Executive Government UK
The executive government in the UK refers to the branch of government responsible for implementing and enforcing laws. It is headed by the Prime Minister and includes the Cabinet and various government departments. The executive government is responsible for making key decisions, formulating policies, and managing the day-to-day administration of the country.
7 Key excerpts on "Executive Government UK"
- Peter Joyce(Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Teach Yourself(Publisher)
...10 The executive branch of government The executive branch of government exerts political control over a nation’s political affairs and is responsible for implementing laws. It is headed by the country’s most senior politician who serves as the nation’s chief executive. In this chapter we will consider the functions that are performed by the executive branch of government, the specific role that is carried out by chief executives, and the key features of presidential and cabinet government. The role of the executive branch of government Key idea (1) The executive branch of government consists of politicians and permanent officials who are responsible for implementing decisions relating to the conduct of a nation’s internal and external political affairs. The work of the executive branch of government is performed by two distinct sets of people: politicians, and paid, permanent officials. We will consider the workings of the latter, termed ‘bureaucracy’, in Chapter 13 and the discussion in this chapter will concentrate on the role performed by politicians who give leadership to the executive branch of government and who are usually referred to as ‘the government’. For example, in the UK, the government consists of the prime minister, cabinet, and junior ministers. In America it is composed of the president and the cabinet. Parliamentary and presidential political structures Key idea (2) A basic division exists within liberal democracies between parliamentary and presidential forms of government. Within liberal democracies, governments tend to be either parliamentary or presidential. In a parliamentary system of government, the executive branch of government is drawn from the legislature and is also collectively accountable to this body for its actions...
eBook - ePubThe Constitution of New Zealand
A Contextual Analysis
- Matthew SR Palmer, Dean R Knight(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Hart Publishing(Publisher)
...5 Executive Introduction – Cabinet Government – Prime Minister and Ministers – Public service – Wider State Sector – Public Finance and Managerialism – Conclusion I. INTRODUCTION T he executive is what people usually mean when they refer to ‘the government’. The body that directs the executive, the Cabinet, is the product of the government formation processes outlined in the previous chapter. Once the Cabinet is formed, the executive governs by carrying out, operating or ‘executing’ the law and its policies. These operational activities are the core function of government. But, in doing so, the government constantly faces calls for changes to the law and its policies. So another core function of executive government is reform of law and policy. Compared with the other branches of government, the executive is action oriented. The momentum for action by, and change in, the whole of government comes from the executive branch. This chapter focuses on how the three parts of the core of the New Zealand executive work in reality: the Cabinet collectively, ministers individually and the public service. We examine the conventional underpinnings of executive government along with the statutory overlay which provides the legal and financial parameters of government action. We also outline the wider state sector machinery and system of financial management which is also part of executive government. New Zealand has a history of strong executive power. New Zealand’s constitutional history since the 1980s has largely consisted of attempts to rein in, or ‘bridle’ executive power. The mixed-member-proportional (MMP) electoral system has probably had the most effect to date and has increased the power of Parliament, through political parties, to check the executive. But the executive is still the most powerful branch of government in New Zealand. It is at the core of New Zealand’s system of government and constitution...
eBook - ePubThe Constitution of the United Kingdom
A Contextual Analysis
- Peter Leyland(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Hart Publishing(Publisher)
...6 Government and Executive Prime Minister – Collective Cabinet Responsibility – Policy Formation – Government ‘Spin’ – Government Departments – Individual Ministerial Responsibility – Codes of Practice – The Scott Report – Freedom of Information – E-Government Europe INTRODUCTION T his chapter focuses upon the conduct of central government in the UK. First we turn to the pinnacle of government in order to assess the role of the Prime Minister (PM), the Cabinet, and the government more widely. The second part of the chapter proceeds to consider the governmental mechanisms for the implementation of policy by considering the contribution of ministers, the civil service and the emergence of a contract state. In terms of the exercise of constitutional power, it is helpful to view the UK political system as hierarchical, with the PM, and the Office at 10 Downing Street, at the apex of a triangle. At the next level we find the Cabinet Office, the departments of state, and then below this junior ministers responsible for particular policy domains. In turn, the entire machinery of government relies on a permanent civil service, which is, itself, hierarchical in structure. Once again, a central objective underpinning our discussion is to gauge how effectively the constitution in its current form is able to provide accountable government. The running of the executive branch relies heavily upon imprecise conventions (collective cabinet responsibility and individual ministerial responsibility) and informal rules rather than on enforceable constitutional laws. Between 2010 and 2019 the nation elected weak governments, lacking a decisive parliamentary majority...
eBook - ePub- Leonard Jason-Lloyd(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...3 The Executive The principal power of the executive is to be found in the Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister, who is also head of the civil service. In theory, the armed forces do not fall exclusively under the direct control of the Prime Minister since he or she must obtain the permission of the reigning monarch before deploying them on any major campaign. However, the organisation and general operation of the armed forces is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Defence who is accountable to the Cabinet under the leadership of the Prime Minister. FIGURE 6 THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE EXECUTIVE The Sovereign (or the Reigning Monarch) In this country we have a constitutional monarch who nominally heads all three aspects of our constitution. Throughout the centuries, particularly the last 300 years, the exercise of the reigning monarch's power has been divested to other persons acting on behalf of the King or Queen. But even to this day, the reigning monarch still retains certain prerogative powers which in theory at least can be exercised at will, but in practice are used only in accordance with convention. For example, the sovereign has the power to decide who will lead the government but by convention the King or Queen invites the leader of the majority party in the Commons to form a government. The sovereign also has the power personally to select his or her senior ministers, but by convention he or she accepts the advice of the Prime Minister who subsequently forms the Cabinet. The reigning monarch may also select the senior judges but in practice accepts the advice of the Lord Chancellor and Prime Minister. The Queen therefore has a considerable range of public and ceremonial duties which only she may perform as head of state. These include receiving foreign diplomats and heads of state, presiding over investitures and the award of other honours, and of course the state opening of Parliament...
