Due to the increasing presidential style of recent prime ministers and the party loyalty of the executive one can consider Parliament’s control of executive power minimal. However, due to the development of independent bodies surrounding Select Committees and the delaying of legislation by the House of Lords it can still be argued to be effective. The government usually has an overall majority. This is due to our voting system of FPTP which gives preference to the two main parties, normally giving them majorities (and increasingly large ones) as opposed to coalitions and minority governments which are produced through other voting systems such as AV in Scotland and Wales. Although we are currently in a coalition the government still has a majority through the combination of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
Having many officials of the executive branch elected by voters rather than nominated by the Governor seriously curtails the powers of the gubernatorial office. This setup creates a “plural executive” where the powers, which usually rest with the chief executive, are distributed among many independently elected individuals. Unlike the President and the Vice President of the United States, the Governor and other officials do not run on a common ticket and are not elected together. Various senior officials which would usually be part of a cabinet like, the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, the Comptroller, the Agricultural Commissioner, the Land Commissioner and the Railroad Commissioner, are elected directly by
The UK has a unitary constitution, where all power and authority resides in Parliament. They can make or unmake any law but cannot bind future parliaments. Although the increased use of referendums and membership of the EU may lead people to argue that Parliamentary sovereignty is being diminished. The rule of law is also a key part of the UK constitution, it’s based on the principle that no one is above the law and no one can be punished without a trial. It underlies the UK constitutions and limits the government.
Parliament may face difficulties in controlling executive power as the government usually has an overall majority. This is especially the case when there has been a creation of a large majority after elections such as 1997 and 2001 with Labour majorities of 179 and 167 respectively. Majorities of 66 in 2005 and 83 with the coalition in 2010 have also been recorded. This allows the government to claim a mandate from the people for its policies when it is elected to power. Therefore the parliament lacks the legitimate right to ignore the mandate and tends to accept the government’s right to govern.
To what extent does the Prime Minister dominate the political system in the U.K? The Prime Minister has many formal powers which come from the Royal Prerogative; these are relatively modest compared to the powers of an executive president. The powers include appointment of ministers and other senior figures e.g. top judges and senior bishops, dissolving and recalling Parliament, signing treaties and granting honours. However, there are also informal powers which make Prime Minister much more important than their ‘constitutional’ role suggests.
It was also large, containing representatives from every state and many different interest groups, making it difficult for one group to dominate and suppress the others. Representatives would be elected by a large body of people, helping to ensure that only the most worthy would hold office. Finally, laws were passed by the whole nation, making it difficult for problems in one state to infiltrate and affect others. Under one centralized representative government, a
This, however, was also balanced so to ratify the Constitution. In this, however, some prominent figures on both sides, some favoring strong and some smaller governments, divided themselves democratically. Although some features offended both parties, eventually the schism was not deep enough as to completely deny its
There are many other bills in the house that need to be given a rule and the committee continues to focus its endeavors to favor the party that already has most of the power in the house. The house rules committee was not originally intended to be a key tool for the majority party. It was meant to increase productivity and allow the house to operate more smoothly. A democratic aid even mentioned that
Sovereignty is in essence ultimate and unchallengeable power, the location of sovereignty in the UK in recent years has changed from one single power and devolved into many unions, treaties and nations within the UK and EU. Parliament is the only body that can make law in the UK. No other authority can overrule or change the laws which the parliament has made. This, then gives the statute law more power and priority over the other sources of the constitutions. This then allows the parliament to change or repeal any law it wants and is also not bounded by the laws made by the previous parliaments.
This is one of several reasons for the splitting of powers between the different branches of government and as well as between the states. The population could get involved in “free and fair elections” (Magleby & Light, 2009 Brief Edition, p. 21) to oust those that they felt were abusing their powers of office. The framers also wished to give the majority and the minorities an equal say in the government so that the minorities wouldn’t be deprived of their rights under the new