The UK government has significant power and resources at its disposal but is subject to various checks and balances. Key checks include devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; the House of Lords ability to challenge legislation; public opinion and dissent expressed through protests and strikes; influence of interest groups, media, and social and policy networks; the UK's membership in the EU which can override domestic law; and dependence on maintaining electoral support. Ultimately no government has total power in the UK system and are constrained by these internal and external forces.

1. Martin Dorchester: Think piece govt power
In the UK political system, there are few checks and balances on the power of the
Government to do what it wants’.
“Government in the UK is predicated upon the rule of law and parliament has the
unfettered right to make law.” (Heffernan, 2005) As such the UK government retains
significant resources in terms of legitimacy, law making, and control of force, the
state infrastructure and revenue raising powers. Central power is not total power and
a variety of checks and balances exist to limit government power: devolution, local
and regional authorities, globalisation, public opinion, the media, the European
Union, the market economy, other political parties, Interest groups and the collegiate
nature of UK politics. These checks and balances will be discussed in greater detail in
the following paper as will the power of the Prime Minister in the UK.
The UK is a union state comprising England, Wales, Scotland and since 1922
Northern Ireland (Heffernan, 2005). A key feature of the political governance of the
UK has been its evolution rather than revolution and within that the role played by a
central authority. The UK political system can be described as a centralised and
unitary state, with an accountable and democratic government elected using a single
member plurality system that leads to a majoritarian democracy. This creates a strong
government, gives sovereignty to Parliament, legitimises it and gives it authority in a
democratic manner. The UK though has an asymmetrical bicameral party system so
the House of Commons can be in part checked by the power of the House of Lords.
The government of the day can be checked by its own legislature, as the legislature
may not always support the government: “it should not be seen as a toothless
tiger.”(Heffernan, 2005) and the reality is that the legislature provides the executive,
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2. Martin Dorchester: Think piece govt power
therefore it is incumbent on the executive to lead rather than command as: “the
executive does not have a secure tenure in office because it can be removed at any
time”.
A check on the power of the government is devolution and the moves to transform the
UK into a decentralised unitary state (Heffernan, 2005). Westminster has over time
devolved a variety of functions to the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for
Wales and the Northern Irish Assembly. The UK government still retains control
over a number of functions such as: the constitution, foreign affairs, defence and
economic policy but a crucial point here is that a number of the core elements that
underpin a democracy are coming into play. Scotland is currently governed by the
SNP, democratically elected, therefore granted legitimacy and in some areas
sovereignty and authority. All three administrations are still in part controlled
through block grants. A smaller yet significant devolution of power is being afforded
regionally as a certain amount of authority has been ceded to the Greater London
Authority and eight English Regions. In part this is driven by the significance of
regions with the EU (Heffernan, 2005) but it is a further erosion of the centre power
of the UK government.
The UK has long had a history of political activity in terms of protest and dissent: fuel
protests in 2001, the miner’s strike 1984/85. These protests had significant impact on
the power of the incumbent government. Citizens legitimise and grant authority to
government via elections and although there is falling turnout citizens can use their
vote as a “signalling” device (Heffernan, 2005) to let governments know if they are
happy. Citizens may also use their vote as an issue vote if the concept of “rational
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3. Martin Dorchester: Think piece govt power
choice” voting model is to be believed. For government therefore it is vital to work
with the public, consider electoral behaviour and act accordingly. The spin of
government can and often is balanced by the reaction and reporting of the media. It
could be argued that if the UK government is so powerful it would not need to resort
to spin and yet it is consistently accused of this. No empirical evidence exists to
validate the effect the media has in terms of effecting government but it would seem
reasonable to suggest that as an agenda setting instrument and a balancing instrument
the media carries considerable potency.
In the UK polity there is a formal hierarchical structure of representative government
where power is tiered with local government, the executive and the legislature.
Alongside this formal network is a more informal network comprising: policy
networks, elites, corporatism, associationalism and dissenting NGO’s (Heffernan,
2005). In the UK the BMA wields extensive power over health and health related
matters. Trade Unions influence a variety of employee related matters. Religious and
professional associations exert power over government actions as they create: “a
plurality of sites where the sovereignty of the people rests”. (Heffernan, 2005).
NGO’s such as Greenpeace and Oxfam provide a check and balance to government
through dissent rather than participation, propaganda rather than consensus and with
an external voice rather than an internal. Policy networks as described provide a
significant check and balance against government as they tend to be experts, address
issues with focus, may be formed from elites and many of them have sovereignty and
legitimacy through their membership.
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Aligned here is the concept of social capital. “Social capital expresses the degree of
citizen involvement in community affairs, which, it is argued, powerfully influences
the performance of the government and social institutions” (Heffernan, 2005). The
greater the connectivity of the people, the stronger their influence and power.
Networks have power but other forms of governmental control have emerged in the
form of quangos and policy units. Quangos arose from the reform of the public
domain and policy units were developed to advise ministers and government
departments. These developments serve to concentrate policy making back to the
centre and in many ways recentralise the policy making landscape.
The EU, Globalisation and the market are also important. “EU law takes precedence
over domestic law.” (Heffernan, 2005). The notion of “multi-level governance” is
thought to typify certain aspects of the EU and the UK is now taking a prominent part
in “commitology” thus increasingly experts are used in decision making procedures.
Globalisation, inflows and outflows of capital affect government control and power as
the UK operates in a free market economy. Globalisation, the EU and the market
could be viewed as “giant” networks and they restrict the power of the UK
government from within and externally.
The UK has an uncodified constitution, in that it is not written down anywhere and is
composed of: statute law, common law, European Law, Royal prerogative powers,
constitutional conventions and authoritative constitutional commentary (Heffernan,
2005). The UK constitution can be seen as flexible. However, as can be see in the
issues surrounding the reform of the House of Lords this does not make it
straightforward. A further check for government here is that successive governments
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can in fact change the constitution and reform it during their tenure so constitutional
reform is managed better through consensus and debate.
The collegiate nature of government means that a Prime Minister must work with and
through his government. The PM leads the executive; the executive leads the
legislature thus governing the country. The PM has the authority to manage and
shape the policy, employ ministers, create new departments of government or remove
both ministers and departments. The PM would therefore appear to have dominance
and authority over the executive and the country! In reality though, the power of the
PM is limited by a variety of checks and balances. The larger the majority the
stronger the power of the PM, but a PM must fulfil the requirements of: being an
elected MP, being the leader of a political party and normally being the leader of the
majority party in the House of Commons. The PM is also only in office at the behest
of the electorate and this will fall away if the electorate is alienated. The PM is also a
“first among equals” in the party and can be replaced theoretically at any time by a
fellow minister or MP. So dependent on their political capital at the time they can be
vulnerable as Tony Blair discovered over Iraq. The check and balance is one of
mutual dependency, political capital, governmental structures and the behest of the
electorate.
The nature of the UK as a centralised, unitary state using smps to elect its government
means that a strong government will lead the country. However a variety of checks
and balances exist to offset the power of the centre. The composition of a bicameral
political system means that in part the House of Lords can offset the House of
Commons. Devolution and regionalisation are creating new centres and peripheries.
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6. Martin Dorchester: Think piece govt power
The UK has a long history of dissent and participation as evidenced by the fuel
protesters and strike history. A considerable amount of power is held by networks,
and this is amplified by external factors such as the EU, globalisation and the market.
Perhaps the most powerful checks and balances against the power of government is
the nature of the UK constitution and the requirement of the Prime Minister to work
through and with the executive. For incumbent governments the final check and
balance comes at election time when the citizens decide.
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