...Are UK prime ministers as powerful as sometimes claimed? Prime Ministers are as powerful as sometimes claimed as they are treated as spokespeople for government by the media. This makes the public think the Prime Minister is in charge of the whole government on his own, instead of being primus inter pares – first among individuals. For example, Prime ministers have taken on board the idea of ‘spatial leadership’ separating the prime minister from the rest of government rather like a president. This has created a Presidential ‘style’ amongst Prime Ministers. Some recent prime ministers such as Thatcher and Blair have styled themselves on US presidents. In addition, prime ministers also get power from other sources - They dominate cabinet government, it is argued that cabinet has declined and so the power of the prime minister has increased. For example Blair dominated the cabinet by chairing cabinet meetings, managing the agendas, as well as summing up the decisions at the end. They also gain power as they are able to choose who part of the cabinet is, and fill it with likeminded people ensuring all policies wanted are passed as thatcher did shortly before she had to step down. Furthermore, they are able to take advantage of extensive prerogative powers, especially in foreign policy terms as he is the Head of Armed Forces and decides on direction of overall conduct of armed forces and intelligence services Such as when Blair went to war with Iraq without majority of votes...
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...the Uk’s government becoming more Presidential? Discuss A presidential system is a republican system of government where a head of government is also head of state and leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch. The United States, for instance, has a presidential system. Whereas, a prime ministerial system adopts a fused system, in which the three branches of government are fused together and the monarchy is head of state. The Uk, for instance has a prime ministerial government, where Queen Elizabeth is head of state and David Cameron is the Executive. One could argue that the Uk’s government has become marginally presidential, as the need for a cabinet has become less over time. However, the UK are still a fused government in which powers are shared within parliament, unlike a presidential system. The tendency of Prime Ministers to distance themselves from their party and government has increased, developing a personal ideological stance. Prime Ministers such as Blair and Thatcher are key examples. Both Prime Ministers have developed their own stances: “Blairism” and “Thatcherism’. Blair, for example, had really bad attendance at Parliament and his Cabinet Ministers have been quoted as saying that: “Cabinet meeting sometimes lasted only fifteen minutes.” also, Blair decided a lot of his policies within the Pm’s office, rather than discussing it with his cabinet. For example, the decision to go to war with Iraq was seen as sofa politics and...
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...main sources of Prime Ministerial power? The Prime Minister enjoys certain privileges and powers that the rest of the executive. The Prime Minister is the most important figure in the UK political system, there is debate to the extent of he or she’s power; the PM draws power from a number of sources. The extent to which these powers are harnessed and used is dependent upon a number of factor, but in reality the PM can gather an incredible amount of power from the traditions, conventions and laws which regulate the post of Prime Minister. The post is seen as providing “National Leadership” and is therefore the pre-eminent position in UK politics. The Prime Minister is first and foremost an MP. This affords them legitimate power to act as they see fit on behalf of the electorate. Moreover, they have also been democratically elected within their own party, therefore they have a mandate to rule. The principle job and source of power for the PM is to set up a government. Ratified by the Queen this gives the PM the power of patronage. They can hire and fire; this gives them control and power over the careers of party members and peers. As a result party member and ministers want to impress the PM and often agree with his or her policies. Much of the PM’s power comes from being able to “hire and fire”. Although this does come with constraints; firing members of the cabinet can cause tensions within the party. However, substantial reshuffles have secures a PM’s power such as Blair’s...
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...proposals. In the case of the UK, Conservatives and Liberals sometimes disagree. An example is, the proposal of AV to be used in a general election, but the Conservatives disagreed. However in the end the two coalition partners agreed that they will hold a referendum. 2) One problem that might arise if the cabinet contained both Conservatives and Lib.Dems is that the government is not stable. It is very possible that the two partners may disagree on their policies and proposals. For example the Liberals opposed the further use of nuclear energy, but it was agreed between the leaderships of the two coalition partners that more nuclear power plants can be build. This can build conflicts between the two parties and result in government failure. Furthermore in the UK coalitions are formed in a time of crisis and the country may be seen by other international countries as weak and this can damage their international competitiveness and foreign investment, which are very important in order to keep the economy running. Furthermore coalition government is actually less democratic as the balance of power is inevitably held by the small parties who can barter their support for concessions from the main groups within the coalition.One possible example is the demand of constitutional reforms by the Liberal Democrats in the UK as their price of coalition support in a future hung parliament. 3) In the essay I shall discus for what reason and to what extent has the cabinet government...
