Transcript Chapter 13 System of Government

Chapter 13 System of
Government
Chapter 13 System of
Government
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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?
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Basic Structure of UK
Central Government
Monarch
(non-political)
Legislature
---Parliament
House of Commons
(political)
House of Lords
(semi-political)
Executive
Judiciary
(non-political)
Prime Minister
&
Cabinet
(political)
Supreme Court
Ministers
&
Civil service
(non-political)
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
Personifies the
state Monarch
The
head of the judiciary
• Real name: Elizabeth
• Queen Elizabeth II
Alexandra Mary
head
of
the
executive
Windsor
• Birth: 21 April 1926 in
anLondon
integral part of
legislature
• the
Children:
3 sons, 1
daughter
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
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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
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
Palace
of Westminster—
Legislature
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)
• 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
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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
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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
motion; ‘lobbies’, ‘aye’, ‘no’
What Goes on in the House of
Commons cont.
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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
party
• ‘Ministers’ or
‘Secretaries of State’
• All MPs (front benchers
+ backbenchers
• Cabinet
• Junior Ministers
• Civil Service(nonpolitical)
• Permanent officials
• ‘mandarins’
(accountable to
Parliament)
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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 Parliament
May, 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 ***
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The Cabinet: appointed by PM
The Cabinet Ministers: 15-20 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
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
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
THE CIVIL SERVICE
Permanent, well-educated elite,
dominated by Oxbridge (75%)
&politically neutral (unlike USA)
Recruited by meritrocracy (NorthcoteTrevalyan 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
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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
body
• 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/pro
cess/house/RTC2008/rtc2008_03-e.html
• http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/elt/g_gov.htm
• http://www.payvand.com/news/08/feb/106
9.html