The Prime Minister and their Executive
LESSON ONE
The Structure of the Executive
- ‘Executive’ comes from the concept of ‘execute’ or to make things happen
- The Executive are the ones that make laws happen
- Make policy decisions, take action, run the country
- The Executive has to answer to Parliament
- BUT if the PM has a large majority most legislation is passed easily
Who makes up the Executive?
- PM
- appointed (technically) by the monarch
- E.g. Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson, David Cameron .etc
- Cabinet
- senior ministers who run departments
- E.g. the Home Office
- appointed by the PM
- Junior ministers
- support in the departments but are not part of the Cabinet
- Education Secretary usually has 3
- Early years and primary
- Secondary
- Universities and higher education
- Civil Service
- permanent officials that deal with the day-to-day work of gov departments
- They should be neutral
- Special Advisors
- Has been a growth of SPADs that are employed as civil servants to advise
ministers
- Shouldn't be seen to be MAKING political decisions
- Alistair Campbell under Blair
- Dominic Cummings under Boris Johnson
- Was his Chief of Staff
- Led 2019 election campaign
- Appeared to be making decisions about policy rather than neutral
advice
- Resigned late 2020
- All of the executive is under the control of the PM
- Under the Royal Prerogative
- These are powers and privileges belonging to the monarch but
exercised by the PM or Cabinet
, - The PM, Cabinet and Junior Ministers all need to be Members of Parliament so that
they can be held accountable for their actions through elections
- There are around 120 MPs or Peers in the Executive at any given time
Who is important in the Executive?
- Some parts play a bigger role than others
- Known as the Core Executive
- The PM
- Chief executive
- The Cabinet
- Approve policy
- Settle disputes
- The Treasury
- Managing the gov’s finances
- Government Departments
- Developing and implementing specialised policies
The Role of the Executive
- The role of the executive is to govern and ensure that the country can operate
- It needs to make decisions and come up with ideas
- It has a number of key roles
- Proposing legislation
- Proposing a budget
- Making policy decisions within laws and the budget
1. Proposing legislation
a. Develops legislative proposals for a first reading in Parliament