1. Government
★The system of government of the United Kingdom is constitutional monarchy. ★The Central Government
Monarch (non-political) Formal Head of State and Commonwealth Legislature立法机构 Parliament 议会 Executive 行政部门 The Administration headed by the Prime Judiciary 司法系统 (non-political) House of Lords /Upper House上院 (semi-political) House of Commons /Lower House下院 (political) Minister首相 The nucleus of the government—the Cabinet 内阁headed by Prime Minister under whose direction are those political heads of various Government Departments (political) The government is staffed by Civil Service 文职公务员系统 House of Lords is the highest court. Headed by 695 Seats 659 Seats Chaired by Lord Chancellor 上议院院长兼大法官 Before reform: Lord Chancellor who is also the head of the House of Lords Chaired by Speaker 下议院议长 Elected Members of Parliament—MPs (non-political)
A. The Monarch
The Queen is official head of Parliament, Supreme Governor of the Anglican Church, fountain of justice, fountain of honor, and living symbol of national unity. The Queen has the power to:
Summon, prorogue闭会and dissolve解散parliament (normally done at the request of the Prime Minister);
Give royal agreement to bills passed by parliament before become laws; Pardon those convicted of crimes (on ministerial advice)—fountain of justice; Have personal immunity豁免权from civil民事or criminal刑事proceedings which does not extend to other members of the royal family;
Confer peerages, knighthood, and other honors—fountain of honor, upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister;
Appoint and dismiss government, military, and church senior officials; Conclude treaties, declare war, make peace, and recognize foreign states and governments, to whom foreign diplomatic representatives present their credentials国书;
Appoint the Prime Minister when no party has a majority or when the party with a majority has no recognized leader. By convention the sovereign invites the leader of the party which commands a majority in the House of Commons to form a government.
B. Parliament is the nation’s supreme legislative body. British Parliament—the House of Lords (the Upper House) the House of Commons (the Lower House)
All members of the Parliament are considered as servants of the monarch. The Parliament has the power to:
Make, unmake, or change any law;
Determine the revenue and expenditures of the government; Vote taxation and grant funds for public works;
English Parliament has no say in concluding treaties with, declaring war against and making peace with other countries. The monarch has the power. But the Parliament is trying very hard to get this power from the Queen.
The term of each Parliament is five years which is divided into five sessions, each lasting one year. The opening ceremonial of Parliament is known as the State Opening of Parliament. As Head of State the Queen presides over the State Opening of Parliament. This usually takes place each November when Parliament reopens after the summer break for the next session. It is a very colorful occasion as the Queen and members of the House of Lords are dressed in their ceremonial robes. The Queen reads a speech which outlines the policies and main bills that the government intends to introduce during the Parliamentary Session.
When the Parliament is having a meeting, it is said to be in “session”. Adjournments休会mean the time for members of Parliament to take a rest during the session, such as at night, at weekends, and on public holidays. The ending of each session is known as prorogation闭会.An adjournment does not affect the uncompleted debate which can go on again at the next meeting. But prorogation puts an end to all parliamentary business of the last session. Bills not accepted are automatically dismissed, or lapse失效. They must be reintroduced when the next session starts if their supporters refuse to give them up. It is not easy to reintroduce a dismissed bill. So prorogations can help table搁置
controversial motions which cannot clear Parliament after a long debate a. The House of Lords
Chairman—Lord Chancellor上院议长/大法官
The Upper House enjoys a limited veto. A bill passed by the Lower House has to go to the Upper House for its approval before it is signed into law by the Queen. But it cannot prevent for more than a year a bill from passing into law.
The Lords get no pay for their work in Parliament. But they are offered a small allowance when they attend the meeting.
A lord is not allowed to join any political party which means he can never become the Prime Minister unless he gives up his noble title.
In 2001, the House was in process of being reformed. Its members were reduced to 695 Lords in that year. Its powers are to remain largely unchanged, but its composition is to be radically altered.
Religious representation will longer be limited to Church of England Bishops, but will include representatives of other Christian denominations and of non-Christian religions.
The 750 Hereditary Peers世袭贵族,头衔可世袭or Peeresses who have inherited their titles are no longer automatically members of the chamber. For a transition period, they have been allowed to elect 92 of their number to provide continuity and experience until the new system is established. They will then have no right to sit in the House.
The 503 Life Peers终身贵族,头衔不可世袭who have been appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister may continue to sit in the House. New members of the House of Lords will be chosen with the aim of ensuring as far
as possible that the House represents a cross-section横截面, 多样性of British society. Some will be elected by the general public, probably on a regional basis. Others will be appointed according to certain established criteria upon the recommendations of an independent Appointments Commission.
Further reform measures will be taken in the following years. b. The House of Commons
Chairman—Speaker下议院议长, elected by the Commons. When he retires, he usually becomes a peer.
All members are elected by the voters.
Distribution of its seats is based on the population of constituencies. The House of
Commons now consists of 659 seats. 529 seats go to England, 72 go to Scotland, 40 go to Wales and 18 seats go to Northern Ireland.
Most of the power in Parliament is in the House of Commons.
