How is England Governed?

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy: Queen Elizabeth II is head of state of the UK as well as of fifteen other Commonwealth countries, putting the UK in a personal union with those other states. The Crown has sovereignty over the Crown Dependencies of the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, which are not part of the United Kingdom though the UK government manages their foreign affairs and defence and the UK Parliament has the authority to legislate on their behalf.

The United Kingdom has an uncodified constitution, as do only three other countries in the world. 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. 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.

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, and any Bill passed requires Royal Assent to become law. It is the ultimate legislative authority in the United Kingdom since the devolved parliament in Scotland and devolved assemblies in Northern Ireland, and Wales are not sovereign bodies and could be abolished by the UK parliament despite being established following public approval as expressed in referenda.

The position of Prime Minister, the UK's head of government, 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 HM The Queen respects the Prime Minister's choices.

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 Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, 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.


The Palace of Westminster, seat of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of CommonsFor elections to the House of Commons, the UK is currently divided into 650 constituencies. Each constituency elects one Member of Parliament by simple plurality. General elections are called by the Monarch when the Prime Minister so advises. Though there is no minimum term for a Parliament, the Parliament Act (1911) requires that a new election must be called within five years of the previous general election.

The UK's three major political parties are the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, and the Liberal Democrats, who won between them 622 out of 650 seats available in the House of Commons: 621 seats at the 2010 general election and 1 more at the delayed by-election in Thirsk and Malton. Most of the remaining seats were won by minor parties that only contest elections in one part of the UK such as 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 Ireland). In accordance with party policy, no elected Sinn Féin Member of Parliament has ever attended the House of Commons to speak in the House on behalf of their constituents as Members of Parliament are required to take an oath of allegiance to the Monarch. However, the current five Sinn Féin MPs have since 2002 made use of the offices and other facilities available at Westminster

For elections to the European Parliament, the UK currently has 72 MEPs, elected in 12 multi-member constituencies.Questions over sovereignty have been brought forward because of the UK's membership of the European Union.

You did ask for detail. But wait there is more at the link below.

Hope this is worth 10 points.

if think the bottom two sources are write but i would alsop like to add that britain is hugeley governmened by the people who have come to own everything and not the people we elect!

Well at the moment with a bunch of idiots, who do not know their right hand from their left. Has any Government during the last twenty years done anything for the British People. They have let Industry leave the Country, and done nothing to help them only put their taxes up including other things as well... thus driving them out. They have done their best at keeping the Elderly in poverty, and thinking that a two pounds rise was wonderful while awarding themselves four thousand pounds rise in their own Income. It has been only recent that a slight cap has been put on Immigration, but we are now a Nation of Foreigners who half do not speak English and come here for what they can get from us, or should I say what the State gives them. I can remember in years gone by that the Law was if you did not work and have your stamps put on a card you did not get a Pension or not a full one. But now foreigners can come in and claim a Pension....." HOW DOES THAT WORK " ? It is like a free for all except for English who did the ground work in the first place,

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How is England Governed?
Today.
Please a detailed answer or a link to a page that clears says it.

How Is The Uk Governed

It is interesting that you ask "how is England governed", since there is no such thing as an English government. The nation is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, consisting of four entities, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The UK is regarded as being a democracy, although its democratic institutions are more limited than in many other countries. By contrast to most other democracies (including the USA), it is unusual in two ways. First, that there is no single document that can be pointed to as being the 'constitution'. Second, that there is very little separation of power between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

For example, in the USA, there is the President (the executive), who is quite separate from the legislature (Congress), and is elected in separate elections. The Supreme Court is separate again, and can strike down legislation passed by Congress, as being unconstitutional.

There is nothing like that in the UK. The Queen is theoretically head of state, but in practice is just a figurehead and has no personal power. However the Crown is still very powerful, but its powers are exercised by the Prime Minister, who is effectively the head of state. But the Prime Minister is also a Member of Parliament, and does not get elected directly as a Prime Minister. After an election, the leader of the largest party in Parliament is asked by the Queen to form a government.

Until recently, the highest court in the land was the Law Lords, a group of senior judges who also sat in Parliament, in the House of Lords. This has now been replaced by a separate Supreme Court. However, the name should not mislead US readers. It has no power to strike down legislation.

The basis of the British constitution is a simple phrase: "the Queen in Parliament is supreme". A law has to pass three stages.

(1) It is passed by the House of Commons. This is a chamber directly elected by the people. However, it is not very representative, due to the anomalies of the electoral system, and in practice the Prime Minister can use the party whips to force through any law they want.

(2) It is passed by the House of Lords. This is an entirely unelected chamber. Up to 1999, most of its members were hereditary aristocrats. Since then, most of its members are appointed, in a system of political favouritism and patronage. Moreover, if a law is passed by the Commons, the Lords' powers to stop it are limited.

(3) It receives the Royal Assent, meaning the Queen agrees to the law. But there is a 'convention' that the Queen never withholds the Royal Assent. So this stage is no more than a rubber stamp. The monarch has not withheld royal assent for 300 years.

Now, once a law has passed these three stages, it cannot be struck down by any judge, or any other body. It is said that Parliament could pass a law requiring the killing of all blue eyed babies. In America, such a law would be struck down by the Supreme Court as being unconstitutional. There is no such safeguard in Britain.

There are however two ways in which powers have moved away from Parliament. The first is through devolution. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been given their own elected assemblies. However, MPs from these areas still sit in the Westminster Parliament. This has given rise to what is known as the "West Lothian" question. MPs from these areas can vote in Parliament for issues affecting England, when their own local assemblies now deal with these matters in their home countries. This has led to calls for a Parliament for England, which are unlikely to be answered.

The other way in which power is being transferred from Parliament, is to the EU. This is a basically undemocratic federation in which power resides with an appointed Commission, and now an appointed President. There is a European Parliament, which is largely a talking shop, with no real powers. The European Court of Justice is now the highest court in British law.

So what was never a particularly democratic system in the first place, is becoming less democratic as time goes on. The whole system is antiquated, and what the UK really needs, in my personal opinion, is a bloodless revolution to overthrow the whole thing, lock stock and barrel, and establish something more closely resembling the US constitution.