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...GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS AS LEVEL UNIT TWO GOVERNING THE UK “Never, never, never give up” Winston S Churchill 1874-1965 1 GOVERNING THE UK 50% of AS [25% of A2] UNIT TWO SAMPLE QUESTION Answer one question from Section A and one question from Section B in 80 minutes. Spend 40 minutes on Section A and 40 minutes on Section B SECTION A QUESTION ONE PRIME MINISTERIAL POWER “For too long the big political decisions in this country have been made in the wrong place. They are not made around the Cabinet table where they should be, but they are taken on the sofa in Tony Blair’s office. No notes are kept and no one takes the blame when things go wrong. That arrogant style of government must come to an end. I will restore the proper process of government. I want to be Prime Minister of this country not a President (Source: David Cameron, The Times, 5th October 2006) “The Cabinet is the committee at the centre of the British political system. Every Thursday during Parliament, Secretaries of State from all departments as well as other ministers meet in the Cabinet Room in Downing Street to discuss the big issues of the day. The Prime Minister chairs the meeting, selects its members and also recommends their appointment as ministers to the monarch. The present Cabinet has 23 members (21 MPs and two peers). The secretary of the Cabinet is responsible for preparing records of its discussions and decisions”. (Source: From a modern textbook) (a) What...
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...more powerful than ever due to his increased use of royal prerogative powers. The PM is powerful because he is head of the cabinet, including individual ministers and departments. But as important The PM is powerful in the sense that he was the ability to appoint cabinet ministers, dismiss them, promote and demote all ministers in government. He can select around 100 politicians from Commons and the Lords but can demote ministers in government such as Secretaries of States. The PM elects ministers who strongly support his ideologies or support his policies are appointed to respectable positions, whilst inner party opposition peers are selected to junior ministerial roles. These ‘opposition peers’ are often members of factions, in the Conservatives case that could be the “1922 Committee”. The PM can therefore influence their political careers and if careless actions occur this can lead to the end of that career. In October 2013, David Cameron had a cabinet reshuffle and of junior ministerial roles. For example, Baroness Warsi left the role as Tory Party co-chairman and was replaced by Grant Shapps. Andrew Langsley, a well-known MP who was part of the expenses scandal moved to lower profile roles. This would have been done in order to protect the reputation of him, as he wouldn’t want the electorate to think that troublesome/careless ministers still had a large influence in cabinet. However, certain cabinet members can possess a high level of power if they have a high public profile...
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...Unit 1 P1 “Outline the responsibilities of the different level of government in the UK.” House of Commons – It is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The HoC is part of the legislative process of British Politics. It consists of 650 elected members of Parliament, who represent a board spectrum of political parties. Each MP represents a constituency, which is a localised geographical area. There are two ways in which people get elected, it can happen either during a general election or by-election. A big range of political views and interests are represented in the House of Commons, which enables the ‘House’ to ensure that legislation and decisions are well debated by a variety of different people, which political views differ. HoC has a lot of different roles, MP’s are responsible of debating and passing all laws (legislation), controlling finances, protecting the individuals, examining European proposals, and scrutinises the work of the government, policies and administration. Those roles may have extremely wide impact on the country and public services. House of Lords – It is the upper house, the Second chamber, and is also commonly referred to as “the Lords”. The House of Lords can have a variable amount of members. Currently, there are about 790 members who are eligible to take part in the work of the HoL. Members come from many walks of life and bring experience and knowledge from a wide range of occupations. Majority of them are life peers, which...
