FOUR: The UK Constitution: Whitehall
Rough notes
With deep gratitude to Richard Adamson (NCTJ national examiner - public affairs)
Programmed Reading - John Kingdom: Government and Politics in Britain
Ch 03+12+14
* DEFINITION: Rules of government;
regulates relationships;
limits power
* FEATURES: No ‘fundamental law’; organic; flexible,
constitutional monarchy;
liberal democracy
* SOURCES: Statute
Common Law & Interpretations
Conventions
Works of Authority
European Treaties
SOURCES OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
1 Statute:
Magna Carta (1215) , Bill of Rights (1689), Act of Settlement (1701) Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 (extension of franchise) plus Human Rights Act (passed 1998 in force October 2000) by which Uk citizen can challenge own government in UK and EU courts. A BIG change.
2. Common Law & Interpretations:
evolving case law made
by courts and judges
over centuries
3. Convention:
ie resignation of a government which loses confidence of Commons; ministerial exercise of ROYAL PREROGATIVE powers; absolute privilege claimed by Parliament; Prime Minister’s discretion to decide election date; Cabinet collective responsibility.
4. Works of Authority:
Erskine May - ‘Parliamentary
Practice’ governing rules
of House of Commons;
Walter Bagehot - The English Constitution
Albert Dicey - Introduction to the
Law of the Constitution
5. European Treaties:
European Union law and practice, viz the Maestricht Treaty and the Convention on Human Rights
Government based on two principles:
- Rule of Law
- Separation of Powers
Rule of Law
- No arbitrary exercise of power (arrest without trial – terrorism legislation)
- Peaceful resolution of disputes via the courts – CIVIL LAW backed by criminal sanction
- Everyone - high and low - subject to the law (legal privilege, contempt of court, etc)
SEPARATION of POWERS
Constitutional division of government functions - for checks & balances
Legislature: Monarch in Parliament
ie Commons and The Lords - WESTMINSTER
Executive: Prime Minister in Cabinet
of approx 22 ministers heading
government (of approx 100 ministers)
Needs MAJORITY in Commons to get policy into law – WHITEHALL
-
Judiciary: Independent courts determine
common law
Interprets Acts of Parliament.
Headed by the Lord Chancellor who also sits in the Cabinet. – THE HIGH COURT (The Strand)
UK Parliament
HOUSE of COMMONS
Comprising 646 Members of Parliament MPs
Single Constituencies across the United Kingdom.
Government drawn from this pool of elected MPs
HOUSE of LORDS
Upper, revising chamber comprising 738 members
26 Lords spiritual - senior bishops of Church of England
688 Lords temporal - 620 life peers, appointed by monarch
on advice of government of the day
27 Law Lords - senior judges
acting as final Court of Appeal
92 Hereditary peers (down from759)
Can delay Act of Parliament passed by Commons
Role of Monarch
The classic definition of the sovereign’s power TODAY is defined by constitutional authority Bagehot as
“THE RIGHT TO BE CONSULTED, THE RIGHT TO ENCOURAGE, THE RIGHT TO WARN”
Monarchy oldest surviving secular institution
Sovereigns outlive governments
Provides unbroken thread of political continuity
& collective wisdom
Constitutional mediator with the custom & convention
against partisan politics of
transient administrations.
GENERAL ELECTION
FPTP June 2005 Turn-out 61.3%
House of Commons total MPs 646
Lab.: 35.2% 354 MPs
Cons.: 32.3% 196 MPs
Lib Dem.: 22% 62 MPs
Others: 10.5% 34 MPs
But Labour share of total electors 21.6%
PROPORTIONAL
Under simple PR voting
June 2005
Lab: 227 MPs
Cons: 208 MPs
Lib Dem: 142 MPs
Others: 12 MPs
Media Links
Central Office of Information (CoI) -
CoI White Book, £15, or good libraries.
Lists all press officers in public sector
Government News Network www.gnn.gov.uk
Government Information Service (GIC)
www.number10.gov.uk Blair’s personal website via which he “weekly broadcasts to nation”.
