british political system. willy gómez

7/28/2019 British Political System. Willy Gmez.

1/22

CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF VENEZUELA

MODERN LANGUAGES SCHOOL

ENGLISH II CULTURAL COMPONENT

PROF. WILLY GMEZ

A SHORT GUIDE TO THE

BRITISH POLITICAL SYSTEM

Contents

Background HistoryThe Three Arms Of The StateThe UK ParliamentThe Legislative ProcessPolitical PartiesThe UK GovernmentDevolved GovernmentThe UK JudiciaryCivil SocietyConstitutional And Political Reform

BACKGROUND HISTORY

The single most important fact in understanding the nature of theBritish political system is the fundamental continuity of that system.We have not had a revolution of the kind experienced by so manyother countries and Britain has not been invaded or occupied foralmost 1,000 years. The last successful invasion was in 1066 by the

Normans. Is this true of any other country in the world?
http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Historyhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Historyhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Armshttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Armshttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Parliamenthttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Parliamenthttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Legislationhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Legislationhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Partieshttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Partieshttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Governmenthttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Governmenthttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Devolutionhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Devolutionhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Judiciaryhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Judiciaryhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#CShttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#CShttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#CRhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#CRhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#CRhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#CShttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Judiciaryhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Devolutionhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Governmenthttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Partieshttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Legislationhttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Parliamenthttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#Armshttp://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html#History


2/22

Some might argue that the English Civil War (1642-1651) was 'our'revolution but the main constitutional consequence - the abolition ofthe monarchy - only lasted 11 years and the Restoration of theMonarchy has so far lasted 350 years (although it is now, of course, avery different monarchy). There was a time in our history which we

call the Glorious Revolution but it was a very English revolution, inthe sense that nobody died, if a rather Dutch revolution in that it sawWilliam of Orange take the throne.

So the British have never had anything equivalent to the AmericanRevolution or the French Revolution, they have not been colonised ina millennium but rather been the greatest colonisers in history, and inneither of the two world wars were they invaded or occupied.

This explains why:

almost uniquely in the world, we have no written constitution(the only other such nations are Israel & New Zealand)our political system is not neat or logical or always fullydemocraticchange has been very gradual and pragmatic and built onconsensus

To simplify our political history very much, it has essentially been astruggle to shift political power and accountability from the all-

powerful king who claimed that he obtained his right to rule from Godto a national parliament that was increasingly representative ofordinary people and accountable to ordinary people. There have beenmany milestones along this long and troubled road to full democracy.A key date in this evolution was 1215 when King John was forced tosign the Magna Carta which involved him sharing power with thebarons. This is regarded as the first statement of citizen rights in theworld - although Hungarians are proud of the Golden Bull of justseven years later.

The so-called Model Parliament was summoned by King Edward I in1295 and is regarded as the first representative assembly. Unlike theabsolute monarchs of other parts of Europe, the King of Englandrequired the approval of Parliament to tax his subjects and so, thenas now, central to the exercise of power was the ability to raisefunds.

The bicameral nature of the British Parliament - Commons and Lords- emerged in 1341 and the two-chamber model of the legislature hasserved as a model in very many other parliamentary systems.


3/22

The Bill of Rights of 1689 - which is still in effect - lays down limits onthe powers of the crown and sets out the rights of Parliament andrules for freedom of speech in Parliament, the requirement to regularelections to Parliament, and the right to petition the monarch withoutfear of retribution.

It was the 19th century before the franchise was seriously extendedand each extension was the subject of conflict and opposition. Thegreat Reform Act of 1832 abolished 60 'rotten', or largelyunpopulated, boroughs and extended the vote from 400,000 citizensto 600,000, but this legislation - promoted by the Whigs (forerunnersof the Liberals) - was only carried after being opposed three times bythe Tories (forerunners of the Conservatives). It was 1918 before thecountry achieved a near universal franchise and 1970 before the lastextension of the franchise (to 18-21 year olds).

Another important feature of our political history is that three parts ofthe United Kingdom - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - have aspecial status and have local administrations with a wide range ofresponsibilities. However, England - which represents about 84% ofthe total UK population of around 63 million - does not have a clearand strong sense of regionalism. So the British political system doesnot have anything equivalent to the federal system of the 50 states inthe USA.

The final important part of our political history is that, since 1973, wehave been a member of what is now called the European Union (EU).This now has 27 Member States covering most of the continent ofEurope. Therefore the UK Government and Parliament are limited insome respects by what they can do because certain areas of policy ordecision-making are a matter for the EU which operates through aEuropean Commission appointed by the member governments and aEuropean Parliament elected by the citizens of the member states.