eBook - ePubThe Constitution of Canada
A Contextual Analysis
- Jeremy Webber(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Hart Publishing(Publisher)
...4 The Executive Power Responsible Government – Governor General – Cabinet – Ministers – Public Service – Rule of Law – Constitutional Conventions C hapter 3 examined the role of the executive in the legislative process. Here, we explore the principles, structure, and functions of the executive itself, the branch that represents the state, directs the public service, administers public property, and conducts the day-to-day operations of government. We saw, in chapter 2, that responsible government was one of the great constitutional causes of the nineteenth century. Its achievement remains foundational to the democratic character of Canadian government. Before responsible government, control over the executive was vested in the imperial Crown. The reigning monarchs (or in the Canadian colonies, the monarchs’ representatives: the various governors) selected, appointed, instructed, and dismissed their council of ministers. With the achievement of responsible government, those ministers henceforth held office only at the will of the elected representatives of the people. This history is the reason that, formally, executive government in Canada is still monarchical but, practically, thoroughly democratic. Thus, Constitution Act 1867, section 9 still declares that the executive government of Canada is vested in ‘the Queen’. Her representatives in Canada – the Governor General for Canada and the Lieutenant Governors of the provinces – exercise her power by delegation. 1 However, in practice, executive government is exercised by the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers (the ‘Cabinet’) and their provincial counterparts. They still do so in the name of the Crown. The formal title for Cabinet is ‘Governor General in Council’ (‘Lieutenant Governor in Council’ in all provinces except Quebec). But the Queen’s representative does not even attend Cabinet...
eBook - ePubThis Realm of New Zealand
The Sovereign, the Governor-General, the Crown
- Janet McLean, Alison Quentin-Baxter(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Auckland University Press(Publisher)
...The Executive Council consists of: 3 those persons who, having been appointed to the Executive Council from among persons eligible for appointment under the Constitution Act 1986, 4 are, for the time being Our responsible advisers. The Sovereign authorises and empowers the Governor-General “from time to time in Our name and on Our behalf, to appoint… to hold office during pleasure… all such Members of the Executive Council, [and] Ministers of the Crown…” (among others) “as may be lawfully… appointed by Us”. 5 By the Letters Patent, the Sovereign establishes the executive branch of government. There is no more detailed provision in the written law. Implicit is the constitutional principle that the executive powers and functions vested in the Sovereign and delegated to the Governor-General must, as a general rule, be exercised by, or on the advice of, Ministers. Subject to any relevant law, they may act themselves or advise the Governor-General to do so, directly or through the Executive Council. In accordance with a further convention, however, Ministers act, or advise the Governor-General to act, only with the express or implied authority of the Cabinet. And, for both their own actions and their advice to the Governor-General, Ministers are collectively responsible to Parliament. That constitutional principle gives rise to another: a government may continue to govern only as long as it has the confidence of a majority in Parliament on issues of confidence and supply. In this and the following two chapters we trace this chain of constitutional authority in more detail. 3 DEFINING THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL’S POWERS AND AUTHORITIES Delegating the Sovereign’s executive authority The executive authority of New Zealand is vested in the Sovereign in right of New Zealand. In respect of New Zealand, the Queen has broadly the same kind of authority to govern as she has in respect of the United Kingdom and her other realms...
eBook - ePubDemocratic Legislative Institutions: A Comparative View
A Comparative View
- David M. Olson(Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...5 Legislative-Executive Relations In considering the relationship between the legislature and the executive, the confusion, at least in the English language, between the terms “legislature” and “parliament” is at its greatest. The two terms imply very different relationships. Since the legislative/parliamentary interaction with the executive is the single most important relationship in the policy process of democracies, the terminological confusion is all the greater and more important. The key question for legislatures concerns their independence from the executive. To what extent can a legislature act independently of the chief executive on legislation, or on constituency problems, or on any other matter? Do legislatures agree to executive proposed legislation? Can they, and do they, disagree? To what extent do legislatures initiate their own policy proposals? This chapter reviews several elements together. We begin with the chief executive, and also consider the cabinet and the administrative departments. The chief executive is usually termed prime minister in parliaments in the Westminster model, or premier in French-speaking countries, while the chief executive in dual-branch structures is termed president. Constitutional Design and Chief Executives Among democratic political systems, the distinction between the parliamentary system of Britain and a separation of powers system in the United States illustrates the two opposite ways in which democracies have structured the relationship between the executive and legislative authorities of government (Figure 5.1). Figure 5.1. Parliamentary and Presidential-Congressional Systems Dual-Branch and Unitary Designs From these two very different constitutional designs flows an important difference: the two sets of offices in a dual-branch structure are occupied by different persons, while in a parliamentary or unitary system, they are occupied by the same persons...
