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The Commonwealth of Britain Bill was introduced by Tony Benn, who was then a Labour MP in the House of Commons, first in 1991.
It proposed abolishing the British monarchy, with the United Kingdom becoming a 'democratic, federal and secular commonwealth', in effect, a republic with a written constitution. Under the bill:
It has been read in Parliament a number of times since, but has never achieved a second reading.
Britain shall be a democratic, secular, federal Commonwealth comprising the Nations of England, Scotland and Wales, in association with such islands as have historically been linked to the United Kingdom to be designated under arrangemnets made under section 52 below.
(1) The Commonwealth shall be dedicated to the maintenance of the welfare of its citizens, in whom all sovereign power shall be vested, to be exercised by them, and on their behalf, by the representatives whom they shall elect.
(2) Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect for the purposes of providing for and entrenching certain basic and fundamental human rights.
(1) It shall be the duty of the President, the Government and the Courts to use their best endeavours to secure and safeguard these rights.
(2) The House of Commons shall appoint a Human Rights Commissioner, responsible to Parliament ("the Commissioner"), who shall be reponsible for monitoring the observance of thse rights.
(3) Any person who believes that he or she is denied his or her rights may petition the Commonwealth Parliament or as the Human Rights Commissioner to investigate such a complaint, and the Commissioner may examine the claim and submit a report upon it: any such report shall be published, and the House of Commons shall decide upon it within twelve months of publication.
The High Court established under section 24 below may undertake a judicial review of any administrative act of the Executive, on application by any person complaining of a denial of one or more rights set out in Schedule 1 to this Act.
The House of Commons or the House of the People may review any decision of the High Court if the Human Rights Commissioner has reported that any person has been denied rights as a result of a decision of the Courts, and may pass a resolution requesting the High Court to re-examine the matter, upon which the High Court shall undertake such a re-examination.
(1) A British citizen who has not been resident abroad for more than the immediately previous five years shall be entitled to register and to vote in all parliamentary and local elections.
(2) A person who has been resident in Britain for more than five years may register and shall have the same right to vote in all parliamentary and local elections.
(3) A person who is eligible to vote may exercise that right from the date of that person's sixteenth birthday.
All oaths of allegiance taken by any person to the Crown, or by the Crown on the occasion of the Coronation, and all other oaths taken by any other person in authority, including judges, magistrates, bishops, members of the armed forces or civil service, members of parliament and Privy Counsellors are hereby declared to be null and void, and, where appropriate, are replaced by the words set out in Schedule 2 to this Act.
(1) The Commonwealth Parliament -
(a) shall consist of two Houses, the House of Commons and the House of the People;
(b) shall be elected for a fixed term of four years; and
(c) shall not be dissolved before the expiry of that period, unless pursuant to section 17(3) or (4) below.
(2) All elections shall be conducted on the basis of one person one vote from the age of sixteen, and all electors shall be eligible to be candidates, subject only to any disqualification for which the Commonwealth Parliament may provide.
(1) The House of Commons shall-
(a) decide its procedure;
(b) elect its Speaker;
(c) exercise the supreme legislative power; and
(d) elect the government.
(2) The government shall be accountable for all its actions to the House of Commons.
(3) The boundaries of House of Commons constituencies shall be determined on the recommendation of the Boundary Commission under arrangements made under section 52 below, and each constituency shall elect one man and one woman to the House of Commons.
(1) The House of the People shall be elected in such a way as to represent England, Scotland and Wales in proportion to their populations.
(2) Half of the members of the House of the People shall be women and half shall be men.
(3) Further provision for the establishment of the House of the People may be made under section 52 below.
(1) Bills may be introduced into either House of Parliament.
(2) Bills or motions of a character now requiring the consent or recommendation of the Crown shall require the consent or recommendation of the Government before they are proceeded with, but the House of Commons may, by resolution, proceed with such a bill or motion without that consent or recommendation.
(3) Primary legislation shall be considered by each House in turn.
(4)(a) The House of the People may amend bills brought from the House of Commons; and
(b) bills brought from, and amendments made by, the House of the People may be accepted or rejected by the House of Commons, and its decision shall be final.
(5) The House of the People may reject a bill brought from the House of Commons, whereupon the bill shall be returned to the House of Commons which may, after one calendar month has elapsed, again pass the bill without amendment, in which case the Speaker of the House of Commons shall issue his certificate to that effect and the bill shall be presented to the President for his assent forthwith.