THREE ARMS OF THE STATE

The British political system is headed by a monarchy but essentiallythe powers of the monarch as head of state - currently QueenElizabeth II - are ceremonial. The most important practical power isthe choice of the Member of Parliament to form a government, butinvariably the monarch follows the convention that this opportunity isgranted to the leader of the political party with the most seats in theHouse of Commons.

Although any remaining powers of the monarchy are largelyceremonial, the Royal Family does have some subtle and hidden

influence on the legislative process because of a little-knownprovision that senior royals - notably the Queen and her eldest son


4/22

the Prince of Wales - have to be consulted about legislation thatmight affect their private interests and given the opportunity to havesuch legislation amended.

The monarch is determined on the hereditary and primogeniture

principles which means that the oldest male child of a monarch is thenext in line to the throne. Under the terms of the Act of Settlement of1701, the monarch and the monarch's spouse cannot be Catholicsbecause the UK monarch is also the Head of the Church of England.These archaic arrangements are currently under review.

In classical political theory, there are three arms of the state:

1. The executive - the Ministers who run the country and proposenew laws

2. The legislature - the elected body that passes new laws3. The judiciary - the judges and the courts who ensure thateveryone obeys the laws

In the political system of the United States, the constitution providesthat there must be a strict separate of powers of these three arms ofthe state, so that no individual can be a member of more than one.So, for example, the President is not and cannot be a member of theCongress. This concept is called 'separation of powers', a term coinedby the French political, enlightenment thinker Montesquieu.This is not the case in the UK:

all Ministers in the government are members of the legislaturesome very senior judges sit in the upper house of theparliamentthe formal head of the judiciary is a senior minister

This is an illustration of how pragmatic and flexible the British politicalsystem is.THE U.K. PARLIAMENT

The British Parliament is often called Westminster because it ishoused in a distinguished building in central London called the Palaceof Westminster.

The British Parliament - like most in the world - is bicameral, that isthere are two houses or chambers. The only exceptions to thispractice around the world are some small countries such as Finland,Israel and New Zealand.

The House of Commons


5/22

This is the lower chamber but the one with the most authority. Iworked there as a Research Assistant to Merlyn Rees MP, thenLabour's Opposition spokesperson on Northern Ireland, from 1972-1974.

The House of Commons sits each week day for about half of theweeks of the year. The precise hours of sitting are:

o Monday 2.30 - 10.30 pmo Tuesday 2.30 - 10.30 pmo Wednesday 11.30 am - 7.30 pmo Thursday 10.30 am - 6.30 pmo Friday 9.30 am - 3 pm

The Commons is chaired by the Speaker. Unlike the Speaker inthe US House of Representatives, the post is non-political andindeed, by convention, the political parties do not contest the

Parliamentary constituency held by the Speaker.The House of Commons currently comprises 650 Members ofParliament or MPs (the number varies slightly from time to timeto reflect population change). This is a large legislature byinternational standards. For instance, the House ofRepresentatives in the USA has 435 seats but, of course, eachof the 50 US states has its own legislature. Before the lastGeneral Election, the Conservative Party said that it wished toreduce the number of Commons seats by around 10% (65seats) and the Liberal Democrats said that the Commons

should be reduced by 150 MPs. The new Coalition Governmenthas now announced that it plans legislation to to reduce thenumber from 650 to 600 as part of a wider change to thenumber and size of constituencies.Rather oddly (but deliberately), there is insufficient seatingcapacity in the chamber of the House of Commons for all theMPs. Members do not sit at desks (like most legislatures) buton long, green-covered benches and there is only seatingcapacity for 437 MPs out of the total of 650.Each member in the House of Commons represents a

geographical constituency. Typically a constituency would havearound 60,000-80,000 voters, depending mainly on whether itis an urban or rural constituency. The largest constituency in

the country is the Isle of Wight with 108,253 electors at the lastGeneral Election, while the smallest is Na h-Eileanan an Iar(formerly known as the Western Isles) with an electorate ofonly 21,884. The current Coalition Government intends to makethe size of constituencies more equal in terms of electors.Every citizen aged 18 or over can vote once in the constituencyin which they live. Voting is not compulsory (as it is inAustralia). In the last General Election of June 2010, 65% ofthe electorate actually voted. Most democratic countries use amethod of election called proportional representation which


6/22

means that there is a reasonable correlation between thepercentage of votes cast for a particular political party and thenumber of seats or representatives won by that party.However, much of the Anglo-Saxon world the USA, Canada,and the UK but not Australia or New Zealand uses a method

of election called the simple majority system or 'first past thepost'. In this system, the country is divided into a number ofconstituencies each with a single member and the party thatwins the largest number of votes in each constituency wins thatconstituency regardless of the proportion of the vote secured.The simple majority system of election tends to under-represent less successful political parties and to maximise thechance of the most popular political party winning a majority ofseats nationwide even if it does not win a majority of the votesnationwide.

