Chapter 13 System of Government

December, 2007

Xiao Huiyun

The System of Government

• Representative Democracy and also known as Parliamentary Democracy

• Monarch -- Constitutional Monarch • What powers does the Queen have? • The Sovereign personifies the state and is, in

law, an integral part of the legislature, head of the executive, head of the judiciary, the commander-in-chief of all armed forces of the Crown and the ‘supreme Governor’ of the Church of England

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

• Queen Elizabeth II • Real name: Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor

• Birth: 21 April 1926 in London

• Children: 3 sons, 1 daughter

The Monarch

• The monarch is bound by statute to:• not be a Roman Catholic or marry a Roman

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

will succeed to the throne • In her role as Monarch, the Queen is head of the

executive and plays an integral part in the legislature. She heads the judiciary and is both the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of the Crown and supreme governor of the established 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 kn ow 8%

Legislature

• Parliament is the highest legislative authority in the United Kingdom – the institution responsible for making and repealing UK law. It is also known as the Legislature. It consists of three constituent parts:

• House of Commons • House of Lords • Crown

Executive

• EXECUTIVE • ‘Prime Minister’ and

‘Ministers’ or ‘Secretaries of State’ (about 25) (Political Heads of Government Departments), all MPs, form Cabinet Also Junior Ministers

• Civil Service(non-political) Permanent officials employed by government. Advise Ministers and implement policy. Top officials popularly known as ‘mandarins’ but accountable to Parliament

Judiciary

• The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 made provision for the creation of a new Supreme Court for the United Kingdom.

• It is important to be aware that the new Supreme Court will be a United Kingdom body legally separate from the England and Wales Courts since it will also be the Supreme Court of both Scotland and Northern Ireland.

• The office of Lord Chancellor continues in existence but the office is no longer official head of judiciary.

Judiciary

• The new, independent Supreme Court, separates from the House of Lords with its own independent appointments system, its own staff and budget and, ultimately, its own building. The new Supreme Court is scheduled to be open for business in October 2009.

• The 12 judges of the Supreme Court will be known as Justices of the Supreme Court and will no longer be allowed to sit as members of the House of Lords. The current Law Lords will become the first 12 Justices of the Supreme Court, with Lord Bingham as President of the Supreme Court.

Separation of Power, British Style

• The Prime Minister is an active member of the legislative, yet he is also the leading member of the executive.

• Also the Lord Chancellor is a member of the cabinet and therefore of the executive as well as being head of the judiciary

• The House of Lords also has a right to vote on bills so they are part of the legislative but the Lords also contains the Law Lords who are an important part of the judiciary

• As with the PM, the members of the Cabinet are also members of the legislative who have the right, as a Member of Parliament, to vote on issues

Freedom & Dutiesthe Limits to Freedom

• Civil Liberties under Parliamentary Democracy:• the freedom to organise politically• the freedom of speech• the freedom of the press• the equality of all people under the law• These rights are not absolute but have to be

established and limited by the law. For example freedom of speech is limited by the law of libel and contempt. Such laws are decided by Parliament.

A 2 The Executive ****

• The role of the Sovereign – the constitutional monarch• As Head of State the Queen presides over the State

Opening of Parliament. This takes place usually each November when Parliament reopens after the summer break for the next Session . The Queen reads a speech which outlines the policies and main bills that the government intends to introduce during the Parliamentary Session

• The Queen has to give the Royal Assent of agreement to any new law that is passed by parliament

• She is kept in touch with the government by a weekly meeting with the Prime Minister in Buckingham Palace.

The State Opening of ParliamentMay, 2005

• From Buckingham to Westminster

• Sovereign’s Entrance at Westminster

The State Opening of ParliamentMay, 2005

• Although the speech is delivered by the Queen, the content of the speech is entirely drawn up by the Government and approved by the Cabinet.

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

The Prime Minister

• the leader of his party in the House of Commons • the head of government • he has the right to select his cabinet, hand out

departmental positions, decide the agenda for cabinet meetings which he also chairs.

• he can dismiss ministers if this is required • he directs and controls policy for the government • he is the chief spokesman for the government • he keeps the Queen informed of government

decisions • he exercises wide powers of patronage and

appointments in the civil service, church and judiciary

The Prime Minister cont• he can amalgamate or split government

departments • he represents the country abroad • he decides the date for a general

election within the five-year term • he decided the timetable of government

legislation in the House (though this has been delegated to the Leader of the House before)

The Prime Minister cont

• The powers of the Prime Minister within the British political structure have developed in recent years to such an extent that some political analyst now refer to Britain as having a Prime Ministerial government rather than a Cabinet government

• The Prime Minister selects his own Cabinet and he will select those people who:

• Have ability • Have demonstrated good party loyalty • Have clearly demonstrated loyalty to the Prime

Minister himself

The Cabinet ***

• The Cabinet is appointed by the Prime Minister. The senior positions within the Cabinet are usually appointed by the Prime Minister within hours of an election victory

• In British Politics, all Cabinet members are serving MP's or peers

• The most senior members of the Cabinet are the Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary .

