1. Chapter 13 System of Government

2. 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?

3. A 1 Basic Structure of UK Central Government

5. 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

6. The Monarch Personifies the state head of the judiciary
Real name: Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor
Birth: 21 April 1926 in London
Children: 3 sons, 1 daughter
Queen Elizabeth II
head of the executive
an integral part of the legislature
commander-in-chief of all armed forces of the Crown
the ‘supreme Governor’ of the Church of England

7. 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%

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

9. 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)

10. Parliamentary Elections
Parliament ‘dissolved’—general elections
659 constituencies—659 MPs, the House of Commons
The relative majority method: the ‘first past the post’ (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

11. Legislature Palace of Westminster—home of government
Parliament: highest legislative authority–making and repealing UK law
Three constituent parts (the two-chamber system):
House of Commons
House of Lords
Crown (ceremonial)

12. 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

13. Constituency

14. House of Commons 1 Speaker 2 Pages 3 Government Members*
4 Opposition Members*
5 Prime Minister
6 Leader of the Official Opposition
7 Leader of the Second Largest 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 Opposition’s Gallery
18 Members’ Gallery
19 Members’ Gallery
20 Members’ Gallery
21 Speaker’s Gallery
22 Senate Gallery
23 T.V. Cameras

15. 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 motion; ‘lobbies’, ‘aye’, ‘no’

16. 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

17. Executive (P215) EXECUTIVE(polictical) PM, leader of majority party
‘Ministers’ or ‘Secretaries of State’
All MPs (front benchers + backbenchers
Cabinet
Junior Ministers
Civil Service(non-political)
Permanent officials
‘mandarins’ (accountable to Parliament)

18. 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.

19. The State Opening of Parliament May, 2005
From Buckingham to Westminster
Sovereign’s Entrance at Westminster

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. Downing 10, No. 10

24. The Cabinet *** The Cabinet: appointed by PM
The Cabinet Ministers: MPs
Shadow Cabinet: oppositions
Collective responsibility: the Cabinet acting unanimously as a single unit
Ministerial responsibility: the ministers responsible for the work of their own department and answerable to parliament about it (mistakes—resignation)
Cabinet “reshuffles”: PM reassigning responsibilities or dropping members

25. The Cabinet *** Biggest and most important departments
The Treasury: the financial running of the country including taxation
The Home Office: internal affairs within the UK, eg. law and order and the court system
The Foreign Office: dealings with foreign governments
The Department for Education
The Health and Social Security Department
The Trade and Industry Department
The Agriculture and Fisheries Department

26. 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, implementing the policies
A rigorous civil service exam

27. 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)

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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)

33. 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 body
The transfer of power on a geographical basis
The transfer of functions at present is exercised by Parliament

34. 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

35. The Devolution The Greater London Authority
The Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies

36. The City of London
Greater London Authority Headquarters