Until now, in the UK (unlike many countries), there has notbeen fixed term parliaments. A General Election - that is, anationwide election for all 650 seats - was held when the PrimeMinister called it, but the election could be more than five yearsafter the last one and it was usually around four years after thelast one. I fought the General Elections of February 1974 andOctober 1974 as the Labour candidate for the north-eastLondon constituency of Wanstead & Woodford. The CoalitionGovernment has passed legislation to provide for fixed five-yearparliaments which means that the next General Election will be

on 7 May 2015.

The last General Election was held in May 2010 and the result was asfollows:

Conservative Party: 306 seats (up 97) with a voting share of36.1% (up 3.8%)Labour Party: 258 seats (down 91) with a voting share of29.0% (down 6.2%)Liberal Democrat Party: 57 seats (down 5) with a voting share

of 23.0% (up 1.0%)Other parties: 28 seats (down 3) with a voting share of 11.9%(down 1.4%)Total turnout nationwide was 65.1% up 4.0% on 2005

Note 1: In practice, the Speaker - notionally Conservative - is notcounted against any political party because he is required to beneutral.Note 2: One constituency did not vote because the death of acandidate postponed that election.

The House of Lords


7/22

This is the upper chamber but the one with less authority. Its mainroles are to revise legislation and keep a check on Government byscrutinising its activities. Since 1911, its power to block "money bills"is limited to one month and its power to block other bills is limited toone session, so ultimately it cannot block the will of the House of

Commons.

The House of Lords is an utterly bizarre institution that has no parallelanywhere in the democratic world. Indeed the only other country withan unelected second chamber is Lesotho. The explanation for theunusual nature of the Lords goes back to the beginning of this essay:the British political system has evolved very slowly and peacefullyand it is not totally logical or democratic.

There is no fixed number of members in the House of Lords,

but currently there are around 830 members - many more thanin the House of Commons, more than the combined houses ofthe American Congress or the Indian Parliament (although bothof these nations have a federal system), and the second biggestlegislative body in the world (after the Chinese NationalPeople's Congress which is effectively a rubber-stamping body).The number was actually halved to 666 in the reforms of 1999but, since then, succesive Prime Ministers have been addingnew life peers much faster than members are dying. Ironicallythe size of the House of Lords continues to rise at the same

time as the House of Commons has legislated to reduce its size.Historically most members of the House of Lords have beenwhat we called hereditary peers. This meant that years ago aking or queen nominated a member of the aristocracy to be amember of the House and, since then, the right to sit in theHouse has passed through the family from generation togeneration. Clearly this is totally undemocratic and the lastLabour Government abolished the right of all but 92 of thesehereditary peers to sit in the House.Almost all the other members of today's House of Lords are

what we call life peers. This means that they have been chosenby the Queen, on the advice of the Government, to sit in theHouse for as long as they live, but afterwards no member oftheir family has the right to sit in the House. Many are formersenior politicians. Others are very distinguished figures in fieldssuch as education, health and social policy.A small number of other members - 26 - are Archbishops andBishops of the Church of England. Iran is the only other countryin the world that provides automatic seats for senior religiousfigures in its legislature.House of Lords reform is unfinished business. The ParliamentAct of 1911 first raised the prospect of an elected upper housebut it has still not happened. There is a cross-party consensus


8/22

that it should become a mainly elected body although there isas yet no agreement on the details of the next stage of reform.

Some distinguishing features of the British Parliamentarysystem

Much of the work of Parliament is done in Committees ratherthan on the floor of the chamber. The House of Commons hastwo types of committee:

o Select Committees are appointed for the lifetime of aParliament, 'shadow' the work of a particular GovernmentDepartment, conduct investigations, receive written andoral evidence, and issue reports. Membership is made uponly of backbenchers and reflects proportionately thebalance of the parties in the Commons.

o General Committees (previously known as StandingCommittees) are temporary bodies, most of them PublicBill Committees formed to examine the detail of aparticular piece of proposed legislation and consideramendments to the Bill. Membership includesGovernment and Opposition spokepersons on the subjectmatter of the Bill and overall membership reflectsproportionately the balance of the parties in theCommons.

o The House of Lords only has Select Committees (it doesnot need Standing Committees because the details of Billsare considered on the floor of the chamber).

o Finally there are some Joint Committees of the Commonsand the Lords.

