63. BRITISH INSTITUTIONS. PARLIAMENT. GOVERNMENT.

POLITICAL PARTIES & ELECTORAL SYSTEM. MONARCHY.

This topic deals with British institutions. I will divide the topic into four

different sections. In my first section, I will to look at the parliament, and I will

deal with the House of Lords, the House of Commons and the monarchy. I will

analyse some aspects such as the voting system, the layout of the parliament,

and the case of Scotland and Wales. In my second section I will deal with the

government. In my third section I will discuss the electoral system and the main

political parties. Finally, in my last section I will deal with the monarchy and the

3 main powers of the political system.

To begin with, I would like to mention that there are many traditions

attached to British institutions and it is through some of the curiosities I will

mention throughout this topic that we can reach a greater understanding of the

British and of the British life.

In my first section, I will give an overview of the British system of

government. The UK is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy

where the Head of State is the reigning king or queen, at present Queen

Elizabeth II. The Head of government is the Prime Minister, who is the leader of

the political party which gained a majority of votes in a general election, at

present Tony Blair, leader of the Labour Party. Britain does not have a written

Constitution at all. There are rules, regulations, principles and procedures for

the ruling of the country1.

1
It includes the Bill of Rights (1689), the Act of Settlement (1700-01), the Parliament Act of 1911, the
successive Representation of the People acts (which extended suffrage), court statutes, local government
acts…
1
 The British Parliament is the supreme legislative institution in the UK and

it is located in the Palace of Westminster (popularly known as ‘the Houses of

Parliament’). The British Parliament is divided into two separate houses: the

House of Lords and the House of Commons, plus the sovereign. The

Parliament is responsible for making laws, discussing major issues affecting the

country, raising taxes and controlling government activities. The agreement of

all the two houses and the sovereign is required for laws to be passed.

The word Parliament comes from ‘parley’ (which comes from French

‘parler’), a discussion. The word was first used in the 13 th century to describe a

meeting between Henry III and his noblemen in the Great Council. Over time,

the Great Council became the House of Lords, and the people from the

counties and towns became the House of Common.

Now, I will deal in detail with each chamber. Also called the Upper House,

the House of Lords (known as ‘peers’) includes 2 different types of members—

the Lords Spiritual (the Archibishops of Canterbury and York and senior

bishops) and the Lords Temporal (hereditary peers and life peers (one of the

best known life peers is Baroness Thatcher)); the members are not elected;

they are members as of right. The total number of people eligible to attend the

Lords is about 1200, but some get permission to be absent. The Lord

Chancellor presides over debates from the Woolsack. The House of Lords have

little, if any, power. Its power has been reduced over times. On 11 th November

1999, Blair’s Labour government initiated the first stage of reform in an effort to

create a second chamber that is “more democratically elected” (Blair: July

2
1999). His aim was to abolish the right of hereditary peers to sit in the Lords,

and create new life peers to take their place but it is not yet clear how they will

be chosen. Its most useful function is to review bills that have not been

formulated in a detailed way in the Commons and they may suggest

amendments but they cannot reject legislation passed by the Commons.

Nowadays, the House of Lords is more a forum for public discussion than any

other thing.

Regarding the House of Commons, this is the most important legislative

chamber. It is a democratically elected body (elected by the adult population of

Britain) with 659 members, called Members of Parliament (MPs), representing

constituencies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The House of

Commons has the right to impose taxes and to decide when to give or withhold

money from the various public departments. A limitation on the power of the

Lords is based on the principle that the Lords, as a revising chamber, should

complement the Commons and not rival it.

