CHAPTER 3: THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

UK CULTURE

I. The monarch

1.    The reality

•         The Queen has to choose someone who has the support of the majority of MPs in the house of Commons to be Prime Minister. This person is the leader of the strongest party in the house of commons.

•         The Prime Minister decides who the other government minister is going to be although officially he simply advises the monarch who to choose.

•         The monarch can’t refuse the request of dissolution of Parliament when the Prime Minister wants to hold an election.

•         The Queen has almost no power at all

ü      When she opens Parliament each year the speech she makes has been written for her

ü      She cannot actually stop the government going ahead with its policies

ü      She cannot make the law

2.    The role of monarch

·        The monarch is the personal embodiment of the government of the country.

ü      People can be as critical as they like about the real government and can argue that it should be thrown out without being accused of being unpatriotic.

ü      Changing the government doesn’t threaten the stability of the country as a whole due to the clear separation between the Queen and the ministers-Mps.

•         The monarch could act as a final check on a government that was becoming dictatorial.

ü      The monarch could refuse the royal assent about passing a terribly bad and unpopular bill and the bill would not become a law

ü      It could refuse the request of dissolution the parliament of  Prime minister who had been defeated at a general election and dismiss him.

•         The monarch has a very practical role to play. As a figurehead and representing the country, Queen Elizabeth II can perform the ceremonial duties, so that the real gov has more time to spend on running the country.

II. The government

1.    The cabinet

•         The leading politicians are members of the cabinet.

•         It take decisions about

ü      new policies

ü      the implementation of existing policies

ü      the running of the various Gov. Departments

•         Cabinet office helps run the complex machinery of a modern gov.

ü      It draws up the agendas for cabinet meetings.

ü      It runs a busy communication network, keeping minister in touch w each other.

•         Cabinet committees are appointed by the cabinet

ü      Members are not necessarily politicians.

ü      It look into various matters in more details

2.    The Prime Minister (PM)

v     The PM appears not to have much power but in reality has a very great deal indeed.

v     PM is more powerful than the other minister because of 3 following reasons:

•         1st : PM has power of patronage to appoint people to all kind of gov. jobs & to confer honours to people.

ü      PM changes the cabinet quite often- at least once every 2 years

ü      A few cabinet members are dropped or brought in

ü      Existing members are shifted around

•         2nd : PM Has the power of public image. Everybody can recognize the Prime Minister thanks to his constant appearing on TV and in newspaper.

•         3rd: PM is not busy on looking after his gov. department like other ministers so  he has time to think about and discuss gov. policy as a whole.

ü      The cabinet is directly under the PM’s control so that the PM knows more about what is going on than the others.

ü      The PM decides what matters is discussed. The rest of the gov has to go along w whatever the PM has decided.

3.    Central and local government

•         Local gov authorities only have powers because the central gov has given them powers.

•         The local government has similar system of national government:

ü      Elected representatives are called councilors, the equivalent of MPs.

ü      They meet in council chamber in the Town Hall or County Hall, the equivalent of Parliament.

ü      Policy is implemented by local Government officers, equivalent of Civil Servants.

·        Most people have far more direct dealings with local Gov. Local councils:

ü      manage nearly all public services.

ü      employ 3 times as many people as the central gov. does.

ü      are fairly free from constant central interference in their day to day work.

•         There is greater & greater control by Central Government:

ü      Local Government authorities (= councils) only have powers given by the Central Government.

ü      The way local Gov. raises money is controlled by Central Gov.

ü      There are more laws governing the way councils can conduct their affairs.

•         Local Government are allowed to collect 1 kind of tax based on property:

ü      It used to be called “rates” depending on size and location of property.

ü      Early 1990s, it was replaced by “Community charge” = “poll tax” ( the same to everyone in the area).

ü      Then, it was replaced by “Council tax” based on the estimated value of property and the number of people living in it.

•         Recent Gov have imposed upper limits on the amount of council tax that council can charge and they now collect taxes on business properties themselves.

•         Over half of local council’s income is given to Central Government.

•         Local councils are unable to have enough money to provide the services the Central Gov. has told them to do

III/ PARLIAMENT:

Definition: The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly referred to as the British Parliament) is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories, located in London. Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. At its head is the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II. (cái này lấy từ wiki, đọc cho hiểu thôi:D)

The roles of Parliament:

·        Making new laws

·        Giving authority for the Gov to raise and spend money

·        Keeping a close eye on Gov activities and discussing those activities

The British Parliament is divided into two ‘houses’:

·        House of Lords: its members are known as ‘peers’

·        House of commons: only members of the Commons are known as MPs= members of Parliament. The Commons is by far the more important of the two houses.

