overview parliamentary law making – the political system © the law bank the british political...

OverviewParliamentary Law Making – The Political System

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The British Political System

An overview before we start law


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Starter – Pop QuizDiscuss in your groups what you think the following things mean

1. Parliament

2. Government

3. Cabinet

4. The Monarchy

5. The Prime Minister

6. The Opposition

7. Elections


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Objectives• Describe the development of the British system

of politics

• Explain how British Politics works

• Analyse the work of Parliament and the role of the government


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Some history - part 1It is a system which has elements which are very old –• The monarchy dates back to Anglo Saxon times.• Parliament traces its origins to the Anglo Saxon

Witangemot, a collection of the elite of society, prominent nobles and clergy


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Some history - part 2• The Witangemot was succeeded by the Great

Council of the Normans, a somewhat similar body. The Great Council evolved into Parliament.

• The actual term Parliament comes into use during the 13th century.

• By then it consisted of the great nobles, the leaders of the church, representatives of the knights of the shire and representatives of the burgesses from the boroughs.


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Some history - part 3• By the early 14th century the knights and

burgesses began to sit separately.• By 1544 they became known as the House of

Lords and the House of Commons.• Parliament gradually increased its power at the

expense of the king.


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British Political System #1

• What has happened in the UK is that these institutions have been adapted and changed as needs have developed into a functioning democracy.

• Instead of abolishing institutions some have been pushed to one side while others have developed and increased in role or power.


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• The UK does not have a single document called the Constitution. A constitution outlines the main parts of the system of government.

• Most British political scientists argue that the UK has an “unwritten” constitution made up of a mixture of historic documents, laws and non-legal rules called conventions.


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• There have been major changes to our constitution in recent years. Some are mentioned on later slides.

• Others include-• The Freedom of Information Act 2000.• The impact of membership of the European

Union.• The Human Rights Act 1998.


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• The Monarchy • This is a hereditary system. The Queen fulfils

mainly ceremonial duties and has no real power. It is a constitutional monarchy i.e. one with limited powers.

• The epitome of this position is the Queen’s speech. She reads this to the peers and MPs in the House of Lords.


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• But it is written by the PM – she is the mouthpiece of the government.


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• The Prime Minister• This is the leader of the party that won the last

election. S/he appoints members of the Government. In a coalition this will be part of the agreement to form the coalition.


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• The Cabinet• This is the committee of

the most important ministers.

• It presently numbers 23. They meet regularly - usually weekly - to discuss and make decisions about running the country.


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• Officially we have a Cabinet system of government – that is the Cabinet takes the important decisions about running the country.


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• The Government• This is all the senior and junior ministers who

govern Britain. It is made up of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and junior minsters. It consists of around 100 MPs and peers. They sit at the front in Parliament hence the term frontbencher.


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• The supporters of government sit behind them and are known as backbenchers or Government backbenchers (even though they are not actually members of the government).


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• The parties that are not members of the government are the opposition, with the largest party forming the Official Opposition, with its leaders being the Shadow Cabinet. They sit at the front opposite the government.

• Their supporters sit behind them – opposition backbenchers.


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• The Civil Service• This is body of permanent officials that carry out

the decisions of the government.


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• Parliament• This discusses policies and events. It has the

power to pass laws. The government has to explain and defend its policies and actions to Parliament.


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• It is divided into:• The House of Commons• This is made up of 650 elected Members of

Parliament. • Normally the party that wins over half the MPs at

the election forms the government. However in 2010 no party had an overall majority so that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government.


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Party Seats Votes %

Conservative 307 10,726,614 36.1

Labour 258 8,609,527 29.0

Liberal Democrat 57 6,836,824 23.0

Democratic Unionist Party 8 168,216 0.6

Scottish National Party 6 491,386 1.7

Sinn Fein 5 171,942 0.6

Plaid Cymru 3 165,394 0.6

Social Democratic & Labour Party

3 110,970 0.4

Green 1 285,616 1.0

Alliance Party 1 42,762 0.1

Others 1 321,309 1.1

Turnout 29,691,380 65.1


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• The combined Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have 364 seats.

• The combined opposition has 285 seats (this does not include the Speaker).

• Sinn Fein do not take their seats so the effective government majority is 84.

• The House of Commons is the most important part of Parliament.


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• UK is a Parliamentary Democracy• This means the Government is drawn from and

responsible to Parliament.• In other words

– the members of the government come from one of the 2 houses of Parliament.

– the Government has to resign if defeated on a motion of confidence in the Commons.


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• The House of Lords• This is composed of

hereditary peers (92 elected from around 800), life peers (615), and the Lords Spiritual (26).

• They discuss policies and may make changes to bills from the Commons.


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• The House of Lords was formerly the highest court in the UK.

• The Constitutional reform Act of 2005 transferred this to a new Supreme Court.

• The Lord Chancellor ceased to be the head of the judiciary and the chair of the Lords with a new elected post of Lord Speaker being created for the latter.


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• Parties• These put forward

policies to try to gain the support of the electorate. They provide the method by which the people can choose between alternative governments.


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• Pressure Groups • These are groups of people who try to influence

Parliament and the government on policies by argument. They normally concentrate on one or a few areas.


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• The Electorate • These are all those people who are qualified to

vote - those over 18 in the UK. They elect the House of Commons and the government every 5 years.

• There has been a requirement for an election at least every 5 years since 1911 but the Prime Minister had the option of calling an election earlier.


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• The coalition Government has introduced an Act of Parliament to introduce fixed term 5 year parliaments and to make the size of constituencies equal.

• The coalition Government had a referendum on a change to the electoral system to the Alternative Vote. But the British People voted in favour of keeping the old system


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• The British electoral system known as simple majority, simple plurality or “first past the post” is very simple, easy to understand and tends to produce an outright winning party.

• However it also has major drawbacks in that some parties are seriously underrepresented.


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Devolution and Local Government• The last Labour Government set up systems of

devolution –internal self government - for Scotland and Wales.

• Devolution was also set up in Northern Ireland as a result of the Good Friday Agreement.

• We will discuss the impact of these arrangements on the Constitution and the Supremacy of Parliament to make laws.


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• Significant changes have been made to the system of local government with the introduction of elected mayors for large cities and the adoption of a cabinet system for other local authorities.


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Objectives• Describe the development of the British system

of politics

• Explain how British Politics works

• Analyse the work of Parliament and the role of the government

overview parliamentary law making – the political system © the law bank the british political...

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