What is sovereignty?
The nutshell
Sovereignty means having the highest power — the final say over the rules. In the UK, that power sits with Parliament, which is the top law-making body and can make or change any law.
Every fact on this page comes from official guides and non-partisan explainers. Each source tag — like Parl — opens where a fact comes from.
The basics
What sovereignty means
Sovereignty means having the highest power — the final say over the rules. UK in a Changing Europe describes it as the power of a state to govern itself and make its own laws.UKICE The word can point to a whole country, or to one body inside it.
Parliament's power to make laws
In the UK, the key idea is parliamentary sovereignty — the rule that Parliament is the supreme legal authority, the top body for making laws. Parliament can create or end any law, and generally the courts cannot overrule it.Parl
Why this is unusual
Most countries have a single written constitution — one master rulebook that even a parliament must obey. The UK does not. UK in a Changing Europe notes that in many other countries a court can annul a law that breaks the constitution.UKICE In the UK, Parliament usually has the final word instead.
Sovereignty is not the same as running the country
Sovereignty is about who holds the highest legal power, not who runs things day to day. Parliament makes the law. The government carries it out. The principle sets the order between Parliament, the government and the courts, the House of Commons Library records.HoC
- The final say stays with Parliament, the part of the system that voters elect
- Any law can be changed by a future Parliament, so no rule is locked in forever
- Decisions about the law rest with elected MPs rather than with unelected judges
- Without a single written constitution, there are few hard legal limits on what Parliament can do
- In the UK a court cannot strike down an Act of Parliament, even one that many people oppose
- The real limits come mostly from political pressure rather than the law, the Institute for Government says
The deep end6 min
The classic definition
The constitutional scholar A. V. Dicey set out the classic version of parliamentary sovereignty. In this account Parliament has the right to make or unmake any law, and no person or body may override or set aside an Act of Parliament, as the House of Commons Library records.HoC The same briefing notes that the principle is named in the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020.
No Parliament can bind the next
A second part of the principle is that no Parliament can tie the hands of a future one. UK Parliament states that no Parliament can pass laws that a later Parliament cannot change.Parl So an old law can always be changed or removed by a new Parliament.
The limits in practice
Parliament has passed laws over the years that limit how far its power reaches, from devolution to human rights law. In theory those laws could be repealed, according to UK Parliament.Parl The Institute for Government describes the UK as having a mainly political constitution, where the real limits on Parliament come from political pressure rather than from the law.IfG
National sovereignty and the wider debate
Sovereignty can also mean a whole country governing itself and setting its own laws, which UK in a Changing Europe calls national sovereignty.UKICE This wider meaning was central to the debate over the UK leaving the European Union, where different sides disagreed about where power should sit. This topic sets out the mechanism, and leaves the case for each side to the groups that argue it.