British Government

Britain is a constitutional monarchy (which doesn’t have a written constitution). It is also a parliamentary democracy. The Queen Elizabeth II, head of State, has almost absolute power. So the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy in which “the queen reigns but doesn’t rule”. It is a tribute to the British monarchy that it still occupies an important place in the political system national life. The power of the crown to act without consulting parliament is called “the royal prerogative”. In theory, the scope of the prerogatives is vast. The queen appoints the Prime Minister and summons and dissolves Parliament, opens and closes sessions of Parliament.

The principal constitutional documents are the Magna Carta (1215), the Petition of Right (1628), the Bill of Rights (1689), the Act of Settlement, and the Representation of the People Acts.

Political stability owes much to the monarchy. Its continuity has been interrupted only once (the republic of 1649 − 1660) in over a thousand years. The Queen is impartial and acts on the advice of her ministers.

The government in Britain is divided into three sections, the elected House of Commons, the non-elected House of Lords and the hereditary monarch, i.e. Parliament comprises the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Queen in her constitutional role. The queen is formally the head of the state. But in fact the country is ruled by a Cabinet headed by (Parliamentary Monarchy) P.M. − responsible to Parliament which consists of two Houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Prime Minister is the head of the Government.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is divided into 650 areas called constituencies. Each constituency elects one person to represent them in the House of Commons. These people or candidates can be any British person except for a few cases. The candidate usually represents a political party e.g. the Conservative (Tory) Party, Liberal, Labour, Social Democratic, Green (Ecology) or Nationalist parties. The candidate with the most votes, even if it is less than 50%, represents their constituency as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the period of time up until the next general elections, anything up to five years later.

The centre of parliamentary power is the House of Commons. The House of Commons plays the major part in lawmaking. It consists of 650 elected Members of Parliament (MPs), each representing a local constituency (an area in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). The House of Commons is presided over by the Speaker. There are just two rows of benches, where the MPs of the governing party sit. On the right are the Opposition benches. According to where they sit, MPs are seen to either ‘for’ the government (supporting it) or against it. Although MPs do not have their own personal seats in the Commons, there are two seating areas reserved for particular MPs. These are the front benches on either side of the House and the people who sit there are thus known as ‘frontbenchers’ (Ministers and Her Majesty Loyal Opposition). MPs, who do not hold a government post or a post in the Shadow Cabinet, are known as ‘backbenchers’.

The centre of parliamentary power is the House of Commons. Limitations on the power of the Lords − it rarely uses its power to delay passage of a law − are based on the principle that the House as a revising chamber should complement the Commons and not rival it. The proceedings of both houses of Parliament are broadcast on television and radio, sometimes live or more usually in recorded and edited form. Once passed through both Houses, legislation receives the Royal Assent.

The House of Lords, which is presided over by the Lord Chancellor, is probably the only upper House in the democratic world whose members are not elected. It has around two to three hundred active members. The Lords is made up of the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal; the former consist of the representatives of the Church of England (the Archbishops of York and Canterbury and 25 bishops); the latter comprise all hereditary and life peers and peeresses (life peers, named by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister, do not pass on their title when they die). They are not paid for their political work but merely debate a decision taken in parliament and suggest any changes to a bill which they consider necessary before sending it to the monarch to be signed. The monarch can refuse to sign a bill as they see fit but have not done so for over two hundred years.

Some people in Britain think that the election system is unfair and should be changed but neither the Conservative nor the Labour parties (the two largest) have any wish to change the system at the moment.

General elections to choose MPs must be held at least every five years. Voting, which is not compulsory, is by secret ballot and is from the age of 18. The candidate polling the largest number of votes in a constituency is elected.