The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which, by legislation and convention, operates as a unitary parliamentary democracy. A hereditary monarch, currently , serves as head of state while the prime minister of the United Kingdom, currently Andy Burnham, serves as the head of the elected government.
Under the United Kingdom's parliamentary system, executive power is exercised by His Majesty's Government, whose prime minister is formally appointed by the king to act in his name. The king must appoint an existing member of parliament that can command the confidence of the House of Commons, usually the leader of the majority party or apparent majority party, though the king may choose to appoint an alternative if they say that they cannot expect the confidence of the House. Having taken office, the prime minister can then appoint all other ministers from parliament.
The Parliament has two houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Crown in Parliament is the UK's supreme legislative body, with unlimited powers of legislation subject only to convention. Normally bills passed by both Houses become law when presented for Royal Assent. However, there is provision in the Parliament Acts by which the democratically elected House of Commons could exceptionally obtain Royal Assent to a bill which the House of Lords has repeatedly failed or refused to pass. However, any use of this Parliament Acts procedure could provoke a constitutional crisis.
Parliament has devolved some legislative powers to the parliaments of Scotland and Wales and the assembly of Northern Ireland. Many other limited powers are granted by statute to the Privy Council, H.M.Ministers or other authorities, to make delegated legislation on particular subjects.
The British political system is a Multi-party system and was according to the V-Dem Democracy Indices 2023 the 22nd most electorally democratic in the world. From the 1920s to date, the two dominant parties have been the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. Before the Labour Party rose in British politics, the Liberal Party was the other major political party, along with the Conservatives. While coalition and minority governments have been an occasional feature of parliamentary politics, the first-past-the-post electoral system used for general elections tends to maintain the dominance of these two parties, though each has in the past century relied upon a third party, such as the Liberal Democrats, to deliver a working majority in Parliament. A Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government held office from 2010 until 2015, the first coalition since 1945. The coalition ended following parliamentary elections on 7 May 2015, in which the Conservative Party won an outright majority of seats, 330 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, while their coalition partners lost all but eight seats.
With the partition of Ireland, Northern Ireland received home rule in 1920, though civil unrest meant direct rule was restored in 1972. Support for nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales led to proposals for devolution in the 1970s, though only in the 1990s did devolution happen. Today, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each possess a parliament/assembly and a government, with devolution in Northern Ireland being conditional on participation in certain all-Ireland institutions. The British government remains responsible for non-devolved matters and, in the case of Northern Ireland, co-operates with the government of the Republic of Ireland. Devolution of executive and legislative powers may have contributed to increased support for independence in the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. The principal Scottish pro-independence party, the Scottish National Party, became a minority government in 2007 and then went on to win an overall majority of MSPs at the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections which formed the current Scottish Government administration. In a 2014 referendum on independence 44.7% of voters voted for independence versus 55.3% against. In Northern Ireland, Irish nationalist parties such as Sinn Féin advocate Irish reunification. In Wales, Welsh nationalist parties such as Plaid Cymru support Welsh independence.
The constitution of the United Kingdom is uncodified, being made up of constitutional conventions, statutes and other elements. This system of government, known as the Westminster system, has been adopted by other countries, especially those that were formerly parts of the British Empire. The United Kingdom is also responsible for several other territories, which fall into two categories: the Crown Dependencies, in the immediate vicinity of the UK, are strictly-speaking subject to the British Crown (i.e., the Monarch) but not part of the United Kingdom (though de facto British territory), and British Overseas Territories, as British colonies were re-designated in 1983, which are part of the sovereign territory of the United Kingdom, in which different aspects of internal governance have been delegated to local governments, with each territory having its own first minister, (though the titles differ, such as in the case of the Chief Minister of Gibraltar). They remain subject to the Parliament of the United Kingdom (which refers only to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, governed directly by the British Government, and not via local subsidiary governments or officers.
