PM and Executive

What is the role of the Prime Minister

Manages Government Agenda (of Cabinet Meetings)

Manages Government Personel (power of patronage to hire/fire government ministers)

Manages Government Structure (create, abolish or emerge government)

Why do government reshuffle cabinet frequenty

To maintain authority

Give me 2 examples of cabinet committees

National Security Council

Home Affairs Committee

When did Boris Johnson Merge a Government Department

Department for International Aid and the Foreign Office

How many ministeral departments are there

24

The Treasury

Department for Transport

Department for Health and Social Care

Who is head of the Home Office Department

Suella Braverman - Secretary of State for the Home Department

Ministers of State have a responsibility for specific aspects of work for the department

• Chris Philip is the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire.

• Tom Tugenhat is the Minister for Security.

• Robert Jenrick is the Minister for Immigration.

What are Junior Ministers also known as and give examples from the Home Office Department

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Lord Murray of Blidworth

What are Executive Agencies and how many are there

semi-independent bodies run by civil servants

There are 422

Who oversees Executive Agencies

Government Departments

• Department for Transport oversees the DVLA (Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency)

How many Cabinet Members are there that receive ministerial salary

23, 22

• Greg Hands is unpaid and is a Minister without portfolio.

Can non-Cabinet members attend Cabinet meetings

YES - The Chief Whip and Leader of the House, as well as some important junior ministers.

• Robert Jenrick (Minister for Immigration) and Tom Tugenhat (Minister for Security) currently attend under Rishi Sunak.

What is Collective Ministerial Responsibility

• Cabinet ministers, and the whole government, accept collective responsibility for all decisions made by the government, which means they must either agree to defend them in public even if they disagree with them privately, or resign.

Who is head of the Cabinet Office

Cabinet Secretary - the most senior civil servant in the UK

2024-  Simon Case.

What are the Key Roles and Functions of the Cabinet

• To register and ratify decisions made elsewhere.

• To discuss and make decisions on major issues.

• To receive reports on key developments.

• To settle disputes between departments.

What are the Main Roles of the Executive

Proposing Legislation

• The government controls most of the parliamentary timetable and proposes most primary legislation.

• Most Bills proposed are from the Government Manifesto - but some are not

2023 - Illegal Migration Bill wasn’t in the Conservative Party’s Manifesto in 2019

• The Queens Speech - outlines the areas GOV intend to legislate on and the key bill they intend to introduce at the start of a parliamentary session

Boris Johnson in May 2022: focused on post-Brexit trade deals, a freedom of speech bill and ‘levelling up’ among other things.

• Law making powers on secondary legislation - can make changes to the implementation of existing laws within limits set by original legislation by passing  ‘statutory instruments’. these can be used to introduce new government policies

Statutory Instruments are used to ban new substances by adding them to a list under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Proposing a Budget

• The executive makes key decisions on economic policy and proposes a budget. 

Chancellor of the Exchequer sets out proposed levels of taxation and public spending in the budget

Chancellor of Exchequers say how they expect the economy to perform

• Budgets presented in March

Jeremy Hunt’s budget in March 2023:

• Abolished the amount workers could accumulate in pensions savings over their lifetime before paying tax, which was previously £1.07m. This was seen as only being for the benefit of the top 1%.

  • The budget also froze the fuel duty at 5p for another year

  • Extended government subsidies to reduce energy bills until the end of June

  • introduced 30 hours of free childcare for working parents in England for one and two year olds from April 2024.

  • The budget predicted the economy would shrink by 0.2% in 2023 and that inflation would fall to 2.9% by the end of 2023.

Making Policy Decisions

• PM and Cabinet set political priorities; determine political direction; make day-day decisions on Policy (important during COVID-19)

Boris Johnson’s government was focused on Brexit, tackling COVID and ‘levelling up’.

Truss sought to set the country in a Thatcherite direction in terms of economic policy, but failed.

Sunak seems to be prioritising immigration and being responsible with national finances, including bringing down inflation

what are the Main Powers of the Executive

Royal Prerogative Powers

• Traditionally belonged to the monarch but have over time been transferred to the Prime Minister and the cabinet.

• Not Statute Law but are CONVENTIONS

Control over the Legislative Agenda

• Executive Control the timetable and proposes most bills

• Rare for GOV to lose vote in Commons due to the majority they hold

Tony Blair was defeated just four times in his 10 years in office, all of which were in his third term.

• More commons when GOV has a small/no majority

2017: Theresa May was defeated thirty-three times when she had a minority government.

• GOV can use a ‘guillotine’ to end debate on a particular clause in a bill - helping to ensure that key vote take place and their legislative agenda is passed

• Since 2022: GOV can carry over uncompleted legislation from one session to another without having to start over again

• Opposition and BackBench Business Committee have limited control over parliamentary time

20 Opposition days

13 days for PMB in each parliamentary session

Secondary Legislative Powers

• Secondary Legislation: Government Ministers empowered by Primary Legislation make further changes within the scope of law after it becomes law using statutory instruments

3,500 of statutory instruments are introduced a year across all areas of government legislation

 statutory instruments are used to ban new substances by adding them to a list under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

In 2016, the government abolished maintenance grants for university students and allowed fracking in national parks in England using secondary legislation.

What are the Key Prerogative Powers

The Powers of Patronage

• PM control the appointment and dismissal of Government Ministers

• Enable PM to shape Governing Team, enforce individual and collective responsibility and exercise control over the Party

Declaring War and authorising the use of armed forces

• The executive made the decision to give £2.3 billion of military aid to Ukraine in 2022.

Power reduced as it is now a convention that Commons consent is required before enacting major military action

• Blair got parliamentary approval before invading Iraq.

• In 2013, David Cameron lost a vote on airstrikes in Syria in response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons and backed down.

• In 2018, however, Theresa May initiated very similar airstrikes in Syria to those proposed by Cameron and 2013, without asking for the consent of Parliament

Signing Treaties and negotiating with other countries

The March 2023 UK-Asia trade deal (joining the The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership - CPTPP) - signed without parliamentary consent

• Allows the Prime Minister and government to determine and conduct foreign policy.

Taking emergency actions at times of crisis

•  it was the government that organised and led the vaccine rollout in response to COVID-19.

Calling a General Election - SNAP ELECTION

• This was removed by the 2011 Fixed Term Parliaments Act, which required a vote of no confidence in the government or support from 2/3rds of MPs in order to trigger an election.

• The Fixed Term Parliaments Act was repealed by Boris Johnson’s government in 2022, though through passing the bill the The Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022

Awarding Honours

PM and Monarch have to approve these

Granting Legal Pardons

Not often in UK

Who scrutinises statutory instruments

• Select Committee On Statutory Instruments,

• Majority of Statutory instruments are made law but ministers and automatically become law - Parliamentary objection is rare

Around ⅔ of statutory instruments become law without being debated by MPs.