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...How has Coalition Government affected Party Politics in the U.K? The arrival of a coalition government formed between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative Party in 2010 has affected UK party politics in various ways, the nature of which is looked into below. The governing of a country by a coalition of two political parties with differing political stances will involve negotiation between and some degree of compromise on behalf of the two parties. This is necessary in order to come to some form of agreement on key policies, such as those affecting the economy, unemployment, crime, environmental concerns, welfare, law and order and education, amongst other policy areas. The agreements reached are also, to a certain degree, in a balance of compliance with key political beliefs or philosophies of both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in terms of their respective guiding principles on areas such as social justice, the appropriate degree of state intervention and the importance of equality and availability of opportunity within society. The rise to power of a coalition government has made Consensus politics a key feature of UK party politics, since the nature of a coalition involves broad agreement on most basic policies between the two major political parties forming the coalition; the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. The ability and will to negotiate and agree is of key importance if a coalition is to be able to govern effectively, in an organised...
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...executive power? Parliament remains the center of debate for MP's and parties, however it's the executive government that has overhauling power of formulating and executing policies. As head of the executive branch of government the Prime enjoys considerable power. The executive would be commonly known to have considerable power but you could argue that parliament places restraints and controls certain aspects of it. Parliament can be considered weak in different ways. One of those is the presence of party loyalty in the commons. MP's are elected and will have a strong mandate to support the party's policies. Defying the party leadership would prove too difficult and could be seen as a betrayal of the mandate. In turn, MP's will feel bound to the mandate made, encouraging them not to challenge the executive and support it's decisions. Another party factor is the overall majority the government has in parliament. The first past the post system guarantees this majority . The conservative party in the current House of Commons has 101 more seats than Labour. This demonstrates the vast majority of Conservative MP's from the 2015 general election. More importantly, for parliament to build momentum against the executive it would be difficult as roughly half the chamber are in the Prime Ministers party. In summary, party loyalty and is a beneficial to the executive's hold of power. However, Parliament does remain effective in different ways and can constrain power of the...
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...This article was downloaded by: [Loughborough University] On: 26 March 2015, At: 11:27 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Public Money & Management Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpmm20 How the UK government responded to the fiscal crisis: an outsider's view Walter Kickert Published online: 23 Mar 2012. To cite this article: Walter Kickert (2012) How the UK government responded to the fiscal crisis: an outsider's view, Public Money & Management, 32:3, 169-176, DOI: 10.1080/09540962.2012.676273 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2012.676273 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable...
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...analyzes the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE) structure in the UK. Each of the PESTLE factors is explored on four parameters: current strengths, current challenges, future prospects, and future risks. Summary Key findings The UK has a strong democratic system, but differences between coalition partners in the incumbent government pose a challenge The UK adheres to a democratic, parliamentary system of governance known as the Westminster system. This system ensures adequate distribution of power between the executive branch led by the prime minister, the bicameral legislature and the judiciary. Growing ideological differences between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in the current government is making the coalition vulnerable. Tensions between pro-Europe Liberal Democrats and euroskeptic Conservatives continue to plague British politics. Further, conflicting views on issues such as welfare reforms, immigration and the economy are straining relations. The UK economy is developed, but rising government debt remains a concern The UK is one of the largest economies in the EU and is one of the strongest in terms of social welfare and standard of living. Among the EU countries, the UK has one of the highest levels of per capita GDP in terms of purchasing power parity. According to the World Bank's Doing Business indicators for 2013, the UK is the seventh best country in the world to do business. The...
