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Political System

of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The political system of the United Kingdom has provided stability and consistency since the 19th century through a structure that has evolved rather than been designed. The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy dominated by the monarchy which links the executive, legislature, judiciary, armed forces, and Church of England.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. Its constitution is partly unwritten and is flexible. Its basic sources are parliamentary and European Union legislation, the European Convention on Human Rights, and decisions by courts of law. Matters for which there is no formal law follow precedents that are always open to development or modification.

Although in practice almost all responsibilities are deferred, the monarch and the royal family are a source of unity and national spirit. The reigning monarch is permanent head of state. The United Kingdom is governed by Her Majesty's Government in the name of the Queen. Royal powers are largely honorific; for instance, the right to veto legislative acts has not been exercised since the early 18th century. But there are still many important acts which require the participation of the Queen. The Queen summons, prorogues and dissolves Parliament. Normally she opens the new session with a speech from the throne which outlines her Government's programme. The Queen confers peerages, knighthoods and other honours. She makes appointments to many important state offices. An important function of the sovereign is the appointment of a Prime Minister.

Legislative power is vested in Parliament, which comprises the monarch, the mainly appointive House of Lords, and the elected House of Commons.

The members of the House of Commons are elected to five-year terms, although the Prime Minister may call general elections at any time. Each member of the House of Commons (member of Parliament; MP) represents an individual constituency (district) by virtue of winning a plurality of votes in the constituency.

There are 659 members in the House of Commons (most of them are professional politicians, lawyers, etc.) Important members in the House of Commons are the Speaker who is the Chairman of the House of Commons and arranges each day programme in Parliament, and the so-called party whips. The Speaker sits in the Speaker’s Chair at the end of the Table of the House. The Government sits to the Speaker's right and the Opposition to the Speaker's left. It is the Speaker's duty to keep order in debate and to call MPs to speak. The MP selected must address the Chair, and must refer to other MPs by their constituency or to Ministers by their office. “Whips” are party organizers who enforce party discipline and secure the attendance of party members at important sessions. There is seating accommodation (including the side galleries) for only 437 MPs, which is why you may see MPs standing around the Speaker’s Chair during major debates and statements. They come and go because they are often wanted on business in other parts of the building, but during important debates they remain in the House, and the sittings may go on until late at night.

The House of Commons examines and passes proposals for new laws known as "bills" presented to Parliament by the Government. The Government cannot simply legislate on its own - it requires the approval of the House of Commons and the House of Lords for new laws (though the House of Lords has no say in financial measures).

Bills are usually amended during their passage through both Houses; the main stages of the bill's progress in each House are known as "readings". Nowadays the first reading is a formality. Only the title of the bill is mentioned, and then it is printed in full for members of the House of Commons to read and think before the second reading. On the second reading if the House is not unanimous in favour of the bill, a vote has to be taken. A bell is rung so that all the members may come and vote. The members leave their benches and walk out into the appropriate "Aye" or "No" lobby. As they walk out, they are counted by four tellers - two for each side - and it may take 10 or 15 minutes before the tellers announce the results of the division (vote) to the Speaker or Chairman.

After passing the second reading stage the bill must go to a committee for a detailed examination mostly carried out in Standing Committees. After proposals and amendments are made, the bill is ready for the third reading. If the majority of MPs is for the bill, it is sent to the House of Lords for discussion. When the Lords agree, the Queen signs, and the Great Seal is fixed. The bill becomes an Act of Parliament.

PROGRESS OF BILLS: MAIN STAGES

1st Reading Formal Presentation

2nd Reading Debate on general principle

Committee Detailed examination of clauses and proposed amendments (normally in Standing Committee, though constitutional and other important Bills will be examined in the Chamber)

Report Consideration of Committee amendments and opportunity for further changes

3rd Reading Final debate on Bill as a whole

A major role of the House of Commons is to subject the policies and actions of the Government to public scrutiny. The Government runs the country but Parliament holds the Government to account. When Government Ministers make statements in the House of Commons, they are interrogated by the Opposition and by individual Members of all parties. MPs can also question Ministers directly during the periods given over to question time in the House of Commons. Written questions are also put to Ministers and the answers are included in the published Official Report of proceedings.

MPs spend some time each week working in their constituency and dealing with constituents' problems. An MP will often be able to advise on how to address a particular issue and may write to the relevant authority or Minister on behalf of a constituent. MPs can also raise local or personal issues in a variety of ways in the House of Commons

One of the most familiar images of the House of Lords is the State Opening of Parliament by Her Majesty the Queen. This is a splendid and colourful ceremonial occasion. The Queen's Speech (written by the Government) sets out Parliament's working agenda for the coming year. The House has existed as a separate chamber of Parliament since the 14th century, and is part of the oldest parliamentary democracy in the world. It is also one of the busiest, second only to the House of Commons in the number of days and hours it sits.