Discussion and debate involve quite a gladiatorial orconfrontational approach. This is reflected in the physical shapeof the chambers. Whereas most legislatures are semi-circular,both the House of Commons and the House of Lords arerectangular with the Government party sitting on one side andthe Opposition parties sitting on the other side. The House of

Lords alone has cross-benches for independent peers. It is quitenormal for speakers in debates to be interrupted by othermembers, especially of another party, and, in the Commons,cheering and jeering is a regular occurrence.In the Commons, there is a Prime Minister's Question (PMQ)Time for 30 minutes at 12 noon every Wednesday. Questionscan be asked on any subject. This is frequently a heated affairwith the Leader of the Opposition trying to embarrass the PrimeMinister and it is the one part of the week's proceedingsguaranteed to attract the interest of the media. In his book "AJourney", former Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote: "PMQs wasthe most nerve-wracking, discombobulating, nail-biting, bowel-


9/22

moving, terror-inspiring, courage-draining experience in myprime ministerial life, without question."The Government is normally assured of a majority in the Houseof Commons for any measure or vote. This is mainly because inthe Commons there is a strong 'whipping' system in which

political parties tell their members how to vote on everysignificant division though a weekly set of instructions. Theimportance of actually being present to vote in the mannerinstructed depends on whether the 'whip' is one-line, two-lineor - the most serious - three-line. Even when there is arebellion by members of the majority party, the Governmentusually obtains its wish because all Ministers and theirParliamentary Private Secretaries (PPSs) are required to votefor the Government or resign their Ministerial or PPS position.This is called 'the payroll vote' (although PPS are not actually

paid to be a PPS) and currently around 120 MPs or 22% of theCommons make up this block vote.The official record of the proceedings of the Commons and theLords is called Hansard. The press and broadcasters are presentall the time and live audio and visual broadcasting can takeplace at any time.

THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

In the British political system, almost all legislation is proposed by the

Government and much of it comes from promises made in themanifesto of the relevant political party at the last election. At thebeginning of each annual session of the Parliament, the main Bills tobe considered are announced by the Queen in a speech opening thatyear's session of Parliament.

All legislation has to be approved by both Houses of Parliament.

In each House of Parliament, a proposed piece of legislation called aBill goes through the following stages:

First Reading the Bill is introduced with simply a reading by aMinister of the long title of the BillSecond Reading the general principles of the Bill are debatedby all the members of the House and a formal vote is takenCommittee Stage each clause and schedule of the Bill, plusamendments to them and any new clauses or schedules, isexamined in detail, in the Commons by a small, speciallychosen group of members meeting as Public Bill Committee, inthe Lords by the members as a whole on the floor of the HouseReport Stage the changes made to the Bill in the Committee

are reported to and debated by the whole House which isinvited to consider the Bill as a whole, approve the changes by


10/22

the Committee, and consider any further proposed changes thatmight be suggestedThird Reading the final version of the Bill is considered by thewhole House in a short debate (in the Commons without thefacility for further amendments)

Royal Assent - the Crown gives assent to the Bill which thenbecomes an Act, the provisions becoming law eitherimmediately or at a date specified in the Act or at a datespecified by what is called a Commencement Order

Several points are worth noting about the legislative process:Under normal circumstances, all these stages must becompleted in both Houses in one session of Parliament;otherwise the process must begin all over again.

Debates on most Bills are timetabled through a programmemotion (when Government and Opposition agree) or anallocation of time motion which is popularly known as a'guillotine' motion (when Government and Opposition do notagree).As well as almost all legislation coming from the Government,almost all successful amendments originate from theGovernment.The House of Lords has much more limited legislative powersthan the House of Commons. Money Bills can only be initiated

in the Commons and the Lords can only reject legislation fromthe Commons for one year. Furthermore there is a convention -called the Salisbury Convention - that the Lords does not blocklegislation in fulfillment of the election manifesto of the electedGovernment.

POLITICAL PARTIES

The idea of political parties first took form in Britain and theConservative Party claims to be the oldest political party in the world.Political parties began to form during the English civil wars of the1640s and 1650s. First, there were Royalists and Parliamentarians;then Tories and Whigs. Whereas the Whigs wanted to curtail thepower of the monarch, the Tories - today the Conservatives - wereseen as the patriotic party.

Today there are three major political parties in the British system ofpolitics:

The Labour Party - the centre-Left party currently led by EdMiliband

The Conservative Party (frequently called the Tories) - thecentre-Right party currently led by David Cameron


11/22

The Liberal Democrat Party (known as the Lib Dems) - thecentrist, libertarian party currently led by Nick Clegg

In addition to these three main parties, there are some much smallerUK parties (notably the UK Independence Party and the Green Party)

and some parties which operate specifically in Scotland (the ScottishNational Party), Wales (Plaid Cymru) or Northern Ireland (such asSinn Fein for the nationalists and the Democratic Unionist Party forthe loyalists).Each political party chooses its leader in a different way, but allinvolve all the Members of Parliament of the party and all theindividual members of that party. By convention, the leader of thepolitical party with the largest number of members in the House ofCommons becomes the Prime Minster (formally at the invitation of

the Queen).

