Three Branches of government

Power in Great Britain is divided among three branches: the legislatives branch, the executive branch and the judicial branch.

The legislative branch is represented by parliament, which consists of two chambers, or houses: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Parliament in Britain has existed since 1265. Having been organized in the reign of King Edward I, it is the oldest parliament in the world. In 1865 John Bright described England as “the mother of Parliaments”.

The House of Lords consists of more than 1000 peers, including the " lords spiritual": the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, and 24 bishops of the Church of En 24 bishops of the Church of England. The peers (with the exception of the " lords spiritual") have the right to sit in Parliament during their lifetime and transmit their right to their eldest sons.

During the present century a new practice has appeared: the practice of “creating” new peers. They are called " life peers", because their children do not inherit their titles like the children of hereditary peers. New peers are created by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minster. Sometimes a prominent politician is made a peer, sometimes a leading civil servant who has served the country well. As a result, about one-third of the Lords today are not representatives of hereditary nobility but company directors, bankers, newspaper proprietors and other businessmen.

The members of the House of Commons are elected by a general election. The whole country is divided into constituencies, every one of which chooses one delegate. Big cities are divided into several constituencies each. Members of the House of Commons are elected for five years.

Parliament's main function is to make laws. The procedure of making new laws is as follows: a member of the House of Commons proposes a bill, which is discussed by the House. If the bill is approved, it is sent to the House of Lords, which, in case it does not like it, has the right to veto it for one year. If the House of Commons passes the bill again the following year, the House of Lords cannot reject it. Finally the bill is sent to the Queen for the " royal assent", after which it becomes a law. Parliament is normally consulted before all important international treaties and agreements are ratified.

The executive branch is headed by the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the king (queen). According to tradition, the Prime Minister is the leader of the party that has won the elections and has the majority in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister appoints the ministers to compose the government. After that the newly appointed ministers are presented to the monarch for the formal approval. The most important ministers of the government (about 20) form the Cabinet. Members of the Cabinet make joint decisions or advise the Prime Minister.

The main function of the executive branch of the government is to administer the laws (to see to it that the laws are carried out, actually to rule the country).

The judicial branch interprets the laws.

The highest judicial body is the Supreme Court of Judicature, which consists of two divisions: the High Court of Justices and the Court of Appeal. It is often said that English law is superior to the law of other countries. Indeed, the English judicial system contains many rules which protect the individual against arbitrary actions by the police and the government.

The parliamentary electoral system (general elections)

Britain is divided for electoral purposes into constituencies, or geographical areas of the country, usually containing about 60, 000 voters, each of which returns one elected MP to the House of Commons. The constituencies are supposed to be frequently changed in size and location in order to ensure fair representation and to reflect population movements. But such aims are not always successfully achieved.

General elections for parliamentary seats are by secret ballot, but voting is not compulsory. British, Commonwealth and Irish Republic citizens may all vote in the elections provided that they are resident in Britain, registered on the annual register of voters for the constituency, are aged 18 or over, and are not subject to any disqualification. People not entitled to vote include members of the House of Lords; certain mentally ill patients who are detained in hospital or prison; and persons who have been recently convicted of corrupt or illegal election practices.

Each elector casts one vote, normally in person, at a polling

station set up on election day. He or she will make a cross on a ballot paper against the name of the candidate for whom the vote is cast. However, there are provisions for those who for various reasons are unable to vote in person in their local constituency to register postal or proxy votes. There are also certain voting rights for expatriate Britons.

The turnout of voters averages over 70 per cent at general elections out of a total electorate of some 42 million people. The candidate who wins the most votes in a constituency is elected MP for that area. This system is known as the simple majority or the 'first past the post' system. There is no voting by proportional representation (PR), except for local elections in Northern Ireland.

There has been much debate about the British electoral system. Many see it as unfair to the smaller parties, and campaigns continue for some form of PR, which would create a wider selection of parties in the House of Commons and cater for minority political interests. But the two major parties (Conservative and Labour) have preferred the existing system. It gives them a greater chance of achieving power, and they have not been prepared to legislate for change, although the Labour Party seems now to be more sympathetic to PR. It is argued that the British people have traditionally preferred the stronger and more certain government which can often, if not always, result from the present arrangements. Defenders of the current system point to the assumed weaknesses of coalition or minority government as practised on the continent, such as frequent breakdown, a lack of firm policies and power-bargaining between different parties in order to achieve government status. But weak and small-majority government can also result from the British system.

The party political system

The electoral system depends to a large extent upon the party political system, which has existed since the seventeenth century. Organized political parties present their policies in the form of manifestos to the electorate for consideration during the intensive few weeks of canvassing and campaigning before General Election Day. A party candidate in a constituency is elected to Parliament on a combination of election manifesto, the personality of the candidate and the attraction of the national party. But party activity continues outside the election period itself, as the politicians battle for power and the ears of the electorate.

Since 1945 there have been seven Labour and eight Conservative governments in Britain. Some have had large majorities in the House of Commons, while others have had small ones. Some, like the Labour governments in the 1970s, have had to rely on the support of smaller parties, such as the Liberals and various nationalist parties, in order to remain in power.

The great majority of the MPs in the House of Commons belong to either the Conservative or the Labour Party, which are the largest political parties. This division emphasizes the continuation of the traditional two-party system in British politics, in which power has alternated between two major parties.

