Political System in the UK
Overview of the System - UK as a constitutional monarchy A country governed by a king or a queen, who
accepts the advice of a parliament
- Parliamentary democracy Government is controlled by a parliament, which has
been elected by the population
- Queen as the official Head of State she has little power
- Parliament led by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet
Constitution
- No written constitution in the UK
- There are rules, regulations and principles but no formal documents that could
be called “The Constitution of the UK”
The Parliament
- In the palace of Westminster
- Legislative authority
- 5 years of government max . dissolution by PM
possible
- Control of the government`s work
- Divided into two “houses“: The House of Commons
and The House of Lords
House of Commons
- The more important one of the two “houses“
- Democratic authority à elected by the population
- currently 650 MPs à each MP represents one of the
650 constituencies (523 for England, 72 for Scotland,
38 for Wales and 17 for Northern Ireland)
- It carries out the parliamentary work Main functions:
à to pass laws
à to control the government`s policy
à to debate current issues
- similar to the German Federal Diet (= Bundestag)
House of Lords
- currently consists of 731 non-elected members
highly traditional
- Divided into:
à Lords Spiritual
( = Higher bishops of the Church of England)
à Lords Temporal (= Hereditary Peers, who
inherited their titles and Life Peers, Lords who
have been given their titles for lifetime)
- Highly reduced power compared to former time
- In former times à ability to reject a legislation
- Nowadays à not the power to prohibit bills
à only power to delay bills
- Highest Court of Appeal
- Similar to the German Federal Council
Government
- Executive authority
- Composed of the party with the most seats in Parliament
- Leader of this party à Prime Minister (PM)
- PM appoints other Ministers à These Ministers form the Cabinet
- Answerable to the Parliame.....