Political parties are an all-important feature of the British politicalsystem because:

The three main political parties in the UK have existed for acentury or more and have a strong and stable 'brand image'.It is virtually impossible for someone to be elected to the Houseof Commons without being a member of an established politicalparty.

All political parties strongly 'whip' their elected members whichmeans that, on the vast majority of issues, Members ofParliament of the same party vote as a 'block'.

Having said this, the influence of the three main political parties isnot as dominant as it was in the 1940s and 1950s because:

The three parties have smaller memberships than they didsince voters are much less inclined to join a political party.The three parties secure a lower overall percentage of the totalvote since smaller parties between them now take a growingshare of the vote.Voters are much less 'tribal', supporting the same party atevery election, and much more likely to 'float, voting fordifferent parties at successive elections.The ideological differences between the parties are less thanthey were with the parties adopting more 'pragmatic' positionson many issues.

In the past, class was a major determinant of voting intention inBritish politics, with most working class electors voting Labour and

most middle class electors voting Conservative. These days, class ismuch less important because:


12/22

Working class numbers have shrunk and now represent only43% of the electorate.Except at the extremes of wealth, lifestyles are more similar.Class does not determine voting intention so much as values,trust and competence.

In the British political system, there is a broad consensus betweenthe major parties on:

the rule of lawthe free market economythe national health serviceUK membership of European Union and NATO

The main differences between the political parties concern:how to tackle poverty and inequalitythe levels and forms of taxationthe extent of state intervention in the economythe balance between collective rights and individual rights

THE U.K. GOVERNMENT

All Government Ministers have to be a member of either the House ofCommons (most of them) or the House of Lords (the remainder of

them) and every Government Department will have at least oneMinister in the Lords, so that the Department can speak in eitherHouse as necessary. The number of Ministers varies fromadministration to administration, but typically there will be around90, the 20 or so most senior being Cabinet Ministers. In addition,there are around 20 whips who are on the Government payroll.

Historically most British governments have been composed ofministers from a single political party which had an overall majority ofseats in the House of Commons and the 'first-past-the-post' (FPTP)electoral system greatly facilitates and indeed promotes thisoutcome. However, occasionally there have been minoritygovernments or coalition governments.

Currently the UK has its first coalition government in 65 years since,in May 2010, the Conservatives went into coalition with the LiberalDemocrats because in the General Election they did not secure amajority of the seats. In this coalition, the Lib Dems have 17ministers led by the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

The Prime Minister


13/22

The UK does not have a President. Constitutionally the head of stateis the monarch who is a hereditary member of the Royal Family.However, the monarch has very few formal powers and stays aboveparty politics.

So, in practice, the most important person in the British politicalsystem is the Prime Minister. The first modern Prime Minister was SirRobert Walpole who served from 1721-1742, so the current PM -David Cameron - is the 53rd (and, on first taking office, the youngestsince 1812, a few months younger than when Tony Blair became PMin 1997). In theory, the Prime Minister simply choses the ministerswho run Government departments and chairs the Cabinet thecollection of the most senior of those Ministers. In practice, however,the Prime Minister is a very powerful figure and increasingly has beenbehaving much like a president in other political systems, especially

in the area of foreign policy.

The official residence of the Prime Minister is at 10 Downing Street.

One British Prime Minister has been assassinated: Spencer Percevalwas shot dead in the House of Commons in 1812.

Government Departments

The most important political departments are called:

The Treasury - In most countries, this would be called theMinistry of Finance. It is responsible for the raising of all taxesand the control of all government expenditure plus the generalmanagement of the economy. The head of the Treasury iscalled the Chancellor of the Exchequer and is currently GeorgeOsborne (who, on taking office, was the youngest Chancellorfor more than 180 years).The Home Office - In most countries, this would be called theMinistry of the Interior. It is responsible for criminal matters,policing, and immigration. The Head of the Home Office iscalled the Home Secretary and is currently Teresa May.The Foreign and Commonwealth Office - In most countries, thiswould be called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is responsiblefor all our international relationships, especially ourmembership of the European Union. The head of the ForeignOffice is called the Foreign Secretary and is currently WilliamHague.

Many other UK Government Departments are similar to those in othercountries and cover subjects such as education, health, transport,

industry, and justice. However, there are also departments forScotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.


14/22


15/22

Department. Besides these tiny number of Special Advisers,Government Departments are run by civil servants who are recruitedin a totally open manner and serve governments of any politicalparties. The independence and professionalism of the British civilservice are fundamental features of the British political system. My

son Richard once worked as a civil servant in what was then theDepartment of Trade & Industry and my half-brother Chris was anofficial in the Treasury for five years.

DEVOLVED GOVERNMENT

The UK has a devolved system of government, but this iscategorically not a system of federal government such as in theUnited States or Australia, partly because less than a fifth of thecitizens of the UK are covered the three bodies in question and partly

because the three bodies themselves have different powers from oneanother.

