Moldovan Education Ministry

State University "Ion Creanga " Chisinau

Reference
discipline English

Subject:The UK government

Student:______________

Specialty:________________________

Chisinau 2017
 Her Majesty's Government (HMG; Welsh: Llywodraeth Ei Mawrhydi),
commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the
central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland.
The government is led by the Prime Minister, who selects all the
remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior
ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, known as
the Cabinet.The government ministers all sit in Parliament, and are
accountable to it. The government is dependent on Parliament to make
primary legislation,and since the Fixed-terms Parliaments Act 2011,
general elections are held every five years to elect a new House of
Commons, unless there is a successful vote of no confidence in the
government in the House of Commons, in which case an election may be
held sooner. After an election, the monarch (currently Queen Elizabeth II)
selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command
a majority of MPs in the House of Commons.
Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with
the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice
of, the prime minister and the cabinet. The Cabinet members advise the
monarch as members of the Privy Council. They also exercise power
directly as leaders of the Government Departments.
The current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July
2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority
of seats in the House of Commons in the general election on 7 May 2015,
when David Cameron was the party leader. Prior to this, Cameron and the
Conservatives led a coalition government from 2010 to 2015 with the
Liberal Democrats, in which Cameron was prime minister.
Government in Parliament
A key principle of the British Constitution is that the government is
responsible to Parliament. This is called responsible government.
Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch (that
is, the King or Queen who is the Head of State at any given time) does not
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make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the
government and Parliament. This constitutional state of affairs is the result
of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the
monarch, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215.
Parliament is split into two houses: the House of Lords and the House
of Commons. The House of Commons is the lower house and is the more
powerful. The House of Lords is the upper house and although it can vote
to amend proposed laws, the House of Commons can usually vote to
overrule its amendments. Although the House of Lords can introduce
bills, most important laws are introduced in the House of Commons - and
most of those are introduced by the government, which schedules the vast
majority of parliamentary time in the Commons. Parliamentary time is
essential for bills to be passed into law, because they must pass through a
number of readings before becoming law. Prior to introducing a bill, the
government may run a public consultation to solicit feedback from the
public and businesses, and often may have already introduced and
discussed the policy in the Queen's Speech, or in an election manifesto or
party platform.
Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit;
they make statements in that House and take questions from members of
that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of
Commons rather than the House of Lords. There have been some recent
exceptions to this: for example, cabinet ministers Lord Mandelson (First
Secretary of State) and Lord Adonis (Secretary of State for Transport) sat
in the Lords and were responsible to that House during the government of
Gordon Brown.
British Parliament
Since the start of Edward VII's reign, in 1901, the prime minister has
always been an elected member of Parliament (MP) and therefore directly
accountable to the House of Commons. A similar convention applies to
the Chancellor of the Exchequer: it would likely be politically
unacceptable for the budget speech to be given in the Lords, with MPs
unable to directly question the Chancellor.
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 Especially now that the Lords have very limited powers in relation to
money bills the last Chancellor of the Exchequer to be a member of the
House of Lords was Lord Denman, who served as interim Chancellor of
the Exchequer for one month in 1834.Under the British system the
government is required by convention and for practical reasons to
maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support
of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply (by voting
through the government's budgets) and in order to pass primary
legislation. By convention if a government loses the confidence of the
House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held.
The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its
legislation passed without delay, is not vital. A government is not required
to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key
votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the responsible
House.
The prime minister is held to account during Prime Minister's Question
Time (PMQs) which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to
question the PM on any subject. There are also departmental questions
when ministers answer questions relating to their specific departmental
brief. Unlike PMQs both the cabinet ministers for the department and
junior ministers within the department may answer on behalf of the
government, depending on the topic of the question.
During debates on legislation proposed by the government, ministers—
usually with departmental responsibility for the bill—will lead the debate
for the government and respond to points made by MPs or Lords.
Committees of both the House of Commons and House of Lords hold
the government to account, scrutinise its work and examine in detail
proposals for legislation. Ministers appear before committees to give
evidence and answer questions.
Government ministers are also required by convention and the
Ministerial Code,[8] when Parliament is sitting, to make major statements
regarding government policy or issues of national importance to
Parliament.
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 This allows MPs or Lords to question the government on the statement.
When the government instead chooses to make announcements
first outside Parliament, it is often the subject of significant criticism from
MPs and the Speaker of the House of Commons.
The British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the head of state
and the sovereign, but not the head of government.
The monarch takes little direct part in governing the country, and
remains neutral in political affairs. However, the legal authority of the
state that is vested in the sovereign and known as the Crown remains the
source of the executive power exercised by the government.
In addition to explicit statutory authority, in many areas the Crown also
possesses a body of powers known as the Royal Prerogative, which can
be used for many purposes, from the issue or withdrawal of passports to
declaration of war. By long-standing custom, most of these powers are
delegated from the sovereign to various ministers or other officers of the
Crown, who may use them without having to obtain the consent of
Parliament.
The head of the government, the prime minister, also has weekly
meetings with the monarch, when she "has a right and a duty to express
her views on Government matters. ... These meetings, as with all
communications between The Queen and her Government, remain strictly
confidential. Having expressed her views, The Queen abides by the advice
of her ministers.".Royal Prerogative powers include, but are not limited
to, the following: Domestic powers
The power to dismiss and appoint a prime minister. This power is
exercised by the monarch herself. By strong convention she must appoint
the individual most capable of commanding a majority in the House of
Commons.
The power to dismiss and appoint other ministers. This power is
exercised by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister.

