Commonwealth of Britain Bill

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The Commonwealth of Britain Bill was a bill first introduced in the House of Commons in 1991 by Tony Benn, [1] then a Labour Member of Parliament (MP). It was seconded by the future Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn.

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The Bill proposed abolishing the British monarchy, with the United Kingdom becoming a "democratic, federal and secular Commonwealth of Britain", or in effect a republic with a codified constitution. It was introduced by Benn a number of times until Benn's retirement in 2001, but never achieved a second reading. Under the Bill:

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References

  1. "Early day motion 1075 – COMMONWEALTH OF BRITAIN BILL". UK Parliament. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  2. "COMMONWEALTH OF BRITAIN (Hansard, 20 May 1991)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 20 May 1991. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  3. https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/397cb7cd-719f-46e6-bebe-a363e58d22a9/1005905.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  4. "COMMONWEALTH OF EUROPE BILL (Hansard, 12 February 1993)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 12 February 1993.

Bibliography