The Government

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 510.

Government is like the management of the country. It is sometimes also known as the 'executive' because it is the part of the British system that is responsible for carrying out or executing the laws of the country.

Members

Ø 100 Ministers

Ø 20-22 or so of them are members of the Cabinet and heads of Government Departments. They include the Chancellor of the Exchequer (from the Treasury), the Home Secretary (from the Home Office) and the Foreign Secretary (from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office).

Cabinet Ministers are heads of government departments, mostly with the office of "Secretary of State for [Defence, or the relevant function]".

Ø Civil Servants - assist the ministers in running the departments.

Head - the Prime Minister.

The Government is formed by the party that gains the most seats in the House of Commons at a General Election . The leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister selects the members of the Government from MPs, Peers and very occasionally senior people outside Parliament.

The Government can propose new laws in the form of Bills which it presents to Parliament for consideration.

The Prime Minister

The title of Prime Minister does not constitutionally exist - the Prime Minister's actual title is First Lord of the Treasury.

The Prime Minister is:

Ø the leader of the Government

Ø the leader of the party that wins the most seats at a General Election

Ø is an MP (sits on the Government Front Bench near the Despatch Box in the House of Commons)

Ø member of the Privy Council

The Prime Minister:

Ø forms the Government

Ø can appoint judges

Ø can propose the creation of Life Peers

Ø can make appointments to senior positions in the Church of England.

Question time

The Prime Minister answers questions from MPs in the House of Commons every Wednesday from 12.00pm until the end of Question Time at 12.30pm.

This regular and frequent questioning of the Prime Minister was introduced in 1961. One of the strangest features of Prime Minister's Question Time is that MPs put forward the same question, asking for a list of the Prime Minister's official engagements for the day. The reason for this is that questions must be written down in advance in the Order Paper for the day. This is actually done by the first Member who asks a question saying "number one". However, once the Prime Minister has answered that question, the MP is allowed a follow up question which is not written down and can be on any subject which relates to prime ministerial responsibilities or to almost any aspect of government policy.

The Leader of the Opposition is allowed three or four supplementary questions in succession to his first, and the leader of the next largest party is allowed two.

The Prime Minister traditionally resides at 10 Downing Street in London and is also entitled to use the country house of Chequers in Buckinghamshire.