Chapter 13 System of Government

Chapter 13 System of Government

• What is the basic structure of the central government of the United Kingdom?

• What is the role of the Sovereign?• What are the major responsibilities of Prime

Minister and Cabinet in Britain?• How do you understand the British Civil

Service system: its past and present?• How are the Members of Parliament in the

House of Commons elected? How are those in the House of Lords selected?

A 1 Basic Structure of UK Central Government

Monarch(non-political)

Monarch(non-political)

Legislature---ParliamentLegislature

---Parliament

Executive

Executive

Judiciary (non-political)Judiciary

(non-political)

House of Commons (political)

House of Commons (political)

House of Lords(semi-political)

House of Lords(semi-political)

Prime Minister &

Cabinet (political)

Prime Minister &

Cabinet (political)

Ministers&

Civil service(non-political)

Ministers&

Civil service(non-political)

Supreme CourtSupreme Court

Court of Appeal Court of Appeal

The Monarch

• Constitutional Head of State

• Bound by statute:

• not be a Roman Catholic or marry a Roman Catholic

• on the death of a monarch, the oldest male heir

The Crown is the permanent

The Monarch

• Queen Elizabeth II• Real name: Elizabeth

Alexandra Mary Windsor

• Birth: 21 April 1926 in London

• Children: 3 sons, 1 daughter

Personifies the state

an integral part of the legislature

head of the executive

head of the judiciary

commander-in-chief of all armed forces of the Crown

the ‘supreme Governor’ of the Church of England

The Monarch

• Q1 If there were a referendum on the issue, would you favour Britain becoming a republic or remaining a monarchy?

• Republic 19%

• Monarchy 70%

• Would not vote 3%

• Don't know 8%

The System of Government

• Representative Democracy

• AKA Parliamentary Democracy

• Elected representatives: P216

• Rights (civil liberties)

• The separation of powers

The Crown is the permanent

Parliamentary Sovereignty

• Parliamentary Sovereignty – Parliamentary Supremacy :absolute & ultimate power within the British system

• Can pass, repeal and alter any of Britain’s laws

• A law passed by Parliament– cannot be declared as unconstitutional (the European Court)

Parliamentary Elections

• Parliament ‘dissolved’—general elections• 659 constituencies—659 MPs, the House of Co

mmons • The relative majority method: the ‘first past the p

ost’ (FPTP) principle -- the candidate with more votes than any other is elected

• To form a government: to win most seats (although not necessarily most votes) or to have the support of a majority of members in the House of Commons

Legislature

• Parliament: highest legislative authority–making and repealing UK law

• Three constituent parts (the two-chamber system):

• House of Commons

• House of Lords

• Crown (ceremonial)

Palace of Westminster—home of government

• House of Lords

• The Lord Chancellor (seat--the Woolsack)

• Limited responsibility

• Hereditary Peers or Peeresses; Life Peers; bishops

• Elected & appointed

• House of Commons

• The Speaker

• Keeping order and making sure rules are followed

• Elected MPs: General Elections (5 years)

• By-elections

Constituency

House of Commons

• 1 Speaker• 2 Pages• 3 Government Members*• 4 Opposition Members*• 5 Prime Minister• 6 Leader of the Official Op

position• 7 Leader of the Second L

argest Party in Opposition• 8 Clerk and Table Officers• 9 Mace• 10 Hansard Reporters• 11 Sergeant-at-Arms• 12 The Bar• 13 Interpreters• 14 Press Gallery• 15 Public Gallery• 16 Official Gallery• 17 Leader of the Oppositi

on’s Gallery• 18 Members’ Gallery

• 19 Members’ Gallery• 20 Members’ Gallery• 21 Speaker’s Gallery• 22 Senate Gallery• 23 T.V. Cameras

What Goes on in the House of Commons? (P220)

• Debates—issues of national and international importance

• The Speaker—presding over debates • The MPs—voting for or against the m

otion; ‘lobbies’, ‘aye’, ‘no’

What Goes on in the House of Commons cont.

• Question Time

• Four times a week; each 55 minutes

• Questions by MPs

• Short, oral answers by government ministers

• The PM: 30 minutes, once a week

Executive (P215)

• EXECUTIVE(polictical) • PM, leader of majority p

arty• ‘Ministers’ or ‘Secreta

ries of State’ • All MPs (front benchers

+ backbenchers• Cabinet • Junior Ministers

• Civil Service(non-political)

• Permanent officials• ‘mandarins’ (accounta

ble to Parliament)

A 2 The Executive (P217)

• The State Opening of Parliament: Queen’s speech, drawn up by the Government and approved by the Cabinet

• An outline of the Government's policies and proposed legislative programme for the new parliamentary session.

