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1. •United Kingdom is ruled by frame of constitutional monarchy, where Monarch
(King) is head of state and PM of the United Kingdom is head of government.
•Executive power is executed by His Majesty's Government, on interest of and by
approval of Monarch and also by devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales,
and Northern Ireland Executive.
•Legislative power is vested in two chambers of Parliament of the United
Kingdom, House of Commons and House of Lords and also in Scottish
parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies.
•Judiciary is independent of executive and legislature.
•Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is highest national court.
OVERVIEW OF THE UNITED KINGDOM'S
POLITICAL SYSTEM

2. OVERVIEW OF THE UNITED KINGDOM'S
POLITICAL SYSTEM - CONT.
•British political system is multi-party system.
•Since the 1920s, UK's two main political parties have been Conservative Party
and Labour Party.
•Prior to rise of Labour Party in British politics, Liberal Party was other major
political party alongside Conservatives.
•Although coalition and minority governments have been frequently occurring
feature in parliamentary politics, plurality electoral system used for general
elections tends to retain dominance of these two parties, but both have in the past
century been dependent on a third, minor party to deliver working majority in
Parliament.

3. •Government: Unitary parliamentary constitutional
monarchy
•Monarch: King Charles
•Prime Minister: Rishi Sunak MP
•Legislature: Parliament
•Upper house: House of Lords
•Lower house: House of Commons
GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

4. THE UNITED KINGDOM GOVERNMENT
 The Monarch appoints a Prime Minister
as the head of His Majesty's Government
in the United Kingdom, guided by a strict
convention that the Prime Minister should
be the member of the House of Commons
most likely to be able to form a
Government with the support of that
house. In practice, this means that the
leader of the political party with an
absolute majority of seats in the House of
Commons is chosen to be Prime Minister.

5. The United Kingdom Government
 If no party has an absolute majority, the
leader of the largest party is given the first
opportunity to form a coalition. The Prime
Minister then selects the other Ministers
which make up the Government and act as
political heads .
 About the twenty of most senior
government ministers make up the Cabinet
and approximately 100 ministers in total
comprise of the government.

6. PARLIAMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
 Supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies
and British overseas territories
 Located in Westminster, London.
 Parliament alone executes legislative supremacy, thus ultimate power above all
other political bodies in the UK and its territories.
 Its head is the Sovereign, King Charles.
 Bicameral parliament, with upper house, House of Lords, and lower house, House
of Commons.
 King is third constituent of legislature.
 House of Lords includes two different types of members: Lords Spiritual (senior
bishops of Church of England) and Lords Temporal (members of Peerage) whose
members are elected not by population at large, but rather are nominated by
Sovereign on advice of PM.
 Prior to opening of Supreme Court in October 2009, House of Lords carried out
judicial role through Law Lords.
 House of Commons is democratically elected chamber with elections held at least
every five years; two houses convene in separate chambers in Palace of Westminster
(commonly called Houses of Parliament) in London.
 By constitutional convention, every government minister, which includes PM, are
members of the House of Commons, or less often, House of Lords; are thus
answerable to respective branches of legislature.
.

7. •Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 after approval of Treaty of Union by both Parliament of
England and Parliament of Scotland passing Acts of Union.
•However, in practice, parliament was continuation of English parliament with supplement of English
parliament with supplement of Scottish MPs and peers.
•Parliament was further expanded by approval by Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland
of Act of Union (1800), which ended Irish Parliament; 100 Irish members were added to Commons and 32
to Lord to create Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
•Has been referred to as "the mother of parliaments", its democratic institutions having set criterions
throughout the world, and UK parliament is biggest Anglophone legislative body in the world.
•However, John Bright, who coined this term, used it in allusion to England, not to her parliament.
•Theoretically, supreme legislative power lays in Queen-in-Parliament; in practice in modern times, real
power lays in House of Commons, as Sovereign usually acts on advice of PM, restricting powers of
House of Lords.
PARLIAMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM -
CONT.

