DISCLAIMER: all information in these module reviews are taken from our own notes and research so please do not cite this in your work. This summary also includes notes from my course provided textbook, 'Constitutional and Administrative Law' by Roger Masterman and Colin Murray.
Welcome to the fourth instalment of our Module Reviews!
In January leading into February, the focus will be on Public Law. For today's review, the topic featured is 'Institutions of Government'. This topic will be split into two parts; todays will address the Monarchy and the Executive, while next weeks will look at the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The Monarchy
The Monarchy and its role in the UK's constitution has experienced a turbulant history, so much so that there is far too much to cover in this short review. However, the UK Parliament's website has a great timeline for you took look at here. I highly recommend seeing how the Monarchy's role within the UK's governmental institutions has developed.
The most important aspect of the Monarchy I want to touch on in this review is the Royal Prerogative. However before doing so I think it is important to lay out some basic facts about the Monarch's modern role:
The Bill of Rights placed limitations on the Crown, however the Monarch remained a symbolic Head of State, kept their personal prerogative powers and were still a source of government powers.
The Monarch receives an update on Parliament every day.
The Monarch is strictly politically neutral.
The Monarch performs formal acts such as opening Parliament and any public duties are carried out on the advice of their ministers.
Royal Prerogative
I touched on royal prerogatives known as 'Executive prerogatives' in my previous Module Review. In essence, these prerogatives are powers exercised by ministers on behalf of the Crown. For my summary on this section, please click here.
Personal prerogatives are powers which can only be exercised by the monarch and not by ministers. These include the appointment of the UK’s Prime Minister and Royal Assent. I will look at these two examples below.
In terms of the power to appoint a Prime Minister, the extent of this role is determined by the circumstances of each individual election. For example, under circumstances where a party wins a majority in Parliament, the monarch will appoint the leader of that party Prime Minister. There is however always a chance that Parliament could be hung. In this scenario, the monarch will invoke their personal prerogative to appoint the person who has the best chance of attaining a majority in commons.
‘Sovereign should not be drawn into party politics’ – G. O’Donnell, The Cabinet Manuel (Cabinet Office, 2011) para.2.9
Royal Assent is another personal prerogative. Royal Assent is required for a Bill passed by Parliament becomes to become an Act of Parliament. In essence, the Monarch formally agrees to make the bill legislation. It is important to note that a Monarch can refuse to give Royal Assent, however this has not occured since 1707. As a result, Royal Assent is now seen as a formality.
The Executive
The Executive is what is known as the Government and is one of the three branches of the state alongside Parliament and the Judiciary. In its most basic form, the Executive is made up of the Prime Minister and their Cabinet.
The Prime Minister
The Prime Minister is called to office by the Monarch as seen above. The Prime Minister is normally the head of the party with the largest majority in the House of Commons. This is important as by being able to control the majority of the Commons they can effectively control the whole house.
It is important to note that despite being the head of the Government, the Prime Minister is not the Head of State. This still resides with the Monarch.
One important power of the Prime Minister is that they are able to choose all other ministers who make up the Cabinet. These are usually from their own party; however they do not have to be.
So, how does a Prime Minister leave office? The most traditional way is simply not being leader of the party which gains the most votes at the next General Election. The Fixed Term Parliament Act 2011 lays out that while these elections are every 5 years, there are two ways to trigger an early General Election. Firstly, over two thirds of Members of Parliament support the motion ‘That there shall be an early parliamentary general election’. Secondly, over half of Members of Parliament support the motion ‘That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government’. The latter is known as a censure motion. In this case, if a new government (supported by a majority of Members of Parliament) cannot be formed within 14 calendar days of the motion being issue, Parliament is dissolved, and an early General Election called.
The Cabinet and Ministers
The Cabinet is made up of ministers appointed by the Prime Minister and is the second part of the Executive. There are usually between 18-24 ministers in the Cabinet. Most of these ministers pveree a government department, such as the Department for Work and Pensions or the Department for Education.
One important practice that related to the Cabinet is that of Collective Cabinet Responsibility. This means that Cabinet has to defend and support the decisions made by the Executive. If a minister cannot perform this, they are expected to resign. For example, in 2010 two junior ministers for the Liberal Democrats resigned so that they could vote against plans to increase university tuition fees.
Thank you for reading this week's Public Law Module Review. We continue our assessment of the 'Institutions of Government' topic next week!
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