Politics of The United Kingdom

Main articles: Politics of the United Kingdom, Monarchy of the United Kingdom, and Elections in the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms

The United Kingdom is a unitary state under a constitutional monarchy. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state of the UK as well as of fifteen other independent Commonwealth countries. The monarch has "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn".^[133] The United Kingdom has an uncodified constitution,^[134] as do only three other countries in the world.^{[nb 7]} The Constitution of the United Kingdom thus consists mostly of a collection of disparate written sources, including statutes, judge-made case law and international treaties, together with constitutional conventions. As there is no technical difference between ordinary statutes and "constitutional law" the UK Parliament can perform "constitutional reform" simply by passing Acts of Parliament and thus has the political power to change or abolish almost any written or unwritten element of the constitution. However, no Parliament can pass laws that future Parliaments cannot change.^[135]

Government

The UK has a parliamentary government based on the Westminster system that has been emulated around the world—a legacy of the British Empire. The parliament of the United Kingdom that meets in the Palace of Westminster has two houses; an elected House of Commons and an appointed House of Lords.^{[citation needed]} Any bill passed requires Royal Assent to become law.

The position of prime minister, the UK's head of government,^[136] belongs to the member of parliament who can obtain the confidence of a majority in the House of Commons, usually the current leader of the largest political party in that chamber. The prime minister and cabinet are formally appointed by the monarch to form Her Majesty's Government, though the prime minister chooses the cabinet and, by convention, the Queen respects the prime minister's choices.^[137]

The Palace of Westminster, seat of both houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

The cabinet is traditionally drawn from members of the Prime Minister's party in both legislative houses, and mostly from the House of Commons, to which they are responsible. Executive power is exercised by the prime minister and cabinet, all of whom are sworn into the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, and become Ministers of the Crown. The Rt. Hon. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, has been Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service since 11 May 2010.^[138] For elections to the House of Commons, the UK is currently divided into 650 constituencies^[139] with each electing a single member of parliament by simple plurality. General elections are called by the monarch when the prime minister so advises. The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 require that a new election must be called within five years of the previous general election.^[140]

The UK's three major political parties are the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. During the 2010 general election these three parties won 622 out of 650 seats available in the House of Commons; 621 seats at the 2010 general election^[141] and 1 more at the delayed by-election in Thirsk and Malton.^[142] Most of the remaining seats were won by minor parties that only contest elections in one part of the UK: the Scottish National Party (Scotland only); Plaid Cymru (Wales only); and the Democratic Unionist Party, Social Democratic and Labour Party, Ulster Unionist Party, and Sinn Féin (Northern Ireland only, though Sinn Féin also contests elections in the Republic of Ireland). In accordance with party policy no elected Sinn Féin member of parliament has ever attended the House of Commons to speak on behalf of their constituents – this is because members of parliament are required to take an oath of allegiance to the monarch. The current five Sinn Féin MPs have however, since 2002, made use of the offices and other facilities available at Westminster.^[143] For elections to the European Parliament the UK currently has 72 MEPs, elected in 12 multi-member constituencies.^[144]

Devolved administrations

Main articles: Devolution in the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland Executive, Scottish Government, and Welsh Government

The Scottish Parliament Building in Holyrood is the seat of the Scottish Parliament

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own government or executive, led by a First Minister (or, in the case of Northern Ireland, a diarchal First Minister and deputy First Minister), and a devolved unicameral legislature. England, the largest country of the United Kingdom, has no devolved executive or legislature and is administered and legislated for directly by the UK government and parliament on all issues. This situation has given rise to the so-called West Lothian question which concerns the fact that MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can vote, sometimes decisively,^[145] on matters affecting England that are handled by devolved legislatures for their own constituencies.^[146]

The Scottish Government and Parliament have wide ranging powers over any matter that has not been specifically 'reserved' to the UK parliament, including education, healthcare, Scots law and local government.^[147] Following its victory at the 2007 elections the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) formed a minority government with its leader, Alex Salmond, becoming First Minister of Scotland.^[148] The pro-union parties responded to the electoral success of the SNP by creating a Commission on Scottish Devolution^[149] which reported in 2009 and recommended that additional powers should be devolved, including control of half the income tax raised in Scotland.^[150] At the 2011 elections the SNP won re-election and achieved an overall majority in the Scottish parliament.^[151]

The Welsh Government and the National Assembly for Wales have more limited powers than those devolved to Scotland.^[152] Following the passing of the Government of Wales Act 2006 the assembly was able to legislate in devolved areas through Assembly Measures once permission to legislate on that specific matter had been granted by Westminster through a Legislative Competence Order;^[153] but since May 2011 the Assembly has been able to legislate on devolved matters through Acts of the Assembly, which require no prior consent. The current Welsh Government was formed after the 2011 elections, and is a minority Labour administration lead by Carwyn Jones, who had been First Minister of a Labour/Plaid Cymru administration since December 2009.^[154]

The Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly have powers closer to those already devolved to Scotland. The Executive is led by a diarchy representing unionist and nationalist members of the Assembly. Currently, Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party) and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) are First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively.^[155] Devolution in Northern Ireland is subject to the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and the subsequent British-Irish Agreement between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Under those agreements, the participation of members of the Northern Ireland Executive in the North/South Ministerial Council, and co-operation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on a number of devolved policy areas, are prerequisites of devolution in Northern Ireland. The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference was also established under the agreements, whereby "the Irish Government may put forward views and proposals" on non-devolved matters with respect to Northern Ireland. However, the United Kingdom government remains sovereign over Northern Ireland unless a majority of the people of Northern Ireland vote to form a united Ireland.

