British Parliamentary System

• Britain is the birthplace of the parliamentary system.
• It is also known as the Westminster model.
• Key elements include:
  • A fusion of the executive and the legislature
  • A symbolic head of state and a political head of government
  • An executive made up of a head of government and a Cabinet of ministers
  • Representative democracy
  • Responsible government
  • A multi-party system based around strong party discipline within the legislature
• The British political system is in a constant state of change.
• Changes have been driven by:
  • The struggle for power between the monarchy
  • Debates over the role of government
  • The fluctuating balance of power between Prime Minister, Parliament, and expanding government at the European and local levels
• The administrations of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair saw striking changes.
• Thatcher altered the style of government.
• Blair redefined the office of Prime Minister, made changes to government institutions, and altered the balance of national and local government.
• The impact of Europe is a constant factor for every British government.
• Concerns have been raised about the lack of controls on an ambitious Prime Minister, the relevance of the monarchy and the House of Lords, and the lack of a codified bill of rights for citizens.
• The Westminster model is a model for political development around the world.
• The Westminster model is based on six key principles:

Balanced Government

• The powers of the executive are balanced by those of the legislature, to which the executive is accountable.
• In practice, the balance of power has shifted away from Parliament.
• Policy-making power was concentrated in Downing Street during the Blair administrations.

Parliamentary Sovereignty

• Only Parliament has the right to make or unmake laws.
• Parliament has seen its powers reduced by:
  • The expansion of European Union law
  • The work of the Scottish and Welsh assemblies
  • The increased use of public referendums
  • The growth of executive powers
• Parliamentary sovereignty has become executive sovereignty.

Representative Democracy

• The people rule, while the work of government is carried out by their elected representatives.
• Government is directly accountable to the people.
• Turnout at general elections has been falling, suggesting an increased disconnection between voters and their representatives.

Responsible Government

• Government ministers are responsible to Parliament for running their departments.
• The actions of ministers are driven more by personality, ideology, obligations to the Prime Minister, and concerns about the next election.
• The bureaucracy has more influence over government policy than most people realize.

Collective Responsibility

• The Cabinet is responsible as a group to the public and to the Prime Minister for its conduct and for its policies.
• Cabinet government has become less important over time.
• Recent Prime Ministers have made decisions without first checking with the Cabinet.

Constitutional Monarchy

• Theory and practice still coincide.
• Britain has a monarch, but the monarch has little real power.
• Any attempt by the Queen to actually exert her theoretical powers would result in uproar and a constitutional crisis.
• Recent analysis suggests that British government is a complex network of interdependent institutions.
• Power is distributed horizontally rather than vertically.
• Rules are often informal.
• Institutions are less important than culture and values.
• Roles are more important than structures.
• The decision-making system is less hierarchical.

The Constitution

• It outlines the rules by which a government functions.
• It lists the principles underlying the process of government.
• It describes the structure of the major government institutions and their responsibilities.
• It explains the process by which laws are made.
• It spells out the rights of citizens and the limits on the powers of government.
• There is a single written document in which the powers of government and the rights of the governed are outlined and systematized.
• A constitution may be a summary of how a society is politically constituted or how its legal and political order fits together.
• Common laws are the product of custom and of judgments handed down over time by British courts.
• Among the most important are those dealing with freedom of speech, the power to make treaties and declare war, and the sovereignty of Parliament.

Statute Laws

• These are Acts of Parliament which override common law and have the effect of constitutional law.
• Many of the details of Britain's system of government have been established.
• A host of statutes have restricted civil liberties and expanded the powers of the state.

European Laws

• As a member state of the EU, Britain is subject to all laws adopted by the EU.
• These laws are binding on Britain and override British laws in those policy areas where the EU has primary responsibility.
• These include trade, agriculture, social issues, consumer protection, and the environment.
• They exclude tax policy, foreign policy, education, and criminal justice.

Traditions and Conventions

• Many of the actions of government in Britain are based on custom and tradition.
• For example, the Prime Minister and Cabinet should come out of the majority party in the House of Commons or that the Cabinet is bound by collective responsibility.

Scholarly Commentaries

• Many have come out of commentaries written by constitutional authorities.
• Walter Bagehot wrote The English Constitution in 1867.
• Albert Venn Dicey wrote An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution in 1885.
• Dicey was influential in confirming three of the basic features of the British system:
  • The sovereignty of Parliament
  • The rule of law
  • The importance of conventions and customs

Referendum

• An example of a change introduced by the Blair government, which has now become an accepted part of constitutional practice, is the referendum.
• These have been used often since 1997, most major constitutional changes are now likely to be put to a referendum.
• It is important to note that a referendum is advisory, and the result is not binding on government.
• Critics argue that there is too much potential for the abuse of powers by a strong Prime Minister.