The third part of the government is the Crown. Elizabeth II is the Head of

State, Head of the Judiciary, and Head of the Church of England. She is also

Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and Head of the Commonwealth. The

UK is officially governed by Her Majesty’s Government in the name of the

Queen. Although the monarch formally opens Parliament every autumn and

must formally “grant” the winning political party the right to form the government,

these functions are today merely state rituals. In terms of political power, the

monarch has little power and today her duties are ceremonial, restricted to

affairs of state, signing documents, conferring honours (in which the queen

3
gives titles in return for their services such as The Beatles or Sean Connery),

and receiving foreign ambassadors. She is involved in some acts of

government, including summoning and dissolving Parliament, and giving the

Royal Assent to new laws. She also formally appoints the PM, senior ministers,

judges and diplomats. She is expected to be impartial and not support any

political party. Although formally nothing becomes law without her signature,

monarchs have not withheld approval of a law since 1707. Her main role is as a

representative of Britain and the British people. Other members of the royal

family assist her, acting as patrons of British cultural organizations and

supporting the work of charities and good causes. However, in recent years the

role of the monarchy has been questioned due to separation, divorce, and

scandal with incidents that have deeply affected public opinion and support for

the royal family. Resentment towards public expenditure on the family’s

expenses and exemption from taxation lead to latter being withdrawn in 1992.

After this, the Queen, the richest woman in the world, now pay taxes. However,

for many, the family remains an integral part of the British history.

After the explanation of these 3 elements, I am going to deal briefly with

the meetings of Parliament. The word ‘parliament’ is also used to mean a period

of government. Each parliament lasts a maximum of 5 years divided into shorter

sessions lasting 1 year, beginning in October. There are adjournments at night

and for holidays. Something curious about it is that when in session, a flag flies

from the top of Victoria tower, and if a session runs on into the night, a light

burns over the clock face of Big Ben. The State Opening of Parliament takes

place at the beginning of each session. Black Rod, a servant of the Queen,

knocks on the door of the HC and demands that MPs allow the Queen to come

4
inside and tell them what her Government is planning to do next year. They

always refuse to let her in because in the 17 th c. Charles I once burst in and

tried to arrest some MPs. Instead, MPs agree to go to the HL and listen to the

Queen’s speech there. By tradition, they enter in pairs with an MP from a

different party. Parliament is then prorogued for a week.

The primary function of the parliament is the passage of legislation. The

basic parliamentary procedure for business is a debate on a particular proposal

or motion, followed by a resolution which accepts or rejects this proposal. Mps

have to vote for or against a particular proposal. They do this by walking

through one of 2 corridors at the side of the House- one is for the ‘Ayes’ (in

favour) and the other is for the ‘Noes’ (against). MPs or Lords speak only once

in a debate; they stand up and speak, and it is quite interesting and funny that

they do not use personal names but refer to another MP as ‘my right

honourable friend’ or ‘the honourable Member for…’. This practice is aimed at

avoiding violence between them. There is also a ‘Question time’ (1 hour) during

which MPs are allowed to ask questions to ministers but these questions are

‘tabled’ ( written down and placed on the table below the Speaker’s chair) 2

days in advance so that minister have time to prepare their answers, avoiding

so embarrassment. For the public, it is often the most interesting and liveliest

part of Commons’ life, and the part the media most often televises.

Before moving on, I would like to say that the parliamentary activity in the

Commons goes from Monday to Thursday, starting at 14.30 (on Friday it starts

in the morning). Although it would seem that the MPs do not work much, the

5
reality is that they do not have time for their private lives, so much so that

surprisingly, politicians have a higher rate of divorce than the national average!

In terms of layout, the HC has several rows of seats facing each other.

MPs who belong to the Government sit on one side and those from the

Opposition sit on the other. Ministers and members of the Shadow Cabinet

(=leaders of the opposition) sit on the front benches (frontbenchers). Other MPs

sit behind and are called backbenchers. On the table between them are two

wooden dispatch boxes. Ministers and shadow ministers stand beside them

when making a speech. “Mr. Speaker” sits on a raised chair at the top end of

the table and is chosen by Mps from amongst themselves to preside over

debates. It is curious that MPs sit wherever they can find room on the side of

the House. There are about 400 seats, not enough for all MPs to sit down at

once! Above the chamber is a gallery where members of the public and the

press may sit and listen to the debates called Strangers’ Gallery.