www.online.gov.uk
www.ukresilience.gov.uk (disasters, emergencies)
Minutes of lobby briefing on daily diary at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk TB’s official website
Government Departments
Cabinet Office www.number10.gov.uk , www.cabinet-office.gov.uk
- Prime Minister - First Lord of Treasury & Minister for Civil Service
- Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State
- Minister of State, Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
- Minister of State, Regions, Social Exclusion, Business Co-ordination
- Minister of State, Women and Equality
- Minister of State without portfolio, and Party Chair
- Parliamentary Secretary, Civil Service
Department for Culture, Media & Sport
Secretary of State www.culture.gov.uk
- Minister of State for the Arts
- Minister of State for Sport
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Tourism, Film and Broadcasting
Ministry of Defence
Secretary of State for Defence www.mod.uk
- Minister of State for the Armed Forces
- Minister for Defence Procurement, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
- Minister for Veterans, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Department for Education & Skills
Secretary of State www.dfes.gov.uk
- Minister of State for School Standards
- Minister of Lifelong Learning & Higher Education (plus Regional and Regeneration Policy)
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Early Years & School Standards
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Adult Skills
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Young People & Learning
Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Secretary of State www.defra.gov.uk
- Minister of State for the Environment
- Minister of State for Rural Affairs
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Commons), Animal Health, Fisheries, Forestry & Coastal Defence
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Lords), Food & Farming, Departmental Science, and Inland Waterways
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Foreign Secretary www.fco.gov.uk
- Minister of State Trade
- Minister of State, EU, Central & NW Europe
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Counter-Terrorism, Drugs and Relations with Middle East, North Africa & South East Asia
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Cultural Relations, Relations with Eastern Adriatic, Latin America, North East Asia and China, and Internal Departmental Administration
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Commonwealth, Relations with South and Equatorial Africa, and the Caribbean, and Consular Activity
Department of Health
Secretary of State www.doh.gov.uk
- Minister of State, NHS and Delivery
- Minister of State (Commons), Social Care, Long Term Care, Disability and Mental Health
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Lords), Performance and Quality
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Public Health and Embryology
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Emergency Care and Public Involvement
Home Office
Home Secretary www.homeoffice.gov.uk
- Minister of State, Crime Reduction
- Minister of State, Criminal Justice System
- Minister of State, Citizenship and Immigration
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Crime Reduction
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Criminal Justice System
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Cititzenship and Immigration
Department for International
Development
Secretary of State www.dfid.gov.uk
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Law Officers
Attorney General - Treasury Solicitor, Director of Public Prosecutions and the Crown Prosecution Service, and Serious Fraud Office
- Solicitor General
House of Lords
Leader of the House and Lord Privy Seal
Department for Constitutional Affairs
Lord Chancellor www.lcd.gov.uk
- Parliamentary Secretary, Courts, EU, Human Rights, Freedom of Information and Land Registry
Department of Trade and Industry
Secretary of State www.dti.gov.uk
- Minister for Industry, Energy and the Environment
- Minister for Employment Relations and the Regions
- Minister for E-commerce
- Minister for Trade, and Deputy Leader, House of Lords
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Competition, Consumers and Markets
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Small Business
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Science and Innovation
Department for Communities and Local Government
Secretary of State & Minister for Women www.communities.gov.uk
- Minister of State, Local Government & Community cohesion
- Minister of State, Housing and Planning, Building Regulations, Regional Economic Development
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Women an Equality
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary Fire, Climate Change, Local Govt Intervention, Beacon Councils,e-govt, Audit Commission, Ordnance Survey
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary Communities & local govt in Lords, Planning policy casework, Neighbourhood Renewal, Social Exclusion.
Department for Transport
Secretary of State www.dft.gov.uk
- Minister of State, Transport, Road Safety, Highways Agency, Strategic Network Policy, Shipping & Ports,Europe Minister
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Railways, Roads, Maritime and Aviation, London, Green issues
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Priorities & Contingencies,
Science, Deregulation, British Transport police
Her Majesty’s Treasury
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
- Prime Minister (and First Lord of the Treasury)
- Chancellor of the Exchequer (and Second Lord)
- Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Public Expenditure and Procurement
- Paymaster General, Taxation and Inland Revenue
- Financial Secretary, VAT, and Customs and Excise
- Economics Secretary, Banking, Foreign Exchange, EU, and National Savings
Department for Work and Pensions
Secretary of State www.dwp.gov.uk
- Minister of State for Work
- Minister of State for Pensions
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Lords), Children and the Family
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Minister for the Disabled
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Commons), Work, and Social Security Benefits
Privy Council Office
President of the Council and the Leader of the House of Commons
- Parliamentary Secretary
Northern Ireland Office
Secretary of State www.nio.gov.uk
- Minister of State, Security, Policing and Prisons
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Good Friday Agreement, Criminal Justice and Victims
Scotland Office
Secretary of State www.scottishsecretary.gov.uk
- Minister of State
Wales office
Secretary of State for Wales www.ossw.gov.uk
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken American journalist, editor & iconoclast 1880-1956
s Research & Contacts
List of government ministers www.number10.gov.uk/output/page2988.asp
Guide to the government www.number10.gov.uk/output/page30.asp
Directory of MPs www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm
House of Commons Select and Standing Committees
www.parliament.uk/parliamentary committees/parliamentary committees16.cfm
House of Lords www.parliament.uk/works/lords.cfm
Public Record Office http://www.pro.gov.uk/
Online archives of state papers, always a fantastically surprising source.
National Statistics: the official United Kingdom facts and figures source
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
All human life in the UK is here – under 13 sub-headings, including crime, justice, education, the economy, health, population, migration etc, etc. Also includes direct links to births, deaths and marriages data and info in UK Census 2001. A treasure trove.
Hansard verbatim record of Parliament debates:
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa//cm/cmhansard.htm
Track down a QUANGO and other exotic administrative creatures – all 6,000-plus of them. Everything from the Accounts Commission of Scotland , to the Youth Justice Board and the Housing Corporation. http://www.open.gov.uk/
Political junkies get your fix here – every stat you could ever wish for on elections results, manifestos, partisan biographies and much more: http://www.ukpol.co.uk (unfortunately temporarily offline until April 2008).
With deep gratitude to Richard Adamson