Chapter IV the system of government Unit 9 The British Government of Today

Before you read

Discuss these questions.

1. What forms of government do you know?

2. Is it possible for people to live without any government?

3. In your opinion, which society should be called democratic?

4. Do you think monarchy inevitably leads to tyranny, or democracy – to mob rule?

Text a The Governmental Model

The governmental model that operates in Britain today is usually described as constitutional monarchy, or parliamentary system. While a monarch still has a role to play on some executive and legislative levels, it is Parliament, which possesses the essential power, and the government of the day, which governs by initiating and controlling political policy and legislation. The correct constitutional definition of Parliament is "Queen- in-Parliament", and all state and governmental business is therefore carried out in the name of the monarch by the politicians and officials of the system.

The various branches of this political system, although easily distinguishable from each other, are not entirely separate. The monarch is formally head of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

The legislature, which consists of both houses of Parliament and formally the monarch, is for most purposes the supreme law-making body.

The executive comprises the sitting government and its Cabinet, together with government ministers of departments headed by ministers or secretaries of state, who all act formally in the name of the monarch.

The judiciary is composed mainly of the judges of the higher courts, who determine the common law and interpret Acts of Parliament. The judiciary is supposed to be independent of the legislative and executive branches of government.

As a check upon overpowerful government most modern constitutions have adopted the principle of separation of powers.

The functions of the state could be divided into law-making (legislative), policy formulation and direction (executive) and interpretation and application of the law (judicial). To stop governments from becoming too powerful these functions should be carried out by separate institutions, and there should be a balance between them.

The legislature makes laws; the executive enforces the laws and governs the country; the judges decide disputes that come before them and in doing so interpret the law and apply it to the facts of the case they have to judge.

The legislature and executive in Britain are not entirely separate. The executive government (cabinet and ministers), who govern the country and execute the laws, belong to the legislature. The government depends on the legislature, since by convention it must resign if it loses the confidence of the House of Commons. But the House of Commons also depends on the government, because if the government decides that the time has come to call a general election the members of the House will (almost certainly) have to face re-election and may lose their seats.

The judges in Britain are more independent, since a judge of the higher court cannot be dismissed except when the legislature asks the Queen to dismiss him for misbehaviour. Even so, the highest judges are members of the House of Lords, which is part of the legislature. And their independence is less important than it is in the USA, since they cannot declare that a law made by the legislature is against the constitution and so invalid.