As for the Parliamentary Voting System, British politics is based upon a

political-party system. In every important vote, all party members are required to

vote as a bloc and to follow the directive of the party leaders. Detailed

arrangements of parliamentary business are settled by the Chief Whips. In

Parliament, this is known as the whip system. Each party will select one of its

members to be the chief party whip to organise and secure the attendance and

discipline of members with regards to voting. During the course of parliament,

MPs are sent a schedule of parliamentary business, where each item on it is

underlined to indicate its importance. A 3 line “whip” means that the item is very

important and every member must attend and vote according to the party line.

6
Sometimes, the major parties allow a ‘free vote’ and MPs vote according to their

own beliefs, for instance about the abolition of the death penalty.

It is interesting to deal a little bit with Scotland and Wales. Until recently,

most Scottish people were happy to be part of the UK. But there has been some

resentment in Scotland about the way that it is treated by the central

government in London. Opinions polls showed that the Scottish population

wanted ‘home rule’ within the UK or complete independence. It is not clear

whether complete independence will eventually follow, bit this is the policy of the

Scottish National Party, which is well represented in the new parliament.

Scotland has now its own parliament which controls its internal affairs and has

the power to vary the levels of income tax imposed by the UK government. In

Wales the situation is different. Nationalism is felt mostly in the central and

northern part of the country since the south is anglicized. The Welsh assembly

has responsibility for many internal affairs. Due to their autonomy, England

cannot influence any of them but they can affect England.

Let’s now move to deal with the government and its main elements.

Members of the government are usually known as ‘ministers’. All ministers

come from the ranks of Parliament, most of them from the HC. Britain normally

has a ‘single-party government’, i.e. all its members belong to the same political

party. This has helped to establish the tradition known as ‘collective

responsibility’, i.e. every member of the government shares the responsibility for

every policy made by it.

7
 The Prime Minister (PM) is the leader of the political party elected from a

winning vote and must be a member of the HC. He is the head of government

and with the Cabinet is responsible for ensuring the passing legislation. On

winning the election, the new PM receives his/her seals of office from the

monarch, and once elected, the PM appoints the members of the Cabinet, the

executive and policy making body of the government. He presides over the

Cabinet and is responsible for the allocation of functions among ministers and

for informing the Queen at regular meetings of the general business of the

Government.

The Cabinet, chosen by the PM, is composed of usually about 20 people;

most of them are the heads of the government departments (called Secretary of

State of…) which carry out policies. Cabinet ministers can be members of either

the HL or the HC. It meets once a week to plan and lay out all important bills

before Parliament and to approve policies and take decisions about new ones

and about the running of the various government departments. To help run the

complicated machinery of a modern government, there is an organization called

the cabinet office. It runs a communication network, keeping ministers in touch

and drawing up the agendas for cabinet meetings. Most of the cabinet’s work is

done through committees that are in charge of looking into various matters in

more detail Committees are formed by MPs and civil servants. There are 2

types: a select committee which is made up of 15 members, appointed to

consider particular issues and once they have reported their findings they cease

to exist and a standing committee which is permanent, having from 16 to 50

members. Before a bill becomes law, it will be sent to it where the finer points

8
are examined. It usually meets in the PM’s official residence at 10 Downing

Street, London.

The Civil Service is the vast administrative arm of parliament, and its

employees are officially “servants of the Crown”. It carries out what

governments and ministers order and serves and advises the government in

power. Although governments come and go, the civil service remains. It is

interesting to point out that it is the only institution in GB where people have to

pass a kind of public exam to get a post.

Regarding local governments, each county is subdivided into smaller

units for administration purposes.

My next section deals with the electoral system and the political parties.

The British political system relies on a two-party system, that is, it has at least 2

parties in the House of Commons to form a government. This system is known

as a “first-past-the-post”2 system where the only candidate who gets most votes

is elected. Elections are held every five years. The country is divided into a

number of areas of roughly equal population known as constituencies. Anybody

who wants to be a MP must declare himself as a candidate in one of these

constituencies. On polling day, voters go to polling stations and each is given a

single ballot paper with the names of the candidates for that constituency on it.