The British Parliament works in a large building called the Palace of Westminster (popular known as ‘the House of Parliament’). This contains offices, committee rooms, restaurants, bars, libraries and even some places of residence. It also contains two larger rooms:

Lords’ Chamber: where the House of Lords meets

Commons’ Chamber: where the House of Commons meets.

Note: Từ phần ‘the atmosphere of P -> Party system  in Parliament’ đều là nội dung của The House of Commons hết. Mình nghĩ cô k đọc kĩ bài nên mới giới hạn thành thế này:House of Lords- House of Commons- Atmosphere of Parliament. Nên phần atmosphere mình sẽ cho vào phần Commons luôn, còn các phần: Mp’s life, parliament business, party system thì các bạn có thể bỏ qua(phần này khá nhảm và có vẻ cô cũng k có ý ra vào các mục này)

1/ The house of Commons:

1.1   Seating arrangements:

Like other furnishing in the Commons side in the Palace, the meeting room is coloured green.

1.      Left: Government benches: where the MPs of the Gov party sit

2.     

On the right: Opposition benches

(According to where they sit, MPs are seen to be either ‘for’ the Gov or against it)

3.      Speaker’s chair: controls the debates

4.      Galleries for visitors

5.      Press gallery

There is no ‘cross-benches’ for MPs who belong neither to the Gov party nor the main opposition party. In practice, these MPs sit on the opposite benches the furthest from the speaker chair.

1.2   The Common has no ‘front’: no obvious place from which an MP can address everyone there

1.3   There are no desks for MPs- as in the church

1.4   The house is very small:

In practice, there are more than 650 MPs but there is seating for less than 400.

A candidate at an election is said to have won a ‘seat’ in the Common-this seat is imaginary. MPs do not have their own seat. They just sit down whatever they can find room

1.5   Informal atmosphere

Individual MPs, without their own ‘territory’ are encouraged to co-operate.

MPs normally speak in conversation tone, and not speak very long either.

Only on particularly important occasions, when all the MPs are present, that oratory is sometimes used.

1.6   The deliberate

·In medieval times, the Commons met in the Church with rows of benches facing each other. But after the House was badly damaged by bombing in 1941, it was deliberately rebuit to the old pattern<- because of the belief in the two-way ‘for-and-against’ tradition + more general desire for continuity.

·The House preserved many ancient habits in many customs and detailed ruled of procedure which all new MPs find that they have to learn.

Ø      Forbid MPs to address one another directly or use personal names

Ø      All remarks and questions must go ‘through the chair’

Ø      Ex: ‘the honorable Member for Winchester’ or ‘my right honourable friend’ instead of ‘you’

·To decrease the possibility that the violence might break out, The House appreciates the touch of formality and increases the feeling of Mps that they belong to a special group.

2/ The house of Lords

-Unique feature of the British Parlimentary system is hereditary element:

Unlike MPs, peers-members of House of Lords are not elected. They are members as of right. Some of them have this ‘right’ as the result of their being the holder of an inherited aristocratic title.

-the House of Lords has little real power

·        All proposals must have the agreement of the Lords to become law.

·        But the power of the Lords to refuse a proposal for a law which has been agreed by the Commons is now limited. After a period of 6 months, the proposal becomes law anyway, whether the Lords agree or not

-Life Peerages Act 1958

The composition of the Lords has changed since 1985, when it became possible to award ‘life peerages’ through the honor system. Life Peerages Act 1958 established the modern standards for the creation of life peerages.

Life peers are members of the House of Lords for life, but their titles and membership in the Lords are not inherited by their children. The life peerage system has established itself as a mean to finding a place in public life for retired politicians who may no longer to be a busy as MPs in the Commons, but who still wish to voice their opinion in a public forum.

This practice has become known as being ‘kicked upstairs’. As the result of life peerage system there are more than 300 ppl in the House of Lords who are not aristocrats and expertise in political life.

ROLES OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS

The modern House of Lords is a forum for public discussion because:

·        Its members do not depend on party politics, it is sometimes able to bring important matters that the Commons has ignored into the open.

·        It is the palace where proposals for new laws are discussed in great detail

·        The Lords keep a check on the Government from becoming too dictatorial.

IV. ELECTION:(time, place, terms)

v     Special terms:

Constituency: area of roundly equal population(about 90,000)

Polling day: the day of election

Ballot paper: a single piece of paper with the names of candidates for that constituency (only) on it.

Returning Officer: the person responsible for the conduct of the election in each constituency

Marginal(n): constituency where only a smart shift on voting behavour from last time could change the result.