The three devolved administrations are:

The Scottish Parliament

This came into operation in May 1999 and covers the 5M citizens ofScotland. It has 129 members elected by a system of proportionalrepresentation known as the mixed member system. As a result, 73

members represent individual geographical constituencies elected bythe 'first past the post' system, with a further 56 members returnedfrom eight additional member regions, each electing seven members.All members are elected for four-year terms.

The Scottish Parliament meets in Holyrood, Edinburgh. It haslegislative powers over those matters not reserved to the UKParliament and it has limited tax-raising powers.

In the election of May 2011, for the first time a single political partygained an overall majority of the seats in the Scottish Parliament.That party is the Scottish National Party which will hold a referendumin 2014 seeking support for Scottish independence from theremainder of the UK.

The Welsh Assembly

This came into operation in May 1999 and covers the 3M citizens ofWales. It has 60 members elected by a system of proportionalrepresentation known as the mixed member system. As a result, 40members represent individual geographical constituencies elected by

the 'first past the post' system, with a further 20 members returned


16/22

from five additional member regions, each electing four members. Allmembers are elected for four-year terms.

It meets in the Senedd, Cardiff. When first created, the Assembly hadno powers to initiate primary legislation. However, since 2006, the

Assembly has powers to legislate in some areas, though still subjectto the veto of the Westminster Parliament. The Assembly has no tax-varying powers. The Welsh Assembly, therefore, has less power thaneither the Scottish Parliament or the Northern Ireland Assemblybecause - unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland - Wales does nothave a separate legal system from England.

The Northern Ireland Assembly

The present version of the Assembly came into operation in May 2007and covers the 1.5M citizens of Northern Ireland. It has 108 members- six from each of the 18 Westminster constituencies - elected by asystem of proportional representation known as the singletransferable vote.

It meets in the Parliament Building, Belfast. It has legislative powersover those matters not reserved to the UK Parliament, but it has notax-raising powers.

A First Minister and a Deputy First Minister are elected to lead theExecutive Committee of Ministers. As a result of the sectarian divisionin Northern Ireland, the two must stand for election jointly and to beelected they must have cross-community support by the parallelconsent formula, which means that a majority of both the Memberswho have designated themselves Nationalists and those who havedesignated themselves Unionists and a majority of the wholeAssembly, must vote in favour. The First Minister and Deputy FirstMinister head the Executive Committee of Ministers and, actingjointly, determine the total number of Ministers in the Executive.

THE U.K. JUDICIARY

The British judicial branch is extremely complex. Unlike mostcountries which operate a single system of law, the UK operates threeseparate legal systems: one for England and Wales, one for Scotland,and one for Northern Ireland. Although bound by similar principles,these systems differ in form and the manner of operation.

Currently a process of reform is in operation.


17/22

The Lord Chancellor's office - which for 1,400 years maintained thejudiciary - has now been replaced by the Ministry for Justice whichadministers the court system. A Judical Appointments Commissionhas been set up to advise the head of the MoJ on the appointment ofnew judges.

The Appellate Committee of the House of Lords - previously thehighest court in the land - was, by way of the Constitutional ReformAct 2005, replaced by the Supreme Court in October 2009 to allowthe judiciary to operate in total independence from the Government.The Supreme Court is now the ultimate court of appeal in all legalmatters other than criminal cases in Scotland. It consists of 12 judgesand sits in the Middlesex Guildhall in Parliament Square.

The UK does not have its own Bill of Rights. However, since 1951 it

has been a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights(part of the Council of Europe) and since 1966 it has allowed itscitizens the right of individual petition enabling them to take thegovernment to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.The Blair Government incorporated the provisions of the EuropeanConvention in UK domestic law in 2000, so that citizens can now seekto have the provisions enforced in domestic courts.

CIVIL SOCIETY

One cannot explain a liberal democracy such as the United Kingdomsimply by talking about the formal political and governmentalinstitutions, any more than one can understood fish without talkingabout water.

Democratic government cannot operate without a strong civil societyto support it and hold political and governmental bodies to account.The special history of the UK - involving gradual changes over longperiods - has created a subtle but effective civil society that outsidersoften find a little difficult to understand. So it is useful to list some ofthe more important elements of such a civil society:

Bill of Rights - Although Britain does not have a written constitution,it does have a Bill of Rights because it is a signatory to the EuropeanConvention on Human Rights which was drawn up by a body calledthe Council of Europe. The European Convention is part of ourdomestic law so that it can be enforced in our domestic courts as wellas in the European Court of Human Rights.

Independent judiciary - Our judges are appointed through anindependent process and operate totally independently of

government. They can find that a Government Minister has actedagainst a law of the UK Parliament or a Directive of the European


18/22

Union or against the European Convention and require the Minister tochange his actions.

