PHILSOC DEBATE

 

03/10/19

Is Prorogation Ethical?

Attendance: 39

Initial Vote

For: 11

Against: 16

Calls of order: 5

• Well, it is legal
• And it is precedented too
• But should it be necessary? – for party conferences – for Queen’s Speech
• Does this instance contribute to a sense of social dissolving?
• Where should executive power end? - Parliament
• How divorced from partisan politics is political ethics?
• Should precedent set ethicality? – prorogation a threat to democracy – that the constitution is uncodified is wrong and leads to unethicality – precedent in this case is flexibility in length; prorogation would have been ethical had proposed length been shorter – it always does? – diachrony of ethics
• Second referendum – impeachment of people’s mandate
• Ethicality of Brexit vote – undemocratic for legislators not to legislate vs. MPs giving option to vote making it democratic
• Unethical of parliament not to have already decided or voted on a Brexit deal
• Should courts interfere in parliament? Is Supreme Court ethical and apolitical?

Concluding Vote

For: 13

Against: 15