1.      The system: The “first-past-the-post” system(bầu cử theo đa số phiếu)

The country is divided into constituencies.Anyone who want to be an MP must  declare himself as a candidate in one of these constituencies. On polling day, votes go to polling stations and are each given the ballot paper. Each voter then put a cross next to the name of ONE candidate. After the polls have closed, the ballot papers are counted. The candidate with the largest number of crosses next to his/her name is the winner and become the MP for the constituency.

There is no preferential voting: if a voter chooses more than 1 candidate, that ballot paper is spoiled and is not counted

There is no counting of the propotion of votes for each party: all votes cast for losing candidates are simply ignored.

There is no extra allocation of seats in parliament according to party strengths.

Time: the Gov decides when to hold an election. The law says that an election has to take place at least every 5 years. However, the interval between elections is usually a bit shorter than this. Ex: the Labour Gov called the 2001 election after only 4 years. When a party has a very small majority in the House of Commons or no majority at all, the interval can be much shorter.

After the date of election has been set, people who want to be the candidates have to deposit 500 pounce with the Returning Officer. They get their money back if they get 5% of the votes or more. The law allows candidates, if they wish, to include a short ‘political description’ of themselves on the ballot paper. In fact, most of these description simly state ‘Conservative’, ‘labour’ or ‘Liberal Democrat’. But they can actually say anything that a candidate wants them to say.

To be eligible to vote, a person must be at least 18 and be on the electoral register. Nobody is obliged to vote.

2.      The campaign:

British elections are comparatively quiet affairs. There is no tradition of large rallies of parades as there is in the US. However, because of the intense coverage by media, it is easy to realize that an election was about to take place.

The real campaign takes place at a national level.

·        The parties spend millions of pounds advertising on hoardings and in newspapers.

·        By agreement, they don’t buy time on TV as they do in the US. The candidates are each given a number of strictly timed “party election broadcasts”

·        Each party also holds a daily televised news conference.

All of this puts the emphasis on the national party personalities rather than on local candidates. Only in the marginal, the quantities of an individual candidate might affect the outcome

FORMALLY

REALITY

-         The candidates themselves hold meetings

Few people attend  candidates’ meeting

Local party workers spend their time canvassing

In many case, candidates can not meet most voters, however energetically they go from door to door

Local newspapers give coverage to the candidates

Most people do not read local newspapers

Any attempt to influence voters improperly is outlawed

Nearly everybody votes for a candidate on the basic of the party which he or she represents.

3.      Polling day:

General elections always take place on a Thursday. Polling station are open from 7 a.m to 10 p.m

After being ticked off on the electoral register, the voter is given a ballot paper.

Elections on the British mainland are always fairly conducted but Northern Ireland is a rather different story. There, the political tensions of so many years have had a negative effect on democratic procedure.

After the polls close, the marked ballot papers are taken to a central place in the constituency and counted. The Returning officer then makes a public announcement of the vote cast for each candidate and declares the winner to be the MP for the constituency.

4.      Election night:

The race to declare results among TV channels (BBC and ITV) as well asamong consituencies.

•         The race of declare is a matter of local pride for some constituencies to be the first to announce their result. After 11.00 p.m, results can be declared if the count has gone smoothly.By midnight, based on some declared results, experts will be predicting relatively exactly about the new elected House of Commons

•         By 2.00 a.m., at least half of constituencies will have declared results. Experts will confidently make predictions which party will have a majority in the House of Commons, which party leader is going to be the prime Minister.

•         Some constituencies, however, cannot declare results untilFriday afternoon.This is either because they are very rural (Scotland or Northern Ireland) or because the race has been so close that one or more ‘recounts’ are necessary.

•          The recount is the ironies (sự mỉa mai) of British system. The record number of recounts is 7 with only 1 ballot margin.

5.      Recent results and future:

Since the middle of 20th century, the election has been the straight fight between the Labour party and the Conservative party.

·        The north of England and most of the inner areas of English cities return Labour MPs to Westminster

·        The south of England and most area outside the inner cities have a Conservative MP.

·        Scotland now supports for Labour

·        Wales has always returned mostly Labour MP

From 1945 to 1987 : in13 elections, the Labour party won 6 times. The Conservative party won 7 times.

In 1992, the Conservative won 4th in a row- the first time for more than 160 years.

In 1997, the Labour won dramatically the largest majority achieved by any parties for 73 years. The vote for the Conservative was lowest in their 165 years.

ð     Voting habits are no longer tribal. There was a time when most working-class voted Labour all their lives and nearly all middle-class people voted Conservative all their lives. The winning party was the one who managed to get support of the small number of ‘floating voters’. But Labour has now got rid of its trade-union image. It is capable of winning as many as middle-class votes as the -Conservatives, so that the middle-class majority in population does not automatically mean s Conservative majority in the Common House.