How to use this

Two grids on the same template. The first is empty - print it, fill in each cell with a one-line note while you revise. The second is a worked example to check yourself against.

Each cell asks one question: does this row strengthen the column quality (mark +) or weaken it (mark -)? Then add a one-line note saying why. The plus and minus columns are deliberately not pre-printed - your judgement is the work.

Constitutional reform since 1997 - judgement grid + -

Empty version. Print and fill in.

Reform+ -

Improved democracy

Dispersed power

Strengthened rights

Modernised institutions

Completed

Created new problems

Case for further reform

Devolution
(1998)

Human
Rights Act
(1998)

Lords reform
(1999 / 2024)

Constitutional
Reform Act
(2005)

FTPA
(2011-2022)

Labour
programme
(2024-)

Constitutional reform since 1997 - judgement grid + -

Filled version. Use this to check your own grid - and tap any cell for the full detail behind the judgement.

Reform+ -	Improved democracy	Dispersed power	Strengthened rights	Modernised institutions	Completed	Created new problems	Case for further reform
Devolution (1998)	+Brought decisions closer to voters in three nations - with referendum consent each time.	+The biggest dispersal of power from the centre since 1972.	-Not a rights measure.	+New legislatures elected by AMS.	-England left out - the asymmetry is the era's unfinished business.	+The English Question, funding rows and a platform for independence.	+English devolution is the reform agenda's standing item.
Human Rights Act (1998)	+Citizens can enforce rights in UK courts.	+Power shifted towards judges - by Parliament's own choice.	+The central rights reform of the era.	+Brought the Convention home.	-Permanently contested - repeal attempted 2022, disapplied in part 2024.	+Set up the courts-against-Parliament argument that ran to the Rwanda Act.	+Entrenchment, a British Bill of Rights, or leaving alone - all still argued.
Lords reform (1999 / 2024)	+Heredity removed in two stages (1999, 2024).	-Composition changed; powers did not move.	-Not a rights measure.	+An almost wholly appointed working chamber.	-No elected element; bishops, appointments and size untouched.	+A more assertive chamber with no settled legitimacy basis.	+Elected, hybrid or capped - every option still on the table.
Constitutional Reform Act (2005)	-Indirect - a structural reform voters barely noticed.	+Judicial independence separated from executive and legislature.	-Not directly a rights measure.	+Supreme Court, appointments commission, the triple role ended.	+The rare completed reform of the era.	+A visible court became a political target in the Miller era.	-Few propose reversing or extending it.
FTPA (2011-2022)	-Promised stability, delivered the 2019 deadlock.	-Took dissolution from the PM, then gave it back (2022).	-Not a rights measure.	-A modernisation that failed on contact with events.	+In one sense: repealed - the experiment ended cleanly.	+The 2019 paralysis is the era's cautionary tale.	-Its repeal is the standing argument against clever constitutional fixes.
Labour programme (2024-)	+Votes at 16 proposed; hereditary peers removed.	+Further devolved powers expansion proposed.	-No rights centrepiece.	+The reform agenda reopened after a decade of Brexit dominance.	-A programme in progress.	-Too early to say.	+Its existence is the proof the 1997 settlement is unfinished.

Reform+ -

Improved democracy

Dispersed power

Strengthened rights

Modernised institutions

Completed

Created new problems

Case for further reform

Devolution
(1998)

+Brought decisions closer to voters in three nations - with referendum consent each time.

+The biggest dispersal of power from the centre since 1972.

-Not a rights measure.

+New legislatures elected by AMS.

-England left out - the asymmetry is the era's unfinished business.

+The English Question, funding rows and a platform for independence.

+English devolution is the reform agenda's standing item.

Human
Rights Act
(1998)

+Citizens can enforce rights in UK courts.

+Power shifted towards judges - by Parliament's own choice.

+The central rights reform of the era.

+Brought the Convention home.

-Permanently contested - repeal attempted 2022, disapplied in part 2024.

+Set up the courts-against-Parliament argument that ran to the Rwanda Act.

+Entrenchment, a British Bill of Rights, or leaving alone - all still argued.

Lords reform
(1999 / 2024)

+Heredity removed in two stages (1999, 2024).

-Composition changed; powers did not move.

-Not a rights measure.

+An almost wholly appointed working chamber.

-No elected element; bishops, appointments and size untouched.

+A more assertive chamber with no settled legitimacy basis.

+Elected, hybrid or capped - every option still on the table.

Constitutional
Reform Act
(2005)

-Indirect - a structural reform voters barely noticed.

+Judicial independence separated from executive and legislature.

-Not directly a rights measure.

+Supreme Court, appointments commission, the triple role ended.

+The rare completed reform of the era.

+A visible court became a political target in the Miller era.

-Few propose reversing or extending it.

FTPA
(2011-2022)

-Promised stability, delivered the 2019 deadlock.

-Took dissolution from the PM, then gave it back (2022).

-Not a rights measure.

-A modernisation that failed on contact with events.

+In one sense: repealed - the experiment ended cleanly.

+The 2019 paralysis is the era's cautionary tale.

-Its repeal is the standing argument against clever constitutional fixes.

Labour
programme
(2024-)

+Votes at 16 proposed; hereditary peers removed.

+Further devolved powers expansion proposed.

-No rights centrepiece.

+The reform agenda reopened after a decade of Brexit dominance.

-A programme in progress.

-Too early to say.

+Its existence is the proof the 1997 settlement is unfinished.

What the filled grid shows. Read down the columns. Dispersed power is the era's real achievement - devolution, the HRA and the CRA all moved power away from the centre. Completed has a single plus: the CRA. Everything else is unfinished - England left out, the Lords half-reformed twice, the HRA permanently contested, the FTPA repealed. Created new problems is plus in most rows, which is the conservative case against grand reform. The judgement line for the 30-marker: reform since 1997 transformed where power sits but finished almost nothing it started - which is why "has not gone far enough" remains arguable in both directions.