Claim 06a8bf01Checked 09 Jul 2026
Partly True/FalseOn the truth scale
“Those things are very much under threat.”
Reasoning & Evidence09 Jul 2026
The claim is too broad to treat as fully true or false. In 2011, UK democratic and judicial institutions were still functioning normally: Freedom House rated the United Kingdom a Free electoral democracy with the highest political-rights and civil-liberties scores, and the World Justice Project said the UK court system was independent and free of undue influence. (refworld.org) But there were real contemporaneous concerns about constitutional process and liberties: the House of Lords Constitution Committee said the UK had no agreed process for significant constitutional change and criticized rushed reforms, and it said proposed powers in the Protection of Freedoms Bill gave the government too much power. (publications.parliament.uk) So the evidence supports some pressure on specific parts of the system, but not the stronger implication that Britain’s parliamentary democracy and judicial system were broadly, imminently, or exceptionally under threat. Sources: Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2011 - United Kingdom (https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/freehou/2011/80644); World Justice Project, WJP Rule of Law Index 2011 Report (https://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/wjproli2011_0.pdf); House of Lords Constitution Committee, The Process of Constitutional Change (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201012/ldselect/ldconst/177/177.pdf); UK Parliament, Protection of Freedoms Bill: second reading (https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/news-by-year/2011/november/protection-of-freedoms-bill-2nd-reading/).
From article
I think the fact that, whilst our history is not perfect – no country’s is – I think we have in the last few centuries contributed a lot more good than bad to the world. I think the way that we – through civil war and evolution – put together a form of parliamentary democracy that was viewed by the rest of the world as a civilised model to adopt. And, I think, to have had, since Magna Carta, an evolving but very stable and sound judicial system that actually gives the individual of this country much greater liberty and protection from the state than virtually anywhere else in the world.
I see those things as being very important, and I see those things as being very much under threat.
Sources opened+ 61 search hits considered
| [1] | parliament.uk |
| [2] | refworld.org |
| [3] | worldjusticeproject.org |
| [4] | publications.parliament.uk |