An MP does not necessarily have to vote the same way as his party proposes but can use his own judgment and conscience. However, if he/she votes against his/her own party, he/she may in turn lose his/her party’s support. MPs vote by going into “lobbies”, corridors outside the chamber, one for “aye” and one for “no” votes where they are counted. An MP’s vote is recorded so that anybody can know which way an MP voted on any particular issue. After the votes are counted the results are announced in the chamber. The Speaker is the person who keeps order in the House of Commons and makes sure that the rules of the House are obeyed by all the MPs. The Speaker is elected by the MPs themselves and is a person who is respected and known to have integrity. Having once been elected he/she can remain in office for life. The Speaker has an important function to maintain the principle of the freedom of speech of the elected representatives of the
people. In order to do this he/she has to be completely impartial不偏不倚的and uninvolved in the party politics of the House. His/her function is to make sure that the rules of the House are obeyed by all MPs, that the business of the day is carried out and that all voices are heard and all viewpoints allowed to be expressed. Therefore he/she allocates the time during debates so that any MP may be given the opportunity to speak, that abusive language is not used and that quarrelling does not break out. When debates become loud and boisterous吵闹的, the Speaker shouts out “Order, order” until the house calms down and individual voices can be heard. Whilst the Speaker cannot vote in the House, he/she continues with constituency work as an elected MP outside the House of Commons.
C. Cabinet & Civil Service
★The nucleus of the government is the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister
The nucleus of the government is the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister. It consists of the chiefs of the most important ministries and departments. The Prime Minister decides the composition of the Cabinet. But the Minister of Defense, the Foreign Secretary and the Chancellor of the Exchequer are certain members of the Cabinet. Ministers are not allowed to hold any positions in private and public companies. The government is checked by Parliament. Most of the important bills under debate in Parliament originate in the Cabinet. All its policies must first be approved by Parliament before they can be carried out. And Policies proposed by the Cabinet can often win the approval of Parliament. Parliament can refuse to vote the money demanded by the government. Parliament supervises the work of the government and criticizes its mismanagement of public affairs. The practice is in keeping with the belief that a democracy cannot survive without criticism. The Parliament can topple推翻the
government by rounding up enough votes to pass a “no confidence” motion. The Cabinet meets in private once or twice a week in the Prime Minister’s official residence, No.10 Downing Street, London. The Cabinet practices collective responsibility which means the Cabinet members must act unanimously on all matters. If a Cabinet member refuses to accept the collective decision, he has to resign his position. Civil servants are government employees. Their duty is to do the daily routine work under the direction of their superiors. Civil servants working at the top level are usually granted the same pay regardless of their different background and duties. To enter at the higher levels of the civil service you have to pass a rigorous civil service exam. Those who enter at the lower levels of service can get promoted to these higher positions. At lower levels, it is the norm to take into account other factors, such as seniority, working conditions and special demands of their different work.
To ensure political impartiality, higher-level civil servants are barred from national political activities. They cannot seek to be elected to Parliament unless they resign their present position. It is for this reason that higher-level civil servants are known as the “politically restricted”. But lower-level civil servants, known as the “politically free”, can take part in any political activity. 2. Party Politics
★Politics in Britain is based on the two-party system. ★The two major parties—the Conservative Party the Labor Party
It can be said that the higher one goes up the social and economic class, the more likely he is to vote for the Conservative Party. The basic doctrine of the Conservative Party is:
To support free enterprise and privatization of state-owned business. To strengthen competition by reducing government intervention. To reduce the influence of trade unions.
To cut back expenditure on the social welfare program.
The policies of the Conservative Party are characterized by pragmatism实用主义and the belief in individualism.
The Labor Party is said to represent the relatively poor and the underprivileged. The basic doctrine of the Labor Party is: To promote national and communal growth. To advocate class co-operation.
To support nationalization of big enterprises. To reduce military expenditure. To support expansion of social-welfare.
The beliefs of the parties might be better described as “attitudes” rather than “doctrines”. They often depart from some of the policies they have advocated during the election campaign. Once in power, party leaders often find that their rhetoric雄辩cannot match up to the reality, so in fact they have to be pragmatic. The parties might be expected to respond to continuously changing social and economic circumstances. There are now three main parties in Britain, though only two of these have a real chance of forming a government. The third party is the Social & Liberal Democratic Party, better known as the Liberal Democrats.
Other smaller parties are the Scottish Nationalists and Welsh Nationalists, Sinn Fein (the Irish Nationalist Party who want to merge Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland) and the Ulster Unionists (who want Northern Ireland to remain as part of the
UK), as well as very small parties such as the right-wing National Front民族阵线and the left-wing Communist Party. The Ecology Party (commonly called “the Greens”) is a recent party, established in 1974 as a result of increasing scientific knowledge and anxiety about pollution and its effect upon the environment.
Members of Parliament are elected at nationwide general/universal elections held
every 5 years.
The UK is divided into 659 (now) electoral districts (constituencies); each
constituency is to elect one Member of Parliament.
Every man and woman aged 18 or over has the right to vote. Each voter can vote
for 1 candidate.
Voting is not compulsory.
The party which gets the majority seats in Parliament wins the election and its
leader is appointed Prime Minister who is empowered to form a new government for the next 5 years.
The party which loses the election has to assume the role of the opposition party
which can only form its “shadow cabinet”.
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