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...How effectively does Parliament fulfil its functions? Parliament has several functions. It debates major issues of current interest, it makes legislation, it scrutinises the executive whilst simultaneously sustaining the government, and it represents the people and redresses their grievances. In many aspects, Parliament is usually effective in fulfilling its functions, but there are occasions where it is not as diligent in doing so. Parliament’s scrutiny function is mainly carried out through four methods; Prime Minister’s Questions, Select Committees, back bench MPs and the House of Lords. Prime Minister’s Questions are a weekly opportunity for the opposition and backbenchers to scrutinise the Prime Minister and by extension the government, and to highlight government failings or simply ask a question. This is a good way of scrutinising the Prime Minister as it puts him/her under pressure to justify their actions, and answer potentially awkward questions regardless of whether they have been pre-submitted. The main weakness of this form of scrutiny is that the questions are often submitted to the Prime Minister some time before Prime Minister’s Questions, allowing him/her to come up with an answer beforehand that might let him/her to actually evade proper scrutiny within the House of Commons. Select Committees in both Houses of Parliament investigate the work of government and produce reports on policy proposals. They can call witnesses in the course of their proceedings...
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...Political system because they can do things such as scrutinise the government and hold them into account through numerous ways. Their role in Parliament in Westminster ensures that there may be democratic legitimacy of UK government and gives them a right and authority to exercise political power and may possibly increase the representation, overall, through Parliament. However, there is a growing fear that there is now ‘executive dictatorship’ in the UK and because of this, backbench MP’s have little power in calling the government into account due to the party system, which ensures that MP’s are dictated by the whips system, reducing the effectiveness that MP’s can then call people into account. Therefore, there are both reasons for and against that would suggest MP’s are or are not effective as seen. Firstly, backbench MP’s are key in calling the government of today to account, making them answerable for their actions and policies. This is achieved through questions to the Prime Minister and questions to other ministers as well as other forms of scrutiny such as debates and all of these methods are effective because they raise public awareness for issues and may possibly increase the media pressure on the government, causing them to act. Through Prime Ministers Questions, for example, which takes place weakly for half an hour, backbench MP’s from both the governing party and the opposition are able to scrutinise the weekly actions of the government. Backbench MP’s also use this...
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...UK telecom major Vodafone has not offered a monetary settlement to the government in their tax dispute, sources told NDTV Profit today. While the telecom company has said it will prefer an amicable solution to the matter, it has never expressed willingness to settle the dispute at Rs. 8,000 crore or any other amount. The two parties have been embroiled in a tax dispute since 2012, after the Income Tax Department on October 22, 2010, passed an order determining a tax liability (including interest) of Rs. 11,218 crore on Vodafone on its acquisition of Hutchinson's stake in Hutch-Essar through a deal in Cayman Islands in 2007. The Supreme Court, however, quashed the order in January this year. After the apex court's ruling, the Income Tax Act was amended with retrospective effect to bring into tax net such deals. Section 119 of the Finance Act, 2012, seeks to validate the October 2010 order of the Income Tax Department,w which also passed an order imposing a penalty of Rs. 7,900 crore on Vodafone in April, 2011. Finance Minister P Chidambaram recently said the Income Tax Department will take a decision on the Vodafone taxation issue after the Parthasarathi Shome Committee has given its report on General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR). Talking to reporters, he said the decision whether to send another notice to the British telecom major will be taken by the concerned assessing officer in the backdrop of amendment to the Income Tax Act, Supreme Court judgment in the Vodafone...
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...Northern Consortium United Kingdom – Politics Past paper questions for June exam < Module 1 > Section A 1a What are the differences between Public Bills Committees and Select Committees? [5] Public Bills Committee is part of legislative process, whereas Select Committee is part of scrutiny process. In the former committee, the bill is examined by line by line to ensure that its wording and language is clear to allow any amendments on the bill. In the latter committee, there are two departments – governmental and non-governmental. They examine government departments’ expeditures , policies and policies. There are between 16 to 50 members in the PBC who are selected by Committee of Selection whose 7 out 9 members are ships. On the other hand, there are 11 members in the SCs and to eliminate “the conflict of interest, all the members are backbench members who are elected using the Alternative vote system. 2a What are the main functions of Parliament and how well does it perform them? [5] < This question is a 20-mark question > 3a What are the differences between direct and representative democracy? [5] In direct democracy, people are directly involved in decision-making processes, whereas in representative democracy, people elect MPs who will represent and form a government in Parliament. For instance, some qualified members of Athenian society were involved in decision-making and a referendum is a limited form of direct democracy. Also general elections...
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