The State Opening of ParliamentMay, 2005

• From Buckingham to Westminster

• Sovereign’s Entrance at Westminster

The Prime Minister

• the leader of his party in the House of Commons

• the head of government

• chief spokesman for the government

• represents the country abroad

• Informs the Queen of government decisions

The Prime Minister & the Cabinet

• Can select cabinet

• hand out departmental positions, dismiss ministers

• amalgamate or split government departments

• decide the agenda for cabinet meetings

The PM & the government

• directs and controls policy for the government

• exercises wide powers of patronage and appointments in the civil service, church and judiciary

• decides the date for a general election within the five-year term

• decides the timetable of government legislation in the House

Downing 10, No. 10

The Cabinet ***

• The Cabinet: appointed by PM• The Cabinet Ministers: 15-20 MPs • Shadow Cabinet: oppositions• Collective responsibility: the Cabinet acting unan

imously as a single unit• Ministerial responsibility: the ministers responsibl

e for the work of their own department and answerable to parliament about it (mistakes—resignation)

• Cabinet “reshuffles”: PM reassigning responsibilities or dropping members

The Cabinet ***

• Biggest and most important departments • The Treasury: the financial running of the countr

y including taxation• The Home Office: internal affairs within the UK,

eg. law and order and the court system• The Foreign Office: dealings with foreign govern

ments• The Department for Education• The Health and Social Security Department• The Trade and Industry Department • The Agriculture and Fisheries Department

The Civil Service (P217)

• Civil servants: servants of the Crown, no political or judicial office, paid with public money, not elected

• Serve the elected political government of the day

• Career officials• Top civil servants: advice about policy, imp

lementing the policies• A rigorous civil service exam

THE CIVIL SERVICE

Permanent, well-educated elite, dominated by Oxbridge (75%) &politically neutral (unlike USA)

Recruited by meritrocracy (Northcote-Trevalyan reforms)

Anonymous (since Minister takes responsibility)

Judiciary

• The Constitutional Reform Act 2005: provision for the creation of a new Supreme Court for the UK

• The new Supreme Court: a UK body legally separate from the England and Wales Courts; also the Supreme Court of both Scotland and Northern Ireland

• The office of Lord Chancellor: no longer official head of judiciary

Judiciary

• The new, independent Supreme Court: independent appointments system, own staff and budget, own building

• Scheduled to be open: October 2009 • 12 judges: Justices of the Supreme Court;

not allowed to sit as members of the House of Lords; the current Law Lords—Justices, Lord Bingham—President of the Supreme Court

Separation of Power, British Style

• The Prime Minister: an active member of the legislative, the leading member of the executive

• The Lord Chancellor: a member of the cabinet (the executive); head of the judiciary

• The House of Lords: part of the legislative (a right to vote on bills); the Law Lords: part of the judiciary

• Members of the Cabinet: members of the legislative (the right to vote on issues) , the executive

Constitutional Reform

• Constitutional Reform– Devolution– House of Lords reform– Partial independence for Bank of England– Freedom of Information– Parliamentary select committees– Electoral reform– A written constitution; a “bill of rights”

• Constitutional Reform Act 2005

Local Government (P223)

• County level: education and social services (full-time specialist officials)

• District councils: rubbish collection, disposal (full-time specialist officials)

• Community or parish councils: may affect decisions

• ‘councillors’ representing ‘wards’ (about 1200 people at county level)

The Devolution

• Devolution is where power is transferred from a superior governmental body (such as central power) to an inferior one (such as at regional level).

• Devolution, V Bogador:• The transfer of power to a subordinate elected b

ody• The transfer of power on a geographical basis • The transfer of functions at present is exercised

by Parliament

The Devolution cont

• Devolution: the setting up of an elected regional assembly whose powers are carefully and clearly defined by national government

• Powers not included: major financial powers, eg. tax collection, the raising of taxes etc, the control of the armed forces or an input into foreign policy decisions

• Central government: a huge amount of power over a regional one

The Devolution

• The Greater London Authority

• The Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies

The City of London

• Greater London Authority Headquarters

• http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/RTC2008/rtc2008_03-e.html

• http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/elt/g_gov.htm

• http://www.payvand.com/news/08/feb/1069.html