The legislatures of the United Kingdom are derived from a number of different sources. The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body for the United Kingdom and the British overseas territories with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each having their own devolved legislatures. Each of the three major jurisdictions of the United Kingdom has its own laws and legal system.
The European Communities Act 1972, also known as the ECA 1972, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made legal provision for the accession of the United Kingdom as a member state to the three European Communities (EC) – the European Economic Community, European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the European Coal and Steel Community ; the EEC and ECSC subsequently became the European Union.
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom cabinet position, responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The post was originally named President of the Board of Agriculture and was created in 1889. In 1903, an Act was passed to transfer to the new styled Board of Agriculture and Fisheries certain powers and duties relating to the fishing industry, and the post was renamed President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Referendums in the United Kingdom are occasionally held at a national, regional or local level. Historically, national referendums are rare due to the long-standing principle of parliamentary sovereignty. Legally there is no constitutional requirement to hold a national referendum for any purpose or on any issue however the UK Parliament is free to legislate through an Act of Parliament for a referendum to be held on any question at any time.
The British Nationality Act 1981 (c. 61) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning British nationality since 1 January 1983.
The Ireland Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to deal with the consequences of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 as passed by the Irish parliament, the Oireachtas.
A croft is a traditional Scottish term for a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer, especially in rural areas. (In Northern England, Crofter was a term connected with the textiles industry; someone who bleached cloth prior to dyeing, laying it out in fields or 'crofts' )
In the United Kingdom, devolved matters are the areas of public policy where the Parliament of the United Kingdom has devolved its legislative power to the national legislatures of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, while reserved matters and excepted matters are the areas where the UK Parliament retains exclusive power to legislate.
The Forfeiture Act 1870 or the Felony Act 1870 is a British act of Parliament that abolished the automatic forfeiture of goods and land as a punishment for treason and felony. It does not apply to Scotland, which did not fully abolish forfeiture until the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1949. Prior to the act being passed, a person convicted of treason or felony automatically and permanently forfeited all of his lands and possessions to the Crown. The old offence of praemunire, which was also punished with forfeiture, was only a misdemeanour, and so the act did not apply to it.
Agriculture in the United Kingdom uses 70% of the country's land area, employs 1% of its workforce and contributes 0.5% of its gross value added. The UK currently produces about 54% of its domestic food consumption.
The constitution of the United Kingdom comprises the written and unwritten arrangements that establish the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a political body. Unlike in most countries, no official attempt has been made to codify such arrangements into a single document, thus it is known as an uncodified constitution. This enables the constitution to be easily changed as no provisions are formally entrenched.
The Agricultural Wages Act 1948 was a UK Act of Parliament under which the Agricultural Wages Board regulated the amount that farm workers were paid, in order to guarantee a fair minimum wage scale, depending, for example, on type of work, or years of experience. After the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 was introduced, agricultural wages tended to be slightly higher than those at the minimum. However, the Conservative-Liberal-Democrat coalition government decided to allow farm worker wages to be reduced by repealing most of the 1948 Act in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. This did not affect Scotland.
The Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) was a non-departmental government body which regulated minimum wages for farm workers in England and Wales. The AWB was abolished in the Conservative led government's "bonfire of the quangos" after the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA).
The Referendum Act 1975 also known at the time as the Referendum Bill was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which made legal provision for the holding of a consultative referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Communities (EC)—generally known at the time in the UK, with reference to their main component, the European Economic Community (EEC) as stipulated in the Act, also known at the time as the "Common Market". The Referendum Bill was introduced to the House of Commons by the Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council Edward Short on 26 March 1975; on its second reading on 10 April 1975, MPs voted 312–248 in favour of holding the referendum—which came the day after they voted to stay in the European Communities on the new terms set out in the renegotiation.
This is a list of current, amended, spent and repealed acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom relating to its former membership and current relationship to the European Communities and the European Union from 1972 onwards.
The Terms of Withdrawal from EU (Referendum) Bills were a series of private member's bills of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make provision for the holding of a second referendum in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar on whether or not to leave the European Union either before Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty can be triggered or following the conclusion of negotiations by the Welsh Labour MP Geraint Davies. The first version of this bill was presented in the 2016–2017 session of Parliament to the House of Commons and received its first reading on 6 July 2016 but lapsed when Parliament was dissolved. The Government triggered Article 50 at the end of March 2017.
The European Communities Act 1972 (Repeal) Bills were a series of private member's bills of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make provision for the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972 and end the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union which at the time of the first bill being presented to Parliament for its first reading on 20 June 2012 by the then prominent Eurosceptic Conservative MP for Clacton Douglas Carswell was approaching its 40th anniversary of being on the statute book. On 26 October 2012 the first bill received its second reading with a half hour debate in the Commons however at the time it did not carry the wider support of the Conservative Party and failed to progress any further before the then current session of Parliament ended. The first bill is also notable for being the first ever private members bill ever to be crowd funded.
