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Prime Minsiter and executive - Coggle Diagram
Prime Minsiter and executive
Structure of the executive
The prime minister (at the top)
Head of the executive branch.
Appoints cabinet minsters.
Organises the structure of the executive meaning they can create, abolish or merge departments
The cabinet
This is made up of around 20 senoir figures who hold the title sectary of state as well as other senoir figures who attend meatings, but are not ministers.
The Cabinet Office aids in the delievering of policy and is headed by the cabinet sectary (the most senoir civil servant).
Lots of important policy decisons are made in cabinet.
Government departments
Each government department is responsible for a different policy area (such as transport).
Each government department is headed up by a cabinet minister and several junoir ministers who are responsible for specific areas within that policy.
Executive agencies (at the bottom)
These are semi-indepedent bodies that cary out some of the functions of governemnt departments an example of this is the DVLA which is overseen by the Department of Transport/
Main roles of the executive
Proposing legislation
The executive is the main proposer of legislation or amendments to exisitng laws.
The King's speech is read out to both the Commons and the Lords is used to set out the piroirties for he governemnt in the next year of parliament.
The governemnt has 2 mandates given to it to pass legislation.
Manifesto/election mandate
-- this is given to them to enact their policies which they pledged to enact in their manifesto.
Doctors mandate
-- this is the idea that governments could not have predicted everything that would occur during their time in office and so they have the mandate to deal with emergencies.
Proposing the budget
The budget is created by the chancellor of the exchequer in consultation with the PM and is revealed to the cabinet shortly before parliament.
Only the executive can introduce budgets.
Budget
-- this is the anual statement of the governments plans for spending and taxation, if a new govenrment comes to power they will introduce a budget even if the previous government had introduced one.
The last budget to be rejected was in 1994 and this budget rejection was the first time this happened in over 100 years.
Making policy decisions
The government must decide how to give effect to its aims for the future of the country.
Seccondary legislation
Seccondary legislation
-- these are changes made by the executive to laws.
There have been acusations that passing secondary legislation ammounts to seeking new laws into the statute book without proper scrunity by parliament.
An example of this was the 2016 scrapping of maintiance grants to students.
Can be very useful to enable the executive to amend regulations and laws that have become outdated without needing to send it through formal parliamentry procedinings.
Powers of the executive
Royal perrogative
Royal perogative
-- these are a set of powers and privallages that belong to the monarch, but are normally exercised by the PM or cabinet.
Main perrogative powers
Award honours (although the monarch still gives a few honour out) (
this is a power of patronage
).
Declare war and authorise the use of armed forces.
Sign treaties.
Take action to maintian order in case of emergancy.
Grants and withdraw passeports.
Grant legal pardons.
Appoint ministers and other senior office holders (
power of patrongage
).
There has been a small move to grant some perrogative powers to parliament.
The coalition introduced the Fixed Term Parliaments Act that determined the date of elections and enabled parliament to call an election with a 2/3rds vote (
this was repealled
).
Since the 2003 vote to send troops into Iraq and the 2013 debate on launching airstrikes in Syria, it has become a convention for government to seek parliament's consent to launch military action.
However,
governemnt has the right to bypass parliament on this as it is purely a convention
.
Initiation of legislation
The executive controls most of the parliamentry time available for legislation, with only 20 days controled by the opposition, 13 days for private member bills and a variable number of days allocated to the BBBC.
Although legisalation can start in the HoL, the important legislation starts in the HoC.
Passing legislation
If the government has a majority it can usally rely on the party whipping system and powers of patronage to pass legilisation.
Although rebellions can occur they are rare and when government has a majority it is even rarer they help defeat the government.
The governemnt has a few tools to strengthen its ability to pass legislation.
The allocation of time motion (guillotine) is a producedure that enables the govenrment to curtial debate on clauses of a bill, however it can only be used in the HoC.
The programming motion enables the executive to set out in advnace the time limts for each stage in the passage of a bill.
Since 2002 is has been possible for the govenrment to cary over legislation that was uncompleted from one session to another.
Ministerial responsibility
Individual responisbility
Individual responsibility
-- this is where each minister is accountable to their actions and the actions of their department.