8.  Theoretically, the Prime Minister is "first among
equals'' among his/her Cabinet colleagues.
 While the Prime Minister is the senior Cabinet
Minister, she/he is theoretically bound to make
executive decisions in a collective fashion with
the other Cabinet ministers.
 The Cabinet along with PM, consists of
Secretaries of State from the various government
departments, the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord
Privy Seal, the President of the Board of Trade,
The Chancellor of the Duchy Minister and
Minister without portfolio.

9.  The Prime Minister is the most senior minister
in the Cabinet. She/he is responsible for chairing
Cabinet meetings, selecting Cabinet ministers (and
all other positions in His Majesty's government), and
formulating government policy.
 The Prime Minister is the de facto leader of the
UK government, since s/he exercises executive
functions that are nominally vested in the
sovereign (by way of the Royal Prerogatives).
Historically, the British monarch was the sole
source of executive powers in the government.

10.  The Government of the United Kingdom contains
a number of Ministries known mainly,
though not exclusively as departments, e.g.,
Ministry of Defence. These are politically led by a
Government Minister who is often a Secretary of
State and member of the Cabinet. He or she may
also be supported by a number of junior Ministers.
In practice, several government departments and
Ministers have responsibilities that cover England
alone, with devolved bodies having responsibilities
for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

11. Devolved national administrations
Northern Ireland Executive
The Northern Ireland Executive and
Assembly have powers closer to those
already devolved to Scotland. The Northern
Ireland Executive is led by a diarchy.

12. Devolved national administrations
Welsh Government
The Welsh Government and the National
Assembly for Wales have more limited
powers than those devolved to Scotland,
although following the passing of the
Government of Wales Act 2006 and the
Welsh Devolution Referendum, the
Assembly can now legislate in some
areas through an Act of the National
Assembly for Wales.

13. Devolved nation administrations
The Scottish Parliament nominates a Member to be
appointed as First Minister by the King. The First
Minister then appoints his Ministers (now known as
Cabinet Secretaries) and junior Ministers, subject to
approval by the Parliament. The First Minister, the
Ministers (but not junior minister), the Lord
Advocate and Solicitor General are the Members of
the 'Scottish Executive', as set out in the Scotland
Act 1998.They are collectively known as "the
Scottish Ministers".

14. Scottish Government
The Scottish Government is responsible for all issues
that are not explicitly reserved to the United Kingdom
Parliament at Westminster by the Scotland Act;
including NHS Scotland,education, justice, rural
affairs, and transport.
It manages an annual budget of more than £25
billion. The government is led by the First
Minister, assisted by various Ministers with
individual portfolios and remits.
Devolved national administrations

15. HOUSE OF LORDS
• Upper house of UK's parliament.
• Like the House of Commons, it meets in Palace of Westminster.
• Independent from, and models work of, House of Commons; Lords share liability for making
laws and checking government action.
• Bills can be introduced into either House of Lords or House of Commons; members of the
Lords may also take on positions as Government Ministers.
• Has its own support services; these are separate from Commons, including House of Lords
Library.
• Unlike elected House of Commons, most new House of Lords members are nominated;
membership in House of Lords comprises Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal.
• 26 Lords Spiritual currently sit in Lords by merit of ecclesiastic role in established Church of
England.
• Lords Temporal makes up remainder of membership, of whom most are life peers who are
nominated by Monarch on advice of PM, or on advice of House of Lords Appointments
Commission.
• Membership was once right of birth to hereditary peers, but after a series of reforms, only 92
members (as of 1July 2011) sitting by merit of hereditary peerage are left.
• Number of members is not fixed; House of Lords has 781 members as of 20 sept. 2023,
unlike House of Commons, which has fixed membership of 650 seats.