Each voter then puts a cross next to the name of one candidate. After the polls

have closed, the ballot papers are counted, and the candidate with the largest

number of crosses next to his name is the winner and becomes the MP for the

constituency. There is no counting of the proportion of votes for each party, and
2
An allusion to horse-racing.
9
there has been much debate about it since people would like proportional

representation. To win a constituency a candidate requires a 'Plurality of votes' -

this means that he or she needs to win more votes than any other candidate.

The party with the most elected members wins the Election, winning so most

seats in Parliament.

Historically, the main parties were the Tories and the Whigs. Recently

these 2 parties became known as the Conservative Party, and the Liberal Party,

although the main rival of the conservative party is now the Labour Party. The

Conservative Party is on the political right whereas the Labour Party is on the

left. A split took place within the Labour Party and the Social Democratic Party

was formed, which today forms a coalition party with the Liberals called the

Liberal Democratic Party. Each party has its own emblem and colours. The

Conservative has a blue torch, Labour a red rose and Liberal Democrats a

yellow bird. Nowadays, in general, the North of England favours the Labour

Party and the South the Conservative Party. Scotland and Wales have their own

nationalist parties, the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) and in Wales Plaid

Cymru. In Northern Ireland the largest is the Ulster Unionist Party.

In Britain, there is the habit of co-operation between the different political

parties. The Pairing system is an excellent example of this. Under this system,

an MP of one party is ‘paired’ with an MP of another party. When there is going

to be a vote in the House of Commons, and the 2 MPs know that they would

vote on opposite side, neither of them bothers to turn up for the vote. In this

way, the difference in numbers between one side and the other is maintained,

while the MPs are free to get on with other work. The system works very well

10
since there is hardly ever any ‘cheating’. I have to say that this pairing system is

used because there is not enough room in Parliament for all Mps, as I

mentioned before, and because Mps have to be in their constituencies and it

would be very expensive to spend the whole day travelling from the

constituencies to the parliament.

General elections occur, as I said before, every 5 years, although the

government can call an election at any time, and are always held on Thursdays.

After the date has been fixed, anyone who wants to stand for Parliament (be a

candidate) has to leave a deposit of 500 Pounds. If a candidate wins more than

5% of the votes, the deposit is get back, otherwise candidates lose it. Moreover,

if a MP resigns or dies, there is a by-election in the constituency he represents.

There is no system of ready substitutes. A by-election provides the party an

opportunity to find a seat in Parliament, changing the whole system. It may even

happen than, when getting a further seat in the parliament, the opposition party

becomes the majority party, bringing about a change in the government.

I would like to conclude with a brief discussion about the 3 main powers

in the British political system. The Executive is responsible for carrying out

government administration. It is made up of: The Privy Council, The Ministry

(the government in office) and The Departments of State. Regarding the

Judiciary, the UK contains 3 major legal systems (in England and Wales,

Northern Ireland and Scotland). Each contains their own legal rules, courts and

legal professions. As for the Legislature, before becoming an Act of Parliament

i.e. law, proposed legislation must go through various stages: the 1 st stage is in

the preparation of a bill, which is draft of a proposed law presented to

11
parliament for discussion. A Bill must be read 3 times in the HC (also in the

Lords) before it can be voted on. The 1 st reading is formal; the 2nd allows debate

to take place. Then it goes to the committee stage, where it is examined closely.

It will report back to the House with any proposed amendments and it is read a

3rd time. Members vote on the 3 rd reading of a bill. Before becoming law, it

needs the approval of the queen, the HL and the HC.

In conclusion, this topic has dealt with one of the most outstanding

aspects of Britain, that is, its institutions, specifically those that make up the

British political system. Knowing all this is really important because it helps us to

understand better what life is like in Britain, above all through some of the

curiosities mentioned.

12