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 The power to grant Royal Assent to bills, making them valid laws. This
is exercised by the monarch, who also theoretically has the power to
refuse assent, although no monarch has refused assent to a bill passed by
Parliament since Queen Anne in 1708.
The power to commission officers in the Armed Forces
The power to command the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom. This
power is exercised by the Defence Council in the Queen's name.
The power to appoint members to the Her Majesty's Most Honourable
Privy Council
The power to issue and withdraw passports. This is exercised by the Home
Secretary.
The Prerogative of mercy (though capital punishment has been abolished,
this power is still used to remedy errors in sentence calculation)
The power to grant honours
The power to create corporations via Royal Charter
Foreign powers[edit]
The power to ratify and make treaties.
The power to declare war and conclude peace with other nations.
The power to deploy the Armed Forces overseas
The power to recognise states
The power to credit and receive diplomats
Even though the United Kingdom has no single constitutional
document, the government published the above list in October 2003 in
order to increase transparency, as some of the powers exercised in the
name of the monarch and which are part of the Royal
Prerogative.However, the complete extent of the Royal Prerogative
powers.
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 Many of them originating in ancient custom and the period of absolute
monarchy, or modified by later constitutional practice, has never been
fully set out.
Government departments
Main article: British government departments
Government ministers are supported by 560,000 Civil Servants and
other staff working in the 24 Ministerial Departments and their executive
agencies. There are also an additional 26 non-Ministerial Departments
with a range of further responsibilities.
Location
The prime minister is based at 10 Downing Street in Westminster,
London. Cabinet meetings also take place here. Most government
departments have their headquarters nearby in Whitehall.
Devolved governments
Main article: Devolution in the United Kingdom
Since 1999, certain areas of central government have been devolved to
accountable governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These
are not part of Her Majesty's Government, and are accountable to their
own institutions, with their own authority under the Crown. By contrast,
there is no devUp to three layers of elected local authorities (such as
County, District and Parish Councils) exist throughout all parts of the
United Kingdom, in some places merged into Unitary Authorities. They
have limited local tax-raising powers. Many other authorities and
agencies also have statutory powers, generally subject to some central
government supervision.
Limits of government power
The government's powers include general executive and statutory powers,
delegated legislation, and numerous powers of appointment and
patronage. However, some powerful officials and bodies, (e.g. HM
judges, local authorities, and the Charity Commissions) are legally more
or less independent of the government.
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 Government powers are legally limited to those retained by the Crown
under Common Law or granted and limited by Act of Parliament, and are
subject to European Union law and the EU competencies that it defines.
Both substantive and procedural limitations are enforceable in the Courts
by judicial review.
Nevertheless, magistrates and mayors can still be arrested for and put
on trial for corruption, and the government has powers to insert
commissioners into a local authority to oversee its work, and to issue
directives that must be obeyed by the local authority, if the local authority
is not abiding by its statutory obligations.
By contrast, as in every other EU member state, EU officials cannot be
prosecuted for any actions carried out in pursuit of their official duties,
and foreign country diplomats (though not their employees) and foreign
Members of the European Parliamentare immune from prosecution in the
UK for anything at all. As a consequence, neither EU bodies nor
diplomats have to pay taxes, since it would not be possible to prosecute
them for tax evasion. This caused a dispute in recent years when the US
Ambassador to the UK claimed that London's congestion charge was a
tax, and not a charge (despite the name), and therefore he did not have to
pay it - a claim the Greater London Authority disputed.
Similarly, the monarch is totally immune from criminal prosecution and
may only be sued with her permission (this is known as sovereign
immunity). The monarch, by law, is not required to pay income tax, but
Queen Elizabeth II has voluntarily paid it since 1993, and also pays local
rates voluntarily. However, the monarchy also receives a substantial grant
from the government, the Sovereign Support Grant, and her inheritance
from the Queen Mother was exempt from inheritance tax.
In addition to legislative powers, HM Government has substantial
influence over local authorities and other bodies set up by it, by financial
powers and grants. Many functions carried out by local authorities, such
as paying out housing benefit and council tax benefit, are funded or
substantially part-funded by central government.

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 Even though the British Broadcasting Corporation is supposed to be
independent of the government on a day-to-day level and is supposed to
be politically unbiased, some commentators have argued that the
prospects of the BBC having its funding cut or its charter changed in
future charter renewals in practice cause the BBC to be subtly biased
towards the government of the day (or the likely future government as an
election approaches) at times.
Neither the central government nor local authorities are permitted to sue
anyone for defamation. Individual politicians are allowed to sue people
for defamation in a personal capacity and without using government
funds, but this is relatively rare (although George Galloway, who was a
backbench MP for a quarter of a century, has sued or threatened to sue for
defamation a number of times). However, it is a criminal offence to make
a false statement about any election candidate during an election, with the
purpose of reducing the number of votes they receive (as with libel,
opinions do not count).olved government in England.