To what extent does parliament control executive power? (40 marks) A parliament is a body that has several roles, including legitimising legislation, passing laws, scrutinising or amending legislation, calling government to account and representing voters. Emphasis is placed that the government branch in the UK (the government) normally dominates the parliament due to various reasons such as high majorities, MPs loyalty to the party manifesto, influence of PM on MPs, existence of party whips and the limitations of the House of Lords. However, some may argue that the government does not have it all its own way as parliament can control the government in a number of ways including, dismissing large majoritarian governments, sovereignty of the parliament, public accountability, barriers set by select committees and the House of Lords. Parliament may face difficulties in controlling executive power as the government usually has an overall majority.
This is also supports the idea that it was not revolutionary because William did not immediately assume Kingship, and instead called an assembly and a Parliament to sort out lawfully who should be King or not. In the case of a revolution, the actions of those taking over are usually much more decisive and radical. Another important factor that does not support the Glorious Revolution view is the fact little changed after it took place. A monarch still reigned and the Declaration of Rights that were read before William and Mary accepted the throne in February 1689, still kept the monarch’s prerogative rights and there was no repeal of the 1661 Militia Act that Parliament found particularly vexing. A revolution usually means a complete change that replaces the old order with a new order.
Since 1997 there have been many constitutional reforms from the Labour Government to the recent coalition government, these reforms have changed the UK political system quite dramatically; these reforms may have increased our democracy but have also created new problems which have to resolved through Parliamentary debate. The main Constitutional reform which has been ongoing through the Labour and Coalition government, however the Coalition seem less keen, is the reform on devolution of Powers to Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland and Northern Ireland were granted with Primary powers of legislation meaning they can create legislation on a variety of different matters such as Health and Social services and Law and Order, this gave Scotland and Northern Ireland much more independence and power to run their own nations, Wales was only granted secondary powers meaning they can alter legislation but not create. This devolution was in response to referendums held in the Scotland, Wales and NI and there have also been calls to have complete independence from the UK however the referendum held on this matter returned a NO vote. This devolution however has raised some issues which seem hard to solve for example the West Lothian Question creates a problem n which Scottish MP’s can vote on English Laws but English MP’s cannot vote on Scottish Laws.
Whilst Flambard’s role was very much to increase Crown revenues, in preparation of an invasion of Normandy, under Henry I the role was built upon. He appointed Roger of Salisbury to oversee administration, justice and taxation, even appointing him head of the Exchequer in 1110. Whilst under William I men such as Odo of Bayeux and Lanfranc had minor roles when William was out of the country, they did not have the power to implement reform. However, the fact that William, who ruled over more land than either of his sons under more difficult circumstances, did not appoint a vice-regent shows that the role may not have been as important to English administration as it is sometimes thought, although at the time the country was not as centralised as it would become under Henry. Instead of the need for someone to implement reform and change, under later English Kings after William I it may have been that a figure was required to oversee the system and enable the King to depart the country to protect his interests on the Continent.
Below is a list of the topics to be covered in Assignment 1. This sheet is to be used as a tick sheet to assist you in writing your assignment. • Local Government, * National Government, * European Union * Regional Government In your presentation include the following institutions; • Monarchy - this is the oldest form of a government, the king or queen it the head of this government and has the right to make and pass down legislation resides with an elected Parliament but now they do not have an important role within the monarchy, he or she continues to play an important part in the life of the nation. The Monarch takes roles which have continuously changed over one thousand years. The Monarch has a minor role as
This essay will examine the evidence as to whether the limitations are actually growing. Prime-ministerial power is considerable mainly because the holder of the office has several different important sources of power. The first is the existence of prerogative powers. These are the arbitrary powers enjoyed by the monarch which are delegated to the prime minister. They include the power of commander-in-chief of the armed forces and chief foreign policy maker, and the power to appoint or dismiss government ministers.
In the 1530s Cromwell began to make many changes to different areas of Tudor government to try and strengthen royal authority. The different areas he made changes to, were the Privy Council, finance and local government. These changes strengthened and weakened royal authority in many ways. Firstly the changes Cromwell made to the Privy Council. The Privy Council previously called the Royal Council was considered the most important single element in the government.
William was the sole proprietor of Normandy, having been duke before the battle of Hastings in 1066. In his rule of two nations, William spent the large majority of his time in Normandy, indeed leaving England altogether from 1072-1087. Compared to the other advances, the developments to central government in this time period were thin. William developed the writ somewhat, that it might be deployed to control the country whilst the monarch was overseas and he was the primary King to utilise vice regents, however in terms of sheer scale, nothing William developed came close to that of his subsequent continental land-owning monarchs. William had little challenge on the land, having to raise a high geld in defence of Normandy only a single time in his reign.
This is to say that England was among the first European countries to arrive at a system of government in which the powers of a monarch were increasingly being limited by a parliamentary structure of representative government. This claim is based to a large extent on the success of the English Civil Wars of the seventeenth century (both those of the 1640s and 1688) in challenging the divine authority of the crown and in giving voice to a broader range of society than had a voice in other European societies. The historian Derek Jarrett writes, Although most of those who have studied the English revolutions of the seventeenth century would doubt that the constitutions which emerged from those upheavals did much to guarantee the liberties of ordinary men or to ensure a fairer distribution of wealth. . .
A constitutional monarchy is a system of government where the monarch’s power is restricted by a constitution and a legislative body. Constitutional monarchies also protect the rights of individual citizens from abuse by the government. The monarch acts as the head of state, but in reality the legislative body makes the laws. Different constitutional monarchies grant different powers to their kinds or queens. Parliament, the legislative body of England, emerged in the late middle ages and ever since has had influence over the English monarchies.