2017 British Constitutional Reforms (Fascist Coup Britain

The 2017 British Constitutional Reforms were a series of reforms to the British constitution proposed by the governing Democratic Coalition. The reforms were designed to both reduce the cost of politics within the British Republic as well as streamlining the processes of government.

Background
The basis for constitutional reform was lain in the 2015 general election in which the Democratic Coalition pledged to reform the constitution and subsequently won a parliamentary majority, as a result they set about beginning reforms to the Constitution forming an all party commission to draw up plans for reform.

State Reform
The states of the British Republic were reformed significantly with the state of England being abolished and being replaced by 10 provinces and 2 city states, those provinces and states being: Alongside the abolition of England as a state the states of Scotland, Wales and Ulster and Mann were reformed into nations alongside the creation of Cornwall as an additional nation.
 * 1) East Anglia
 * 2) Lindsey
 * 3) Middle Anglia
 * 4) East Wessex
 * 5) West Wessex
 * 6) Hwicce
 * 7) Kent-Sussex
 * 8) Mercia
 * 9) Yorkshire
 * 10) Northumbria
 * 11) London Capital Territory
 * 12) Manchester-Merseyside City State

Each province nation and city state is governed by an elected assembly with Provinces being led by a Premier, Nations by a First Minister and Cities by a Mayor each of which is elected by the Assembly.

Senate Election
The reforms saw the end of the direct election of the senate citing excessive costs of annual elections. Instead the senate would be indirectly elected by the assemblies of the provinces nations and city states.

The system of indirect election saw each assembly allotted several senators to be elected by the single transferable vote in provinces and city states and party list proportional representation in nations with the amount of senators being allotted at: These senators are elected in halves every 3 years for 6 year terms.
 * Provinces: 10 senators
 * Nations: 30 senators
 * City States: 10 senators

Alongside these 240 senators there are another 80 of whom 60 are still directly elected, but instead of by first past the post, these senators are elected from a single nation-wide constituency by proportional representation; whilst a further 20 senators are appointed on a non partisan basis.

The powers of the senate remain largely unaltered with the senate largely serving as a reviewing chamber, which, whilst able to vote down legislation, can ultimately be overruled by the Legislative Assembly in the event of a deadlock, alongside these limited powers the senate is also unable to reject key finance bills or determine the composition of the government.

Presidential Election
The direct election of the President was also abolished, being replaced by an electoral college composed of the members of the Legislative Assembly, Senate and Provincial, National and City Assemblies. To be elected the Presidential candidate must achieve an overall majority of votes amongst all chambers in the first three rounds and if all three prove inconclusive than a simple majority of the overall college is all that is required in any subsequent rounds.

Alongside the abolition of direct election the term length of the President was reduced from seven years to five, with an early election being called in the event of the President resigning within six months of the end of their term.

Passage of Reforms Through Parliament
The reforms faced some difficulty passing through Parliament owing to the requirement of any constitutional reform requiring a two thirds majority in both Chambers as well as the approval of all state parliaments. Achieving such votes required significant negotiation amongst the Parties. However the necessary votes were ultimately secured with the Social and Liberal Democrats agreeing to secure the reforms in exchange for the continuation of the use of single transferable vote in elections to the legislative assembly rather than first past the post as had initially been proposed in the reforms, alongside the dropping of a proposed referendum on the restoration of the monarchy. With the support of the SLD the reforms ultimately achieved the necessary votes with the agreement of state governments.