British prime minister

Considering Britain’s Parliamentary tradition, do you think that Royal Prerogatives give too much power to the Prime Minister ?

Britain’s political system has been evolving since the first English Parliament that was convened in 1215. It is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy formally depicted by the monarch, Queen Elizabeth II with a bicameral parliament with 2 houses (House of Lords and House of Commons). We can wonder if the prime minister has too much power. First, we are going to see what is the role of the prime minister and after that, we will see how the royal prerogatives affect the prime minister.

The parliament was constitutionally defined in 1667 with the bill of rights that established the role of the parliament. The British monarch has all authority, but no power. The prime minister is the head of the United Kingdom government, he leads the Cabinet (the Executive), leads a major political party, and also usually commands a majority in the House of Commons. The political power is centralized and embedded in the executive and there is a non-separation of political power between the executive (prime minister) and the legislature (parliament). The Prime Minister is the figurehead who has the power and right to appoint and dismiss ministers, to interfere heavily and oversee all government business and can create, merge and even abolish government departments. However, the British Prime Minister runs a greater risk of being discharged at any time because, in the case of a coalition partner, the British Prime Minister can be removed by a single vote of the legislature when the coalition partner no longer wants to cooperate and, as a result, the government does not have the necessary majority to continue governing.

The behavior of the British government is based on traditions, customs, and certain principles. The royal prerogatives are, here, the key to understanding this controversial and unwritten part of the constitution. We can describe the royal prerogatives as the remaining monarchial power after the creation of the bill of rights that increased the power of the parliament, they are a residual power held by the crown that doesn’t need the approval of the parliament. We can think that the queen is in charge of them but they are mostly handed over to the executive. For example, they have the control of the armed forces, the power to declare war, signing treaties, powers of appointment, and the ability to pardon criminals. Those powers are highly debated because if the use of these powers is not subject to proper regulation and control it could lead to excessive power.

To conclude I think that we can’t deny the power that the prime minister possesses, indeed a lot of people are still debating about this, they refer to the prime minister as an elective dictatorship but as we saw the British parliament is still going through some changes and they can always decide to mitigate some of the prime minister rights. For example, before 2010 the prime minister could decide to have elections whenever he wants but now they happen every 5 years. But we don't need to forget that prime ministers are easily removable so they all need to be careful with the decisions they make.

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