POLSCI 140 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Scottish Government, Uk Power, Bicameralism
19 Dec 2016
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The crown
• Chief of state of UK
• Power to dismiss + appoint a PM, power to summon/dissolve parliament, power
to command armed forces, power to declare war/ peace
Executive
• Executive power is exercised by the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II, via Her
Majesty's Government and the devolved national authorities - the Scottish
Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland
Executive
• Leader of the political party with an absolute majority of seats in the House of
Commons is chosen to be the Prime Minister
• If no party has an absolute majority, the leader of the largest party is given the
first opportunity to form a coalition
• The Prime Minister then selects the other Ministers which make up the
Government and act as political heads of the various Government Departments
• About twenty of the most senior government ministers make up the Cabinet and
approximately 100 ministers in total comprise the government
• All ministers within the government are either Members of Parliament or peers in
the House of Lords
PM and Cabinet
• The Prime Minister is the most senior minister in the Cabinet
o In charge of chairing Cabinet meetings, selecting Cabinet ministers, and
formulating government policy
Legislatures
• The UK Parliament is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom (i.e.,
there is parliamentary sovereignty), and Government is drawn from and
answerable to it
• Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the House of Commons and the House of
Lords
• There is also a devolved Scottish Parliament and devolved Assemblies in Wales
and Northern Ireland, with varying degrees of legislative authority.
Parliament- House of Commons
• Each constituency elects a Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons
at General Elections
• In modern times, all Prime Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition have been
drawn from the Commons, not the Lords
• The UK public elects 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) to represent their
interests and concerns in the House of Commons. MPs consider and propose new
laws, and can scrutinise government policies by asking ministers questions about
current issues either in the Commons Chamber or in Committees.
• One party usually has a majority in Parliament, because of the use of the First Past
the Post electoral system, which has been conducive in creating the current two
party system. The monarch normally asks a person commissioned to form a
government simply whether it can survive in the House of Commons, something
which majority governments are expected to be able to do. In exceptional
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Document Summary
The crown: chief of state of uk, power to dismiss + appoint a pm, power to summon/dissolve parliament, power to command armed forces, power to declare war/ peace. Executive: executive power is exercised by the sovereign, queen elizabeth ii, via her. Majesty"s government and the devolved national authorities - the scottish. Government, the welsh assembly government and the northern ireland. Executive: leader of the political party with an absolute majority of seats in the house of. Commons is chosen to be the prime minister. If no party has an absolute majority, the leader of the largest party is given the first opportunity to form a coalition: the prime minister then selects the other ministers which make up the. Pm and cabinet: the prime minister is the most senior minister in the cabinet, in charge of chairing cabinet meetings, selecting cabinet ministers, and formulating government policy.