A free media - As long as they are not being libelous, newspapers,radio and television can say what they want about the Parliament, the

Government and politicians. An important new development is theInternet. Web sites and blogs can say what they want aboutpoliticians and political issues. I have a web site and a blog and Ioften write about political issues. There is no need in the UK toregister a newspaper or web site or to obtain permission to run it.

Freedom of information legislation We have a Freedom ofInformation Act which is a piece of legislation that obliges nationalgovernment, local government and most public bodies to provide anyinformation requested by an citizen. The only exceptions are things

like information which concern national security, commercialconfidentiality or the private matters of citizens.

Trade unions - About a quarter of workers in Britain are members oftrade unions representing different occupational groups or industries.These trade unions are totally independent of government andemployers. I was a national trade union official for 24 years andbelieve strongly in independent trade unions.

Pressure groups - We have lots and lots of organisations that

campaign publicly on political issues such as poverty, pensions, andthe environment. They perform an invaluable role in putting forwardideas and holding politicians to account.

Charities and voluntary groups - Similarly we have lots and lots oforganisations that do some of the things that government does aswell such as running schools and hospitals, looking after the poor andold, and cleaning up the environment.

CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL REFORM

Compared to many other democracies, institutional and proceduralreform in the British political system has been very slow, gradual andpiecemeal. However, there has been a growing movement for morefundamental reform. The appetite for constitutional change becamemuch stronger in the aftermath of the May 2009 scandal over theexpenses of Members of Parliament. Then the formation in May 2010of a Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition Government opened upnew possibilities for change with a number of specific measures setout in the agreement between the parties establishing the newgovernment. However, actual progress has been limited.


19/22

The proposed changes on the agenda of the current CoalitionGovernment are as follows:

Fixed term parliaments - In the past, elections to the Houseof Commons had to be held within five years of the previous

General Election but the Prime Minister had complete discretionover the actual date which was often the subject ofconsiderable speculation and frequently a year or more beforean election was legally necessary. The coalition parties agreedto the establishment of five year fixed-term parliaments andthe necessary legislation has now been enacted. Therefore,subject to at an earlier time either a vote of no confidence inthe Government or a two-thirds majority vote, each GeneralElection will now be held on the first Thursday of May five yearsafter the previous election.

A new electoral system for the House of Commons -Britain is unusual in Europe in having an electoral system whichis 'first-past-the-post' (FPTP) and there are advocates for asystem of proportional representation (PR), versions of whichare already used for elections to the Scottish Parliament, theWelsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly and forBritish elections to the European Parliament. As a vitalcomponent of the coalition agreement, legislation was carriedto enable a referendum to be held on an electoral system calledthe alternative vote (AV) which enables the voter to number

candidates in order of preference and requires a winningcandidate to secure more than 50% of the votes which, if notachieved on the first count, is achieved through successivewithdrawal of the lowest-polling candidate and redistribution ofthat candidate's preferences. The referendum - only the secondUK-wide referendum in our history - was held on 5 May 2011,but the current electoral system was supported by a margin ofmore than two to one (I voted for a move to AV).Fewer and more equal sized constituencies - Currently theHouse of Commons has 650 seats; the Coalition Government

intended to cut this to 600. Currently the number of electors ineach Parliamentary constituency varies quite considerably; theCoalition Government has legislated that no constituency

should be more than 5% either larger or smaller than a nationalaverage of around 76,000 electors (which could eliminate some40 Labour-held seats). The Government included thesemeasures in the Referendum Bill on electoral reform and it wasintended that the new constituencies would come into effect atthe next General Election. However, although the Bill is now onthe statute book, the new constituencies will not becomeoperative at the next General Election following a Commonsvote of 334 to 292 against early implementation when theLiberal Democrats joined with Labour to block implementation


20/22

in retaliation for Conservative MPs failing to support the reformof the House of Lords strongly favoured by the Lib Dems.Election of the House of Lords - At present, no member ofthe upper house is actually elected; most are appointed on thenomination of party leaders with a small number remaining

from the originally much larger group of hereditary peers. TheQueen's Speech of May 2012 announced that there would be aBill on Lords reform in the current session of Parliament. Thelatest proposal for reform comes from a Joint Committee of thetwo houses which recommended a 450-seat chamber withpeers elected for 15 years in elections to be held every fiveyears. Of these, 80% would be elected by a form ofproportional representation with 20% appointed by anindependent body. In fact, neither the Commons (especially theConservative Party) nor the Lords is keen on reform for very

different reasons (MPs do not want the Lords to gain morelegitimacy and nominated peers do not want to be replaced byelected representatives). In the summer of 2012, the PrimeMinister announced that he could not deliver Conservativesupport for a reform measure which was therefore withdrawn tothe intense anger of the Liberal Democrats who very muchsupport reform.More power to backbench Members of Parliament - In theBritish political system, the party in Government hasconsiderably more power in the legislature than the Opposition

parties and in all the political parties the whips haveconsiderable power over backbenchers. Ordinary MPs could begiven more influence by measures such as more independentand stronger all-party Select Committees, more unwhippedvotes (especially during the Committee Stage of Bills), moresupport for Private Members' Bills (those initiated bybackbenchers rather than Ministers), more power to scrutiniseGovernment spending, and a new power to subject ministers toconfirmation hearings. The parties will bring forward theproposals of the Wright Committee for reform to the House of