History
Treaty of Union agreed by commissioners for each parliament on 22 July 1706. Acts of Union 1707, passed by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Acts of Union 1800, passed by both the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Government of Ireland Act 1920, passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and created the partition of Ireland. The republican southern part of Ireland became Republic of Ireland (also known as Éire), leaving Northern Ireland part of the union. The Accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities (EC) took effect on 1 January 1974. The United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union (EU) on 31 January 2020.
Overviews by period
2010s in United Kingdom political history 2020s in United Kingdom political history Politics of the United Kingdom in the 19th century Premiership of Margaret Thatcher Premiership of John Major Premiership of Tony Blair Premiership of Gordon Brown Premiership of David Cameron Premiership of Theresa May Premiership of Boris Johnson Premiership of Liz Truss Premiership of Rishi Sunak Premiership of Keir Starmer Premiership of Andy Burnham
The Crown
The British monarch, currently , is the head of state of the United Kingdom. Though he takes little direct part in government, the Crown remains the fount in which ultimate power over the executive government, the judiciary, the legislature and the established Church of England formally lies. These powers are known as the royal prerogative and cover a vast amount of things, such as the issue or withdrawal of passports, the appointment or dismissal of the prime minister or even the declaration of war. The powers are delegated from the Crown primarily to the prime minister, who may freely appoint privy councillors, junior ministers and other officers and servants of the Crown, (civil, military, diplomatic, and others such as the secret services) to exercise them. All powers are subject to the Rule of Law, so that the legality of their exercise may always be judicially reviewed and quashed by the High Court, and their exercise is supervised by Parliament when it is sitting. The exercise of most powers by His Majesty's Government generally does not require the consent of Parliament; but certain statutory powers are subject to positive or negative resolutions of Parliament, notably the powers to make delegated legislation by Statutory Instruments, and to make certain Rules and Orders.
The head of His Majesty's Government, the prime minister, has weekly meetings to consult the sovereign, when they may express their feelings, warn, or advise the prime minister in the government's work.
According to the uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom, the monarch has the following powers:
Domestic powers The power to appoint (and theoretically to dismiss) a prime minister The powers to appoint members to the Privy Council, to dismiss privy councillors, and to summon only selected privy councillors to meetings of the Cabinet The powers to summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament The power to grant (or theoretically to refuse) Royal Assent to parliamentary bills, making them legal Acts of Parliament The power to create new peers, to be summoned to parliament as members of the House of Lords The powers to commission officers in the Armed Forces, and to command the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom The powers to create and grant offices and employments to exercise royal powers, including the senior judiciary, and to dismiss most other officers at the pleasure of the Crown. The power to issue and withdraw passports The power to exercise the prerogative of mercy to pardon criminal convictions or reduce sentences The powers to grant honours, ranks, titles, decorations, medals and patronage The power to create corporations by Royal charter
Foreign powers The power to make and ratify treaties The power to declare war and peace The power to deploy the Armed Forces overseas The power to recognise states The power to accredit and receive diplomats
Executive Executive power in the United Kingdom is exercised by the Sovereign, , via His Majesty's Government and the devolved national authorities – the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive; and by up to three more layers of elected local authorities, often County Councils, District Councils, and Parish Councils. For example, the Corporation of The City of London, which administers only about one square mile of the capital historically enjoys some exceptional local powers, to the exclusion of all other local authorities below Parliament.
His Majesty's Government
The monarch appoints a Prime Minister as the head of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, guided by the 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 any political party with a majority of seats in the House of Commons is chosen to be the prime minister. 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 other Ministers who make up the Government and act as political heads of various Government Departments. About twenty of the most senior government ministers make up the Cabinet and approximately 100 ministers in total comprise the government. In accordance with constitutional convention, all ministers within the government are either Members of Parliament or peers in the House of Lords.
As in some other parliamentary systems of government (especially those based upon the Westminster system), the executive (called "the government") is drawn from and is answerable to Parliament – a successful vote of no confidence will force the government either to resign or to seek a parliamentary dissolution and a general election. In practice, members of parliament of all major parties are strictly controlled by whips who try to ensure they vote according to party policy. If the government has a large majority, then they are very unlikely to lose enough votes to be unable to pass legislation.
The Prime Minister and the Cabinet