Until 1999 the House of Lords consisted mainly of hereditary peers. In October 1999 decision was made to decrease the number of peers to participate in lawmaking, to abolish hereditary peers, and to introduce elected peers and new powers for the Lords to hold Cabinet ministers to account. The number of elected peers is to be about 100. Existing life peers will remain until their death. The historic representation of the Church of England in the Lords will be maintained but the number of bishops will be cut to 16. Unlike MPs, Lords are unelected and unpaid, except for certain allowances to cover attendance which is voluntary. There is no upper limit on the total number of members. Currently there are about 700 members

The House plays a key role in revising legislation sent from the Commons. The Lords spends about two-thirds of its time revising or initiating legislation. It acts as a check on the Government. Members question the Government orally or by written questions, they debate policy issues and scrutinise secondary legislation. It acts as a final Court of Appeal.

The Chairman of the House of Lords is Lord Chancellor who sits on a special seat called the Woolsack, which is stuffed with wool from England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the countries of the Commonwealth. Lord Chancellor is also a Cabinet minister and Head of the Judiciary. Lord Chancellor is the Speaker of the House but, unlike the Speaker of the House of Commons, has no power to control proceedings. The House regulates itself under the guidance of the Leader of the House who, as well as leading the party in government, has a responsibility to the House as a whole.

The sovereign is now restricted to the mere formal act of inviting the head of the Parliament's majority party to form a government. The Queen appoints the leader of this party as Prime minister. Executive power is wielded by the Prime Minister and the cabinet chosen by the Prime Minister from MPs in his or her party. The prime minister ultimately determines government policy, and all measures decided upon at meetings of the Cabinet must be approved by him. Finally, it is the prime minister who advises the sovereign to dissolve Parliament in preparation for a general election, a step necessary if his legislative programs are decisively defeated in the House of Commons.

The Cabinet is a kind of “Inner government” within the Government. The prime minister must put together a cabinet that represents and balances the various factions within his own party (or within a coalition of parties). Most cabinet ministers are heads of government departments. The cabinet plans and lays before Parliament all important bills. While the cabinet thus controls the lawmaking machinery, it is also subject to Parliament; it must expound and defend its policy in debate, and its continuation in office depends on the support of the House of Commons. Cabinet members must all be members of Parliament, as must the prime minister himself. The members of a cabinet head the principal government departments, or ministries, such as home affairs, foreign affairs, and the Exchequer (treasury). Cabinet members can freely disagree with each other within the secrecy of cabinet meetings, but once a decision has been reached, all are obligated to support the cabinet's policies, both in the Commons and before the general public. The loss of a vote of confidence or the defeat of a major legislative bill in the Commons can mean a cabinet's fall from power and the collective resignation of its members. The cabinet usually meets in the prime minister's official residence at 10 Downing Street in London.

Policies are carried out by government departments and executive agencies staffed by politically neutral civil servants. They serve the government of the day regardless of its political complexion. About 295,000 civil servants work in over 75 executive agencies.

The second largest party forms the official Opposition, with its own leader and 'shadow cabinet'. The Opposition has a duty to challenge government policies and to present an alternative programme.

POLITICAL PARTIES (to be done in the form of students’ reports)

A two-party system has existed in the United Kingdom since the late 17 century, though it is occasionally threatened by a third party. The Conservative Party and the Labour Party are the dominant parties of the modern era. (In the early 20th century, Labour displaced the Liberals as one of the two dominant parties.)

The Conservative Party is the political party whose guiding principles include the promotion of private property and enterprise, the maintenance of a strong military, and the preservation of traditional cultural values and institutions.

The terms Conservative and Tory are now used indiscriminately. In comparison to other European conservative movements, British conservatism has proved unusually resilient, having succeeded in adapting itself to changing political and social agendas. The party is essentially a coalescence of several ideological groups, the most important of which are a centrist “One Nation” bloc that stresses economic interventionism and social harmony and an economic-liberal bloc that emphasizes a free-market economy. Neither of these two blocs is monolithic, and their heterogeneous nature usually allows them to avoid serious conflict with each other. The One-Nation Conservatives, for example, include progressives, who advocate change, and paternalists, who are more concerned with social order and authority. Nevertheless, disagreements between the two major blocs and between other groups occasionally produce dramatic splits in the party.

At the head of the party is the leader, who is the fount of all policy. Since 1998 the leader is elected by the entire party membership; the parliamentary members may still remove a leader, however, through a vote of no confidence. Below the leader there are three principal elements: the voluntary wing (comprising the local parties in the constituencies), the professional wing (the Central Office), and the parliamentary party. All three elements are represented on a Management Board. The Board has responsibility for organizational matters within the party and has the power to expel members.

