The monarchy

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 423.

Political System of the UK

An unwritten constitution:

In contrast with almost any other country in the world, no dramatic event in British history has resulted in a written constitution.

The different laws have never been brought together into a single document. In fact, some aspects of the system are not even covered by laws, but rather by custom and practice. So it is often said that Britain has an unwritten constitution.

By far the strangest feature of the system is the role of the monarch. The Queen appears on paper to have tremendous power, but in fact has hardly any at all. The country is a kingdom, the government is Her Majesty's Government, laws are made by the Queen in Parliament, criminals are tried in the name of the Queen, and the Queen is the head of the state. She dissolves Parliament before an election and she appoints the new Prime Minister (PM), she has a business meeting with the PM once a week, usually on Tuesdays. At the annual State Opening of the Parliament she makes the Queen's Speech, which outlines the government's plans. She is the head of the Commonwealth (which includes 51 countries and a quarter of the world's population), and she is actually Head of State in 16 countries including Canada, Papua New Guinea and Jamaica. All this seems to add up to a dominant role within the system. But it does not: the key word here is symbolic.

The American president is both the head of the government and the head of state. This is also the case in France and in Russia, while in most countries around the world these two roles are separate. The all-but-powerless, ceremonial head of state is most commonly a president, but in a few places, such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK, the job is done by a king or a queen. Queen Elizabeth signs all the new laws that are presented to her, she cannot pick and choose. She appoints the leader of the majority party as Prime Minister automatically. The Queen's Speech is in fact written for her by the government. Any power she may have is strictly personal: if PMs respect her opinion on something (such as Commonwealth, on which she is an expert), they will take her advice. Constitutionally, she has the right only “to be consulted, to encourage and to warn”.

Discuss the following:

1. What does it mean: “Britain has an unwritten constitution”?

2. What is the role of the Queen in the UK?

3. What is the Commonwealth?

4. Prove that the monarch is a ceremonial head of the state/in the UK.