The Monarchy

• In contrast to an absolute monarchy or an aristocratic monarchy, the powers of the British monarch are limited by law.
• The actions of government are carried out in the name of the monarch.
• The monarch acts as the living embodiment of the state.
• Today's monarch is little more than a ceremonial head of state.
• The British monarch reigns but does not rule.
• The Queen has several vestigial reserve powers that are politically important:
  • She can dissolve Parliament and call new elections.
  • Before a bill can become a law, it must be signed by the Queen (that is, given the Royal Assent).
• The Queen can arbitrate and name the person she thinks most likely to be able to form a government.
• Every autumn, she presides over the State Opening of Parliament.
• She meets with the Prime Minister at confidential weekly meetings.
• The Queen is the Head of the Armed Forces.
• The Queen is the embodiment of 'the Crown'.
• The relevance of the monarchy to modern Britain has been the topic of intensified debate.
• Adaptability has long been integral to the survival of the monarchy.

Prime Minister and Cabinet

• The Cabinet is composed of senior ministers.
• While the monarch is Britain's head of state, the head of government is the Prime Minister, who provides policy leadership and oversees the implementation of law.
• The Prime Minister is the leader of the political party or coalition with the most seats in the lower chamber of Parliament.
• As long as he or she can keep the support of his or her party in Parliament.
• The Prime Minister can seem almost dictatorial.
• Prime Ministers have a combination of formal and informal powers.
• Formally, they act as the head of government, appoint senior members of government, chair the Cabinet, oversee the security services, lead their parties, choose the date for the general election, report to Parliament in a weekly Question Time, and represent Britain in political dealings with other countries.
• Informally, they are the driving force in setting the national political agenda, for managing crises, and set the style and tone of government according to the policies they adopt, the management methods they use, and their appointments to the Cabinet.
• There are two core foundations to the authority of a Prime Minister:
  • The power of dissolution
  • The power of appointment
• British Prime Ministers are normally experienced national politicians.
• It is a testing ground for anyone with ambitions to become Prime Minister.
• Loyalty to the leader is a prerequisite for Cabinet members.

Parliament

• Argument can be made that it is both marginal and in decline.
• It squeezes in recent years by both its European and its regional counterparts.
• Parliament spends most of its time confirming the government's programme.
• Parliament has become more important in the last decade and is set to become more important in the future.
• Parliament plays a key role in legitimizing government.
• It has three other critical functions:
  • It both recruits and maintains the government.
  • It scrutinizes the government, which must defend and explain itself in Parliament.
  • It acts as a forum for national debate.
• Strictly speaking, Parliament consists of the monarch and the two houses of Parliament.
• The principle of parliamentary sovereignty means that only Parliament has the authority to make laws.
• Parliament has lost power to the law-making bodies of the EU.
• British Parliament has two chambers:
  • House of Lords
  • House of Commons

House of Lords

• The Upper House, the Lords, is currently undergoing a messy process of reform.
• It has brought changes to its structure without agreement on its final form.
• Once a powerful part of government, the chamber is a legacy of the days when Britain was ruled by aristocrats.
• It steadily lost its powers in tandem with the diminishing role of the monarchy.
• Pressures grew in the 1960s and 1970s for more change, and the Labour Party promised during the 1980s to abolish the House.
• It has about 730 members, made up as follows:
  • A rump of 92 hereditary peers
  • About 600 life peers
  • The Lords Spiritual
  • The Law Lords

House of Commons

• It is the more powerful chamber of Parliament, and the real focus of law-making.
• The House consists of 646 Members of Parliament (MPs) elected by direct universal vote from single-member districts.
• It is presided over by a Speaker
• Discipline in the House is tight, discontent is not unusual.
• A breakdown of party cohesion can lead to the fall of a government.

The Judiciary

• Judicial review is carried out in a complex system of courts topped by a Court of Appeal and the House of Lords.
• Appointments to the higher courts are made either by the Prime Minister after consultation with the Lord Chancellor.
• In 2003, it was announced that the post of Lord Chancellor would be abolished.
• A new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom would be created.
• Expected to begin work in 2008, the Court will consist of 12 justices appointed by the monarch.
• Britain also comes under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
• One of the key institutions of the European Union.
• The influence of Europe is also felt in the field of human rights, guarded by the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.

The Bureaucracy

• Britain has about half a million bureaucrats (or civil servants).
• The British bureaucracy is expected to execute the laws of government and the wishes of government ministers.
• Attempts have been made to reform it by borrowing ideas from the private sector.
• Characteristics of Whitehall:
  • Permanence
  • Neutrality
  • Anonymity
• Executive and administrative duties have been handed over to these agencies
• The old notion of 'Whitehall' is increasingly at odds with reality.

Local Government

• Britain has long been a unitary state, where political power has been focused at the national level.
• Local government has had few significant political powers.
• Local government has been responsible mainly for providing a variety of basic services.
• Changes have created a system of local government authorities.
• In England and Wales, most areas come under a two-tier system of counties and districts.
• Scotland has unitary councils, Wales has unitary authorities, and Northern Ireland has unitary districts.
• The new regional assemblies have complicated this untidy arrangement.
• Britain has come to have a semi-federal system of government.
• Scotland and Welsh regional assemblies were created in 1998.
• The 129-member Scottish Parliament has control over most domestic policy matters, can make primary legislation in these areas, and has limited tax-raising powers.
• The 60-member National Assembly for Wales has control over a similar range of issues, but has no taxing powers.
• One-third of the British population lives in London and its surrounding suburbs.