Structure, Role and Powers of the Executive Flashcards

1
Q

what are the executive powers of the PM/

A
  • Head of cabinet meetings and its agenda
  • A PM selects their own cabinet
  • decides who sits on cabinet committees
  • can create new departments e.g., department for exiting the EU) and merge them
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2
Q

what are the features of the cabinet?

A
  • made up of 20-23 senior ministers and makes decisions on key areas of policy
  • has collective responsibility - all ministers must defend cabinet decisions
  • can vote out the PM with a cabinet vote
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3
Q

what is the proposing legislation role of the executive?

A
  • most bills in parliament are public bills, meaning they come from the executive
  • the executive can also use secondary legislation to develop policies
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4
Q

what is the proposing budget role of the executive?

A
  • the chancellor sets out a budget every year
  • the 2020 budget included a freeze on income tax bands, £5bn emergency response fund for NHS and other public services and scrapping the tampon tax
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5
Q

what is the making policy decisions role of the executive?

A
  • they set the direction of the country
  • this includes things such as welfare reform, reform of education system (changes to A levels), changes to NHS
  • the day to day decisions e.g., deciding the road map and response to the COVID crisis
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6
Q

what are the prerogative powers of the executive?

A
  • appointing ministers
  • granting legal pardons
  • signing treaties
  • declare war and using armed forces (although this is expected to be approved by parliament)
  • award honours
  • take emergency action at times of crisis
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7
Q

what is the initiation of legislation role?

A
  • the executive dominates parliamentary time (13 days for private member bills, 20 for opposition days, all the rest are controlled by govt)
  • with a majority, the govt can be confident of passing the legislation it wants
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8
Q

what is the secondary legislative power?

A
  • laws made without passing a new Act of parliament
  • normally done by using statutory instruments to modify existing legislation
  • can be highly controversial e.g., 2016 abolishing maintenance grants for Uni
  • are seen by some as a way of avoiding parliamentary scrutiny
  • about 2/3 of secondary legislation become law without being debated by MPs
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