THE POLITICAL BRITISH

SYSTEM

Sd.Ionescu Adrian
Gr.11A
“Nicolae Balcescu” Land Forces Academy
 CONTENTS
 INTRODUCTION
 1 The Crown
 2 The U.K. Government
 3 British Parliament
 CONCLUSION
 INTRODUCTION
 The United Kingdom is a unitary state that is governed within the framework of
a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which
the monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the head of state while the Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom, currently Boris Johnson, is the head of
government. Executive power is exercised by the British government, on behalf of
and by the consent of the monarch, and the devolved governments
of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Legislative power is vested in the two
chambers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and
the House of Lords, as well as in the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and
the Northern Ireland Assembly. The judiciary is independent of the executive and
the legislature. The highest court is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
 The Crown
 Domestic powers
 ismiss and appoint a prime minister
 dismiss and appoint other ministers
 summon and prorogue Parliament
 grant or refuse Royal Assent to bills (making them valid and law)
 commission officers in the Armed Forces
 command the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom
 appoint members to the Queen's Counsel
 issue and withdraw passports
 grant prerogative of mercy (though capital punishment is abolished, this power is still used to
change sentences)
 grant honours
 create corporations via Royal Charter
 Foreign powers
 ratify and make treaties
 declare war and peace
 deploy the Armed Forces overseas
 recognise states
 credit and receive diplomats
 The U.K. Government
 The Prime Minister, currently Boris Johnson, is the most senior
minister in the Cabinet. They are responsible for chairing Cabinet
meetings, selecting Cabinet ministers and formulating
government policy.
 British Parliament
 House of Commons -
The Countries of the United Kingdom are
divided into
parliamentary constituencies of broadly
equal population by the four Boundary
Commissions. Each constituency elects a
Member of Parliament (MP) to the House
of Commons at general elections and, if
required, at by-elections. As of 2010 there
are 650 constituencies.
 House of Lords –
was previously a
largely hereditary aristocratic chamber,
although including life peers, and Lords
Spiritual. It is currently midway through
extensive reforms, the most recent of
these being enacted in the House of
Lords Act 1999. The house consists of
two very different types of member,
the Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual.
 SUMMARY OF MAIN POINTS
 1 The Crown
 2 The U.K. Government
 3 British Parliament
 CONCLUSION
 The British political system is a two party
system. Since the 1920s, the two dominant
parties have been the Conservative Party and
the Labour Party.