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PMs & Executive - Coggle Diagram
3.1 The executive
- The branch of government responsible for implementing (executing) legislation
- Includes the government and civil service - centred on the PM, Cabinet and its committees
- Represents the UK abroad, manages defence and is responsible for public services, welfare benefits and the criminal justice system
- Since devolution, some functions have transferred from the core executive to devolved bodies
Main roles
- Proposing legislation
- Proposing the budget - created by the Chancellor and PM, an annual statement for for the government's plans for changes to taxation and public spending
- Making policy decisions eg introducing universal credit
Main powers
- Royal prerogative powers - signing treaties, declaring war and authorising the use of the armed forces
- Initiation of legislation - executive controls most of the parliamentary timetable available for legislation (exceptions include 20 days for opposition and 13 for private members' bills)
- Secondary legislation - law made without passing a new act of parliament, instead government uses powers created by an earlier act
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3.3 PM and the Cabinet
The Prime Minister
Roles of PM
- Appoint government ministers to cabinet
- Direct and influence government policy
- Manage the cabinet
- Organise the government eg departments
- Control parliament (having a majority in Commons)
- To provide leadership
- Have a equal say in cabinet policy discussion, but are the primary representative of the governnment
- Modern PMs can be said to more than this in practice - resembling US presidents in terms of power and influence
Powers of PM
Formal powers include:
- Appointing ministers and senior figures
- Signing treaties and granting honours
Informal powers include:
- Patronage - ability to hire and fire ministers
- Control over cabinet - PM decides meeting timetable, agenda for discussion and who sits on cabinet committees
- Party leadership - PM leads and has authority over their party
- PM's cabinet office - provide institutional support to PM, including special advisors
- Media access - PM gets considerable media exposure, media focuses on PM as 'face of the government'
Prerogative powers
- Historically belonged to the Crown, but over time have transferred to the PM or other ministers
Examples include:
- Award honours
- Declare war and use of armed forces
- Take action to maintain order in case of emergency
- Grant and withdraw passports
- Grant legal pardons
- Appoint ministers/senior office holders
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The Cabinet
- Core executive: network of individuals and groups who are involved in policy-making - usually includes PM, key cabinet members, senior officials from government departments, key MPs such as whips and advisers
Cabinet roles
- Approving policy
- Coordinating and communicating policy
- Resolving disputes and disagreements between ministers
- Debating and discussing issues
- Considering views of the party's MPs
- Promoting collective responsibility
Factors governing PM's selection of ministers
- Ability and experience
- PM's authority eg May was determined to distance herself from Cameron's cabinet
- Loyalty and allies (or potential rivals eg Blair)
- Maintaining balance between different factions in government party eg May and Brexit
- Meeting expectations of diversity
Individual ministerial responsibility
- The idea ministers are responsible for the running of their departments and its policies
- They also have responsibility for the standard of their own personal conduct
- If a minister gives inaccurate information or misleads parliament, they are expected to resign
- Collective ministerial responsibility is the convention that ministers must support all decisions of the government in public
- They are responsible to parliament and the public as a group, cabinet disagreements are resolved privately
Factors affecting PM and cabinet relationship
- Management skills of the PM - appointing and dismissing ministers
- PM's ability to set cabinet agenda - control of discussions
- Use of cabinet committees/informal groups
- Development of PM's Office and Cabinet Office
- Impact of wider political an economic situation eg after 1997 landslide election - large Labour parliamentary majority
Power of PM and cabinet
- Cabinet government - the idea power is collective and located in the cabinet - all ministers have an equal say in policy and is underpinned by collective responsibility and solidarity
- Prime-ministerial government - idea recognising growing power of PM - cabinet government has been replaced by PM power - PM makes major decisions whilst PM acts as advisers
- Core executive model - PM and cabinet exercise influence on policy, but also use their contacts to exert influence eg senior officials, committee members
- Presidentialism - idea UK PM's have effectively began to act as US presidents - head of state as well as head of government - PMs set personal policy agendas and claim a personal mandate following election success
- Sofa/kitchen politics - informal decision making in government outside of formal cabinet meetings - links to Presidentialism and Blair's PM style
- Downing Street Machine - 'executive office of the president', transference of policy-making from cabinet to Downing Street (sofa politics)