The Instiution Of The british Constitution

Question 1

What are the institution of the British constitution

Answer 1

•Power of the Gov
•The PM and cabinet
•The sovereignty of Parliament
•Roles of the legislature
•Opposition
•Political parties
•The monarch
•Citizens
•Judiciary
•The Police
•civil service

Question 2

The power of the Gov

Answer 2

The ‘government’ is a term given to bodies that propose laws and carry out policy

Question 3

The Prime Minister and the Cabinet

Answer 3

•The PM is the head of gov and normally the leader of largest party in the House of Commons

•Cabinet is formed of the most senior members of the gov appointed by the PM

•Four most senior members:
-Chancellor of the Exchequer
-Foreign secretary
-Home secretary
-Minister of Defence

Question 4

The sovereignty of Parliament

Answer 4

•Only Parliament can pass laws in the Uk
•Only Parliament can repeal or change laws

Question 5

The roles of the legislature

Answer 5

•The body that can pass and amend laws- done through the House of Commons and Lords
•Scottish Parliament also has the ability to pass legislation relating to Scottish manners

Question 6

The opposition

Answer 6

•‘official opposition’ given to the largest party not in the gov
•Sits opposite the gov in the House of Commons
•The role is to hold the gov to account for its action and oppose gov policies they disagree with

Question 7

Political parties

Answer 7

•Democratic system-Electorate can choose from a range of political parties
•Political party- group of people who share the same ideology and wishes to win elections to carry out ideas

Question 8

The monarch

Answer 8

•Head of state
•Signs every new act of Parliament into law and could refuse (no recent refusals) constitutional monarchy which works within the law as set out by Parliament

Question 9

Citizens

Answer 9

•Elect Maps to determine the gov through voting
•Recent growth in use of referendums enhances the power of citizens e.g. 2016 vote of leaving EU

Question 10

The Judiciary

Answer 10

•Senior Judges
•Separate to the Gov and are politically impartial
•Very difficult to remove a judge from office

Question 11

The Police

Answer 11

•In the Uk there are a number of regional police forces
•Role is to enforce law, prevention crime, gather evidence, arrest suspects

Question 12

The civil service

Answer 12

•People employed by Gov to carry out policies of Gov and advise the Gov
•Civil service is based upon 3 principles:
-Impartiality
-Anonymity
-Permanence

Question 13

Unwritten constitution

Answer 13

•There is no single written document that is called the British Constitution And there are constitutional laws and conventions

Question 14

Advantages of an unwritten constitution

Answer 14

makes changing aspects of constitutional law easy- no different that an other type of law

Question 15

Disadvantage of an unwritten constitution

Answer 15

•Gives power to the Gov of the day to make any changes
•hard to understand
•Harder to change and remove rights

Question 16

Uncodified constitution

Answer 16

Range of documents containing aspects of constitutional arrangements. (Not linked or identified as being constitutional)

Question 17

Advantages of uncodified constitution

Answer 17

•Enables change to be made easily e.g. lowering the voting age- looked in isolation from other issues such as parliamentary boundaries

Question 18

Disadvantage of uncodified constitutional

Answer 18

•Enables changes of be made piecemeal that could undermine existing constitutional rights