(6) The worlds of enactment of all bills shall be:
"Be it enacted by the Authority of the President and Commonwealth Parliament, as follows:"
(7) Each stautory instrument passed by the House of Commons shall be referred to the House of the People, which shall have the power to delay it for a maximum of one month, after which it shall have effect, provided that the House of Commons so further resolves.
(1) Where legislation passed by the Commonwealth Parliament conflicts with any directive or regulation issued or approved by the Council of Ministers or the Commission of the European Communities, Brtish legislation shall prevail, and shall be so accepted by Brtish courts.
(2) Where the House of Commons, by resolution, determines that any directive or regulation of the European Communities should not apply in Britain, such resolution may not be questioned in Brtish courts.
(1) There shall be a President elected from amongst their number, by a two-thirds majority, by both Houses of Parliament sitting together, to serve for a three year term and to be eligible for re-election for one further three year term.
(2) If the office of President is vacant, or if the President is unable to discharge the duties of the Presidency, the Speaker of the House of Commons shall act as President until the President is able to discharge the duties of the Presidency or until a new President is elected.
(1)(a) The powers no exercised under Crown prerogative shall be exercised by the President, who shall act solely upon the advice of the Prime Minister, or of a resolution of the House of Comons (which shall prevail if such resolution is in conflict with the advice of the Prime Minister);
(b) the exercise of such powers shall require the assent of the House of Comons before having effect; and
(c) the powers of the President shall include power-
? to give assent to the passage of legislation;
? to dissolve Parliament;
? to invite a person to attempt to form an administration;
? to make orders for any purpose for which Orders in Council were required before the coming into force of this Act;
? to declare war;
? to order British forces into armed conflict;
? to make peace;
? to recognise foreign governments;
? to sign or ratify treaties;
? to grant pardons;
? to grant charters;
? to make appointments;
? to establish commissions of inquiry;
? to grant commissions in the armed forces;
? to issue orders; and
? to exercise other executive powers not conferred by statute.
(2) Instruments previously made by Order in Council and which are legislative in character, after being made by the President, shall be brought in as Bills.
(3) Instruments exercising the general administrative powes of the President shall be published and laid before the House of Commons for approval by resolution of that House.
—(1) There shall be a Council of State consisting of twenty-four persons, of whom twelve shall be men and twelve shall be women.
(2) Half of the members of the Council of State shall be elected by the House of Commons and half by the House of the people from among its members.
(3) Each member shall serve for a period of two years.
—(1) In the event of no government being in office, the powers of government shal be vested in the Council of State, and all decisions made by the Council of State shall be subject to confirmation by the House of Commons.
(2) The President shall preside over the Council of State and shall report its decisions to both Houses of Parliament.
—(1)The House of Commons shall, by a simple majority, elect one of its members to form a government as Prime Minister, and that person shall present the Government to the House of Commons for approval as awhole, by resolution, before, he or she takes office.
(2)All executive power shall be vested in the government for so long as it enjoys a majority in the House of Commons, or until the day of first meeting of a new Parliament.
(3) In the event of a government being defeated in the House of Commons on a matter of confidence, the Prime Minister shall tender his or her resignation forthwith to the President who shall consult widely to determine who might be best able to form a new administration, and shall issue an invitation to that person to attempt to do so, and to present his or her government to the House of Commons for approval.
(4)Parliament shall be dissolved before the expiry of its term only if —
(a) no person attemptong to form a government has secured the aproval of the House of Commons for that government:
(b) the President recommends a dissolution: and
(c) the House of Commons votes in favour of a dissolution.
and in such a case there shall be a general election to elect a new Parliament for the unexpired term of the previous Parliament.
—(1)(a) In the Public Records Act 1958 references to "for years" shall be substitued for references to "thirty years".
(b) In section 5(1) of that Act the words from "created" to the end of the subsection, and section 5(2), shall be omitted.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection 1 above, a Minister may certify that a paper shoud remain secret, and any such certificate shall be laid before the House of Commons for approval by resolution.
(3) The Official Secrets Acts 1911, 1920, 1939 and 1989 are hereby repealed.
(4) All official information shall be published, or made available on request, save that categories of information relating to the following subjects may be protected by order subject to approval by resolution:
(i) defence and security matters:
(ii) economic policy:
(iii) international relations: and
(iv) personal data:
(5) It shall be a criminal offence to disclose protected information, and penalties and defences shall be specified by an order under section 52 below.
—(1) The legal status of all the armed forces of Britain shall depend on the passing by the House of Commons of an annual authorisation order.
(2) The Chief and Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, and the Chief of Staff of each of the three services shall be nominated by the Government and confirmed by the Defence Committee of the House of Commons before they are appointed.
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