This is set out in the ministerial code that is meant to hold ministers to account if brocken (it used to be convention that a minister resigned/was fired for breaking it).
Examples of individual responsibility:
Gavin Williamson's resignation after the Covid grade debacle.
Peter Mandelson resigned twice for beaches of the ministerial code.
Examples of the failure of individual responsibility:
Priti Patel refused to resign despite allegations of bullying.
Borris Johsnon refused to resign following allegations that a Tory donor paid for number ten flat refurbishments.
Collective resonsibility
Collective responsibility
-- this is the idea that a cabinet minister must publically support a govenrment decision or resign.
Examples of collective responsibility:
Robin Cook (Tony Blair's forigen sectary) resigned in opposition to the Iraq war.
Borris Johnson resigned from May's governemnt in opposition to the Brexit deal.
Execptions to ministerial responsibility
The PM can declare that a certain issue is free from ministerial responisbility and this is oftern done when the decision being made is contenous in the party and not doing so would force a string of resignations.
Example:
Collective responsibility has been waved twice (for each of the EU referndums).
In 2016, 5 cabinet ministers campaigned against the governemnts support of contuined membership of the EU.
Prime minister and the Cabinet
Factors infleuncing the appoint of ministers:
National and inter party popularity.
Big names and popular figures within the party must be placed in cabinet or they could pose a threat as a rallying point for discruntled backbenchers.
Establish PM's authority.
Many PM's will seek to further their own ideolgocial allies within the party and will attempt to sideline oppents, with 24 hourse of May becoming PM she had fired 9 senoir ministers including the Chancelor George Osborne.
Not every PM will do this however, Major kept many of the same cabinet ministers as Thatcher.
Rewarding loyal/key allies.
Many PMs will seek to reward their supporters with important positions in Cabinet, Blair did this in 2001 with the appointment of New Labour loyalist David Blunket.
Appointing potential rivals.
PMs will want to move potentially dangerous MPs into cabinet to force them to support the government, this can help support party unity as it silences potential opposition.
Brown was appointed to an unmovable position by Blair so as to prevent him from chalanging. However, Brown was also a staunch support of New Labour and a close ally (at least in the early years) of Blair.
Maintining balance between the different factiosn within the party
Governemnts act as psuedo-coalitions and to govern effectivly a PM must be willing to consider views from all parts of the party.
For example May had multiple Brexitiers within her cabinet including Borris Johnson.
Some PMs do not do this and are able to when they have a strong position as leader, this was something that happen when Borris Johnson was PM as he kept his cabinet as a close collection of allies.
Expectation of diversity
PMs are expected to ensure there are a spread of women and ethinic minority groups within positions cabinet.
Major was attacked for having a cabinet with no women in it.
Relationship between cabinet and PM
Presidential government
-- this is the idea that the executive is becoming more centralised under the PM who is acting more like a president.
Arguements that cabinet is still remains important:
Approves government decisions and therefore confers legitamacy.
The PM needs cabinet support on important issues.
Cabinet can effectivly topple a PM if it wants to e.g. Boris Johnson was forced to resign after more then 50 ministers and junoir ministers resigned in a few days.
Arguements that cabinet is not important:
Rise of sofa politics under Blair and the making of decisions in cabinet committes and bilateral meetings has killed cabinet politics.
PM has powers of patronage over cabinet.
PM controls the agend and what is discused.
Ministers are to focused on their own departements to care what anyone else is doing.
Media mainly focuses on the PM's views and there is a growing sense that the PM is seperate from cabinet with their own mandate (something Johnson claimed frequently).
Powers of cabinet and the PM.
Factors that make the PM powerful:
Controlling the dicusion within cabinet meetings, this enables them to prevent the discusion of matters they don't want discussed.
PM controls the largest party in the House of Commons, giving them voting power as well as cabinet control.
Control over the number, size and subject matter of departments.
The PM, through public perceptions of their role, can dicate party/governemnt policy.
PM provides national and interntional leadership/representation.
Power of patronage.
Cabinet reshuffles:
Enables the PM to squash rebellions by punishing disidents and rewarding loyalists.
Factors that limit the PM
PM's popularity with the country (e.g. Liz Truss) or within the party.
Size of majority.
Unity of party and government.
Personality and leadership style of the PM.
External factors.