The Labour Party has traditionally gathered its support from the trade unions, the working class and some middle-class backing. Its electoral strongholds have always been in south Wales, Scotland, and the Midland and northern English indus­trial cities. But, although the 1997 general election continued to reflect this national division, the previous patterns of support are altering as social and job mobility changes. In recent years the Labour Party has embarked on wide-ranging reviews of its policies in order to broaden its appeal, take account of changing economic and social conditions, and remain a major force in British politics.

The Conservative Party has traditionally regarded itself as a national party, which appeals to people across the class barriers. Although it has often criticized what it sees as the dogmatic and ideological fervour of the Labour Party, the Conservative Party has also become more radical in recent years, and has departed from what used to be considered as the consensus view of British politics. The party's support comes mainly from business interests and the middle and upper classes, but a sizeable percentage of skilled and unskilled workers, and women have always voted Conservative. The party's strongholds tend to be in southern England, with scattered support elsewhere in the country, although it has suffered serious setbacks in Scotland.

Smaller political parties also have some representation in the House of Commons. Among these have been the Liberals and Social Democrats; the Scottish National Party; Plaid Cymru (the Welsh National Party); the Protestant Northern Irish parties of the Official Unionists, the Democratic Unionists and the Ulster Popular Unionists; the Social Democratic and Labour Party (moderate Roman Catholic Northern Irish party); and Sinn Fein (Republican Northern Irish party). Other small parties such as the Greens and Communist Party, as well as publicity-seeking fringe groups, may also contest a general election. But a party which does not achieve a certain number of votes in the election loses its deposit - the sum paid when a party registers to fight an election.

An innovation in British party politics during 1982-7 was the emergence of the Alliance as an electoral force. This was formed by the co-operation for electoral purposes of the Liberals and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which was founded in 1981 by defectors from the Labour Party. The Alliance gained substantial support in public opinion polls, won some dramatic by-elections, and achieved considerable success in local government elections. But it did not make a comparable breakthrough into national politics and the House of Commons. The Liberals and the SDP saw themselves in this period as an alternative political force to the Conservative and Labour Parties, based on the centre or centre-left of British politics. They tried to 'break the mould' of the traditional two-party system, but their performance in the 1987 general election did not achieve this aim. In 1988 a majority of the two parties merged into one party called the Social and Liberal Democratic Party (or SLD or Liberal Democrats for short). But small groups of Liberals and SDP members continued as separate parties, until the SDP ceased to exist as a political party in 1990. At present, the support for the Liberal Democrats

has sunk to some 16 per cent, and it seems that the centre ground in British politics has been largely recaptured by the Labour and Conservative Parties. However, the SLD and other smaller par­ties do allow alternative political parties to be represented in the House of Commons.

The party which wins most parliamentary seats at a general election, or which has the support of a majority of MPs in the House of Commons, usually forms the new government. Under the British system, that government need not have obtained an overall majority of the popular vote (representing the actual number of votes cast by the voting population). It is estimated that a party will generally have to gather more than 33 per cent of the popular vote before winning a substantial number of seats, and nearly 40 per cent in order to expand that representation and have a chance of forming a government with an overall majority. These figures will also depend upon whether support is concentrated in particular geographical areas, for a party may gain seats by its local strength. Smaller parties, which do not approach these percentages, will not gain many seats in the Commons. It is this system of representation that proponents of would like to change, in order to reflect more accurately the Popular vote and the anneal of minority parties.

Once the results of a general election are known, the majority party in the Commons normally forms the new government, and the largest minority party becomes the official opposition. The opposition has its own leader and 'shadow government'. It plays an important constitutional role in the parliamentary system, which is based on adversarial and confrontational politics. The seating arrangements in the House of Commons reflect this system, since leaders of the government and opposition parties sit on facing 'front benches', with their supporting MPs, or 'backbenchers', sitting behind them. The effectiveness of parlia­mentary arrangements is supposed to rest on the relationship between the government and opposition parties, in which the members are required to observe procedural conventions.

The opposition parties may try to overthrow the government by defeating it on a 'vote of no confidence' or a 'vote of censure'. In general these techniques are not successful if the government has a comfortable majority and can count on the support of its MPs. The opposition parties consequently attempt to influence the formation of national policies by their criticism of pending legislation; by trying to obtain concessions on bills by proposing amendments to them; and by striving to increase support for their performance and policies inside and outside the Commons. They take advantage of any publicity and opportunity which they think might improve their chances at the next general election.

Inside Parliament, party discipline is exercised by the Whips,

who are chosen from party MPs by the party leaders, and who are normally under the direction of a Chief Whip. Their duties include informing members of forthcoming parliamentary business; maintaining the party's voting strength in the Commons by seeing that their members attend all important debates or are 'paired' with the opposition (agreed matching numbers so that MPs need not be present in the House all the time); as well as conveying backbench opinion to the party leadership.

This line of communication is important if rebellion and disquiet are to be avoided. MPs will receive notice from the Whips' office of how important a particular vote is, and the information will be underlined up to three times. For example, a 'three-line whip' signifies a crucial vote, and failure to attend or comply with party instructions is usually regarded as a revolt against the party's policy. Party discipline is very strong in the Commons and less so in the Lords. But in both Houses it is essential to the smooth operation of party politics. A government with a large majority should not become complacent, nor antagonize its backbenchers. If it does so, a successful rebellion against the government or mass abstention from voting by its own side may destroy the majority and the party's policy.

Outside Parliament, party control rests with the national and local party organizations, which can be very influential. They promote the party at every opportunity, but especially at election time, when they are in charge of canvassing the public and electioneering on behalf of their party.