• There has never been a set number for posts within the Cabinet. The most common figure for a Cabinet is 22

THE CABINET

• Meets weekly at No. 10 Downing Street• Collective responsibility or resignation e.g.

former foreign secretary Robin Cook• Generalists rather than specialists• 22 is large by international standards• Ministers responsible (accountable) for their

particular department • Oppositions have a ‘Shadow Cabinet’

Downing 10

The Civil Service

• Civil servants are servants of the Crown, they do not hold a political or judicial office, and they are paid with public money which is voted through Parliament.

• Civil servants are officials who serve the elected political government of the day. They themselves are not elected.

• They are career officials who remain in office despite changes in government.

• Top civil servants offer advice about the possible consequences of policy, and are also responsible for implementing the policies that the government, with Parliament’s approval, decides to pursue.

• To enter at the higher levels of the civil service you have to pass 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)

Generalists rather than specialists

• Anonymous (since Minister takes responsibility)

• Now less than 500,000 (751,000 in 1976)

A3 The Legislature Parliament

H o use o f Lo rds T h e H o u se o f C o m m o ns

T h e Q ue en

Parliamentary Sovereignty

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

• Parliament can pass, repeal and alter any of Britain’s laws. This is one of the major powers that a government has.

• In theory there is no body that can declare a law passed by Parliament as unconstitutional - though the full impact of the European Court is not yet known

Parliamentary Elections

• General elections are held after Parliament has been ‘dissolved’.

• For electoral purposes Britain is divided into (659) constituencies, each of which returns one MP to the House of Commons

• The British electoral system is based on the relative majority method sometimes called the ‘first past the post’ (FPTP) principle which means the candidate with more votes than any other is elected.

• The leader of the political party which wins most seats (although not necessarily most votes) at a general election, or who has the support of a majority of members in the House of Commons, is by convention invited by the Sovereign to form the new government. h

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

The House of Commons cont

• The House ‘sits’ in Westminster from Mondays to Fridays, usually from about 2.30pm until 10.30pm, and often continues through the night when important debates are going on.

What Goes on in the House of Commons?

• Debates — Many hours are spent debating issues of national and international importance. Most often a motion is proposed by one or two of the Government’s front benchers and then the same number of persons from the Opposition front benches oppose it

• The Speaker decides who is allowed to speak and he/she must ensure that each side is given equal opportunity and time to speak. After the debate the MPs vote for or against the motion.

• MPs vote by going into ‘lobbies’, corridors outside the chamber, one for ‘aye’ and one for ‘no’ votes where they are counted

• The MPs vote is recorded so that anybody can know which way an MP voted on any particular issue

• After the votes are counted the results are announced in the chamber.

What Goes on in the House of Commons cont

• Question Time • Four times a week Government ministers

have to give short, oral answers to questions put to them in the House of Commons by MPs.

• Many questions are answered during each question time which lasts for 55 minutes.

• The Prime Minister also has a question time of 30 minutes once a week.

What Goes on in the House of Commons cont

• Question Time • Four times a week Government ministers

have to give short, oral answers to questions put to them in the House of Commons by MPs.

• Many questions are answered during each question time which lasts for 55 minutes.

• The Prime Minister also has a question time of 30 minutes once a week.

A 4 LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND DEVOLUTION

• The British Parliament is sovereign and decides what the responsibilities of other levels of government are to be.

• Since Tony Blair’s constitutional reforms at he end of the 20th century, more power has been devolved from Westminster to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

• The Scottish parliament -- 1998• The Welsh Assembly -- 1998• The Northern Ireland Assembly -- 1998

Local Government

• Though there are variations, the general pattern of local government in Britain is for there to be three layers: county councils at the top, divided further into district councils, with community or parish councils at the lowest level.

• County level responsible for education and social services

• District councils responsibilities include, for example, rubbish collection and disposal

• Representatives are elected periodically to be ‘councillors’. representing ‘wards’ (about 1200 people at county level)

• At district and county levels there are also full-time specialist officials who advise them and implement polic

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). In his book "Devolution", V Bogador claims that devolution has three parts to it:

• The transfer of power to a subordinate elected body

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

by Parliament

The Devolution cont

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

• These powers do not usually include major financial powers such as tax collection, the raising of taxes etc, the control of the armed forces or an input into foreign policy decisions.

• Invariably the sheer financial clout of a central government will give it a huge amount of power over a regional one should a clash between authority occur

• This power will be given to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies .

The Devolution

• The Greater London Authority• London held it’s first elections for a new

form of city-wide government in May 2000. A Mayor and a separately elected Assembly are elected every four years .

• The Authority has responsibility for London-wide issues such as transport, economic development, environmental protection and strategic planning.

The City of London

• Greater London Authority Headquarters