In his 1976 Dimbleby Lecture, Lord Hailsham warned of the elective dictatorship. The one thing which, in modern times, prevents the United Kingdom becoming such a dictatorship is the European Convention on Human Rights.
This enables the citizen to challenge even an Act of Parliament on the basis that it infringes the European Convention which, after all, the UK has solemnly agreed in international law to adhere to. Indeed, the UK was one of the very first signatories to the Convention and the UK has also adopted most of the protocols subsequently agreed between member states of the Council of Europe. A challenge to an Act of Parliament does not mean that the courts can say that the Act is void or “unconstitutional”.