The United Kingdom does not have a codified constitution and constitutional matters are not among the powers devolved to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Under the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty, the UK Parliament could, in theory, therefore, abolish the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland Assembly.^[156][157] Indeed, in 1972, the UK Parliament unilaterally prorogued the Parliament of Northern Ireland, setting a precedent relevant to contemporary devolved institutions.^[158] In practice, the circumstances in which the UK Parliament would abolish devolution given the political constraints created by referendum decisions are unclear.^[159] The political constraints placed upon the UK Parliament's power to interfere with devolution in Northern Ireland are greater than in relation to Scotland and Wales, given that devolution in Northern Ireland rests upon an international agreement with the Government of Ireland.^[160]

Law and criminal justice

Main article: Law of the United Kingdom

The Royal Courts of Justice of England and Wales

The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system, as Article 19 of the 1706 Treaty of Union provided for the continuation of Scotland's separate legal system.^[161] Today the UK has three distinct systems of law: English law, Northern Ireland law and Scots law. A new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came into being in October 2009 to replace the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords.^[162][163] The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, including the same members as the Supreme Court, is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown Dependencies.

Both English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law are based on common-law principles.^[164] The essence of common law is that, subject to statute, the law is developed by judges in courts, applying statute, precedent and common sense to the facts before them to give explanatory judgements of the relevant legal principles, which are reported and binding in future similar cases (stare decisis).^[165] The courts of England and Wales are headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land for both criminal and civil appeal cases in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland and any decision it makes is binding on every other court in the same jurisdiction, often having a persuasive effect in other jurisdictions.^[166]

The High Court of Justiciary – the supreme criminal court of Scotland.

Scots law applies in Scotland, a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles. The chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases,^[167] and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases.^[168] The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law.^[169] Sheriff courts deal with most civil and criminal cases including conducting criminal trials with a jury, known as sheriff solemn court, or with a sheriff and no jury, known as sheriff summary Court.^[170] The Scots legal system is unique in having three possible verdicts for a criminal trial: "guilty", "not guilty" and "not proven". Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an acquittal with no possibility of retrial.^[171]

Crime in England and Wales increased in the period between 1981 and 1995, though since that peak there has been an overall fall of 48% in crime from 1995 to 2007/08,^[172] according to crime statistics. The prison population of England and Wales has almost doubled over the same period, to over 80,000, giving England and Wales the highest rate of incarceration in Western Europe at 147 per 100,000.^[173] Her Majesty's Prison Service, which reports to the Ministry of Justice, manages most of the prisons within England and Wales. Crime in Scotland fell to its lowest recorded level for 32 years in 2009/10, falling by ten percent.^[174] At the same time Scotland's prison population, at over 8,000,^[175] is at record levels and well above design capacity.^[176] The Scottish Prison Service, which reports to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, manages Scotland's prisons. In 2006 a report by the Surveillance Studies Network found that the UK had the highest level of mass surveillance among industrialised western nations.^[177]

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, and the President of the United States, Barack Obama, during the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit.

The United Kingdom is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, G7, G8, G20, NATO, the OECD, the WTO, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, and is a member state of the European Union. The UK has a "Special Relationship" with the United States^[178][179] and a close partnership with France – the "Entente cordiale" – and shares nuclear weapons technology with both countries. The UK is also closely allied with the Republic of Ireland; the two countries share a Common Travel Area and many Irish citizens serve in the British Army.^[180] Other close allies include other European Union and NATO members, Commonwealth nations, and Japan. Britain's global presence and influence is further amplified through its trading relations, foreign investments, official development assistance and armed forces.^[181]

Military

Main article: British Armed Forces

The Type 45 destroyer, the Challenger 2 and the Eurofighter

The British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy are collectively known as the British Armed Forces and officially as Her Majesty's Armed Forces. The three forces are managed by the Ministry of Defence and controlled by the Defence Council, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence.
The British Armed Forces are among the largest and most technologically sophisticated armed forces in the world, and as of as of 2008 maintained over 20 military deployments around the globe.^{[182][183][184]} The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the UK and its overseas territories, promoting the UK's global security interests and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO, including the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, as well as the Five Power Defence Arrangements, RIMPAC and other worldwide coalition operations. Overseas garrisons and facilities are maintained in Ascension Island, Belize, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Diego Garcia, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kenya and Qatar.^[185]

According to various sources, including the Ministry of Defence, the UK has the third- or fourth-highest military expenditure in the world. Total defence spending currently accounts for around 2.3% – 2.5% of total national GDP.^[186]

The Royal Navy is a prominent blue-water navy, currently one of only three world wide, with the French Navy and the United States Navy being the other two.^[187] The Royal Navy is also responsible for delivering the UKs Nuclear Deterrent via the UK Trident programme and four Vanguard class submarines.
The United Kingdom Special Forces, such as the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service, provide troops trained for quick, mobile, military responses in counter-terrorism, land, maritime and amphibious operations, often where secrecy or covert tactics are required.
Recent defence policy has a stated assumption that "the most demanding operations" will be undertaken as part of a coalition.^[188] Setting aside the intervention in Sierra Leone, UK military operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and, most recently, Libya, have followed this approach. The last war in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982, in which they were victorious.