Commons in full - starting with the proposed committee formanagement of programmed business and includinggovernment business within its scope - by the third year of theParliament.The power to force a by-election - Currently a by-electionoccurs only when an MP dies or resigns or is sentenced to morethan one year in prison. The Government has published a Billproposing that a by-election could be forced if 10% of eligibleconstituents - around 6,800 in a typical constituency - voted fora recall. The ousted Member of Parliament would be free tostand for re-election. However, the proposal has been criticisedon the grounds that the recall petition would only be triggered


21/22

by a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons or aprison sentence.More devolution nationally and locally - The ScottishParliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern IrelandAssembly all have devolved powers and all of them want more,

while many local authorities feel that, over past decades, theirpowers have been eroded by the national parliament. Somebelieve that a revitalisation of the British political systemrequires more devolution of power. The parties have agreed tothe implementation of the Calman Commission proposals onfurther Scottish devolution and the offer of a referendum onfurther Welsh devolution. Also the parties intend to promote theradical devolution of power and greater financial autonomy tolocal government and community groups. This will include a fullreview of local government finance.

Use of e-petitions - Citizens are to be encouraged to use theGovernment web site Direct.gov to create electronic petitions topromote specific political reforms. It is likely that the mostpopular petition will be drafted as a Bill and presented toParliament, while those petitions that reach a certain level ofsupport - probably 100,000 signatures - will be guaranteed adebate in the House of Commons.Funding and lobbying - All political parties find it difficult toraise the funding necessary to promote their messages and runtheir election campaigns and, in practice, the Labour Party

receives much of its funding from a small number of tradeunions and the Conservative Party is backed mainly by largecompanies. It has been argued that democracy would be betterserved and parties could be more independent if there waspublic funding of political parties with the actual level of fundingdepending of some combination of candidates and votes. Theparties have agreed to pursue a detailed agreement on limitingdonations and reforming party funding in order to remove 'bigmoney' from politics. Also the parties intend to tackle lobbyingthrough introducing a statutory register of lobbyists.

Candidates for further change would include the following proposals:A wider franchise - At present, every citizen over 18 can votebut it has been suggested that the voting age should belowered to 16. In the current Coalition Government, the LiberalDemocrats support such an extension to the franchise but theConservatives oppose it. Meanwhile the Scottish NationalistGovernment proposes to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote inthe planned referendum on Scottish independence to be held in2014.A wider process for selecting Parliamentary candidates -Today candidates are selected by meetings of members of the


22/22

political party that the candidate will represent in a futureelection, but it has been proposed that the process could beopened up to anyone in the relevant constituency who hasdeclared themselves a supporter of that party, a processsomething like the primaries in the United States.

A more modern culture for the Commons - Many of thetraditions and much of the language of the Commons date backcenturies and reformers argue that it is time for change tomake the proceedings more accessible and acceptable to thepublic and electorate. The sort of changes mooted are noceremonial dress for Commons staff, reform of terms such as"My right honourable friend", and a less gladiatorial version ofPrime Minister's Questions.Limits on the Royal Prerogative - At the moment, the PrimeMinister alone can exercise powers which once used to belong

to the monarch, such as the right to apppoint certain judgesand bishops, the signing of international treaties, and thedeclaring of war, but this could be changed so that Parliamenthas to decide such matters.A domestic Bill of Rights - The UK has a Bill of Rights but it isthe European Convention on Human Rights which, since 2000,has been part of the domestic law and therefore enforcable innational courts as well as the European Court. Some peoplebelieve that Britain should draft its own specific Bill of Rights.The idea is currently being examined by an eight person

commission.A written constitution - For historical reasons, the UK is oneof only three countries in the world not to have a writtenconstitution (the others are New Zealand and Israel). The mostradical proposal for constitutional change - supported especiallyby the Liberal Democrat Party - is that the country should nowhave a formal written constitution, presumably following somesort of constitutional convention and possibly a referendum.

So the scene is perhaps set for more change than for many decades.ROGER DARLINGTON

Last modified on 30 January 2013

british political system. willy gómez

Documents