be passed by one party.

On the other hand, the current government in the UK has a majority of 80 MPs - if there was a written constitution, it's likely they could simply pass a law to re-write it.

[hayd]

In the US you need a super majority (of legislators or states) to amend the constitution. You'd have to do something like that. But the UK government system isn't really set up like this, there aren't the checks-and-balances of the US. (It's just civil servants undemocratically dragging their feet/slowing down processes they disagree with... which is not democratic.)

[maakjaii]

Agreed, Sir Keith Starmer honestly seems like a relic from the Cold War

[stephen_g]

He’s from the same Labour right faction of those as conservative as any Tory, just pretending to do conservatism in a nicer way. Just like Blair, who ended up doing more of Thather’s plan to chip away at privatising bits of the NHS (through PFIs on hundreds of hospitals) than Thatcher managed. Not to mention the Iraq war…

[r00fus]

Correct - NewLab, just like the DLC (a subgroup of the Democrats) over in the US.

[bb101]

I can't help but think the other parties would put forward better policies that don't alienate the electorate nor swathes of international business. Some would say the current conservative cabinet are the low-grade remnants of the recent party turmoil, and their policies demonstrate this. Unfortunately for us, they really have nothing to lose over the next year.

[dclowd9901]

You should be more like us Americans and give it up of your own volition to any private company who gives you a moment of free entertainment.

[urbandw311er]

We have been able to bug phones, homes, offices, whatever, for years to keep the country safe. If enough people had a major issue with that they’d start a new political party and vote it in.

Personally I quite like it. Evidence suggests there’s quite a lot of people trying to blow us up and stuff.

[KerrAvon]

It’s really astonishing that Joe Biden seems to be generally to the left of the Labour party leadership. By USA standards Biden is a centrist moderate. We had the good sense to eject the Mark Penn “must go right-wing” types from mainstream Democratic circles; why didn’t Labour follow this path too?

[sanitycheck]

We have recently seen what happens when somebody even slightly left of centre gets anywhere near power in the UK.

Our major parties are now squashed into the spectrum between the mean US Democrat and the mean US Republican, it's quite depressing.

[downWidOutaFite]

Are you referring to Jeremy Corbyn? He was brought down by a dishonest campaign by the Jewish lobby.

[sanitycheck]

It started well before the antisemitism nonsense, MPs in his own party were openly discussing a challenge before the results were even in for the 2015 leadership election.

[yung_steezy]

I think you might have inadvertently revealed why he was so toxic to the electorate here

[shipscode]

You’ve gotta be in a wild echo chamber if you consider Biden centrist moderate.

[nxx788]

Right? He's clearly center right. Sanders or Warren or AoC are centrist moderates. Or maybe center left.

Kshama Sawant is a leftist. There are folks left of her.

If you don't see Biden as centrist or even center right, you have a narrow view of the spectrum.