16. • Coeval of role of House of Lords is mainly to act as body of specialist knowledge that critically
evaluates in bigger detail bills that have been confirmed by House of Commons.
• Frequently surveys and reforms bills from Commons.
• While House of Lords is unable unilaterally to keep bills from passing into law (excluding specific limited
circumstances), its members can severely postpone bills that they believe are mistaken and therefore force
government, Commons, and general public to rethink their choices.
• In this capacity, Lords act as constitutional safeguard that does not rely on electoral process and that can
challenge the will of the public when majority's wishes endangers constitutional principles, human rights or
rules of law.
• In other nations, this position would be executed by Constitutional or Supreme Court, but British system's
importance on parliamentary sovereignty - instead of judicial review - means that this role cannot be properly
achieved by British court system as alljudicial decrees can be rejected by parliament.
• Speech from the throne, frequently known as Queen's Speech, is delivered from House of Lords during State
Opening of Parliament.
• The House additionally has a minor Church of England role in that through Lords Spiritual, Church
Measures must be tabled within House.
HOUSE OF LORDS - CONT.

17. HOUSE OF COMMONS
• Lower house of Parliament of the United Kingdom
which, like House of Lords (upper house) convenes in
Palace of Westminster.
• Commons is democratically elected body comprising
of 650 members known as MPs.
• Members are elected to represent constituencies by
first-past-the-post, holding their seats until Parliament is
dissolved.
• House Commons of England developed at some point
in England during 14th century and became House of
Commons of Great Britain following 1707 political union
with Scotland and of United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland following political union with Ireland prior to taking
its current title after independence was granted to Irish Free
State in 1922.
• Under Parliament Act 1911, Lords' power to
dismisslegislation was decreased to delaying power.
• Government is mainly liable to House of Commons
and PM remains in office as long as he/ she maintains its
endorsement.

18. POLITICAL PARTIES
There are two main parties in the United
Kingdom: the Conservative Party, and the
Labour Party. There is also a significant third
party, the Liberal Democrats.
The modern Conservative Party was founded
in 1834 and is an outgrowth of the Tory
movement or party, which began in 1678.
Today it is still colloquially referred to as the
Tory Party and its members as Tories.

19. COURTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
• The court system in England and
Wales consists of 5 levels:

20. SUPREME COURT (FORMERLY THE
HOUSE OF LORDS)
• In 2009 the Supreme Court replaced the House of Lords
as the highest court in England, Wales and Northern
Ireland.
• The Supreme Court hears appeals from the Court of
Appeal and the High Court.
• It also hears appeals from the Inner House of the Court of
Session in Scotland.
• Appeals are normally heard by 5 Justices, but there can
be as many as 9.

21. COURT OF APPEAL
• The Court of Appeal consists of two divisions: the Criminal
Division and the Civil Decision.
• Decisions of the Court of Appeal may be appealed to the Supreme
Court.
Civil Division Criminal Division
The Civil Division of the Court of
Appeal hears appeals
concerning civil law and family
justice from the High Court, from
Tribunals, and certain cases from
the County Courts.
The Criminal Division of the
Court of Appeal hears appeals
from the Crown Court.

23. COMPARISON BETWEEN INDIA AND
BRITISH
Indian
Constitution
British
Constitution
Written Unwritten
Federal Unitary
Power is divided
between Centre
and states
Power is the with
the Centre
No
Monarchy/Republic
Has King/Queen
British
Monarch
Indian President
Position of the
King is
hereditary
Elected
King enjoys
absolute
immunity; it’s
said that King
can do no wrong
In India the President can be
impeached for violation of
the Constitution
King has no
discretionary
powers. He is
known as
‘Golden Zero’
In India there was a lack of
clarity w.r.t. the Indian
President. There was
confusion whether he has
any discretionary power or is
merely a rubber stamp.
• 24th Amendment clarifies
that he doesn’t have any
discretionary powers. Real
power lies with the PM, while
the President is merely a
‘rubber stamp’.
• 44th Amendment Act again
changed the stand, providing
some scope for Presidential
discretion. He could now