The membership of the modern Conservative Party is drawn heavily from the landowning and middle classes—especially businessmen, managers, and professionals. Its electoral base, however, has extended at times well beyond these groups to incorporate approximately one-third of the working class. Although the party has long been highly circumspect about revealing the precise sources of its funds, the central party organization has tended to rely heavily on donations from corporations and wealthy individuals. The income of constituency associations derives from membership subscriptions and fund-raising events. The party also has had to cope with declining membership. Although claiming about three million members in the early 1950s, it was believed to have 750,000 members in 1992 and only about 350,000 in 1997.

The Labour Party was born at the turn of the 20th century out of the frustration of working-class people at their inability to field parliamentary candidates through the Liberal Party, which at that time was the dominant social-reform party in Britain. In 1900 the Trades Union Congress (the national federation of British trade unions) cooperated with the Independent Labour Party (founded in 1893) to establish a Labour Representation Committee, which took the name Labour Party in 1906.

In 1918 Labour reconstituted itself as a formally socialist party with a democratic constitution and a national structure. The party's program, “Labour and the New Social Order,” drafted by Fabian Society leaders Sidney and Beatrice Webb, committed Labour to the pursuit of full employment with a minimum wage and a maximum workweek, democratic control and public ownership of industry, progressive taxation, and the expansion of educational and social services.

In a series of programmatic and organizational changes in the 1990s, the party reembraced the mixed economy, declared its support for European integration, dropped its unpopular unilateral nuclear defense policy, rewrote the clause of its constitution that committed it to the public ownership of industry, and gave serious consideration to a new range of constitutional reforms, including devolution, voting reform, and reform of the House of Lords. This “New Labour” agenda, combined with highly professionalized political marketing, produced a landslide victory in the general election of 1997, returning Labour to power after 18 years of Conservative Party rule and securing Tony Blair's appointment as prime minister.

Prior to World War II, Labour's electoral support was based largely on blue-collar workers and middle-class socialists. After 1979 the Labour vote became heavily regionalized and concentrated in industrial areas of Scotland, South Wales, and northern England, though the renovation of the party leading up to the electoral victory of 1997 succeeded in restoring significant support in urban areas across southern England. Approximately two-thirds of Labour's vote still comes from blue-collar workers, though they account for only about one-third of the party's membership. Individual membership, which stood at about 350,000 at the end of the 1990s, has declined since 1960, though there was an upsurge during Blair's first years as party leader. The party has relied heavily on its trade union affiliates throughout its history for financial support. Since the early 1990s attempts have been made to reduce this dependence, though the degree of change has not been significant. About half of the Labour Party's income is derived from union sources; the remainder comes from individual members, a variety of wealthy donors, and modest returns on investments.

Liberal Party (Great Britain) The Liberals became a recognizable political party in the mid-19th century. Dedicated to the extension of civil rights and social welfare, they were the principal opposition to the Conservative Party until the rise of Labour in the early 20th century. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was formed in 1981 by former Labourites who were dissatisfied with that party's domination by leftists and trade union officials. Almost from the very founding of the SDP, the Liberals and Social Democrats were allied with each other, presenting themselves as the alternative to a polarizing choice between radical Labourites and Conservatives. The Alliance, as it was sometimes called, polled 25 percent of the popular vote in the 1983 general election, raising speculation that it might break the “two-party mold” of British politics. On March 3, 1988, the two parties formally merged as the Social and Liberal Democratic Party, and the

party adopted the present name -the Liberal Democratic Party - in 1989.

Between 1992 and 1997, the Liberal Democrats scored stunning by-election victories and increased their support in local elections; at the height of the Conservative Party's unpopularity, the Liberal Democrats became the second largest party (after Labour) in local government. The Liberal Democrats' major national breakthrough came in the 1997 general election, in which they benefited from a sophisticated targeting of campaign resources on a limited number of constituencies. Although they won only 17 percent of the national vote, they more than doubled their parliamentary representation to 46 of 659 seats. In 2001, under Charles Kennedy's leadership, the party increased its seats in the House of Commons to 52.

One of the most striking features of the electoral support won by the Liberal Democratic Party (as well as its progenitors) is its heterogeneity. The party regularly wins the votes of about two-fifths of all managers, professionals, and nonmanual employees; approximately one-quarter of manual employees; and one-fifth of self-employed individuals. Geographically, some regions of relatively concentrated Liberal Democratic voting are recognizable, especially in the so-called Celtic fringes of Scotland and southwestern England. The party's membership is overwhelmingly middle-class and highly educated—even more so than that of the Conservatives. Financially, the Liberal Democrats are the most poorly funded British party: unlike the two dominant parties, they are unable to rely on major corporate or trade union sponsors and are forced to raise funds from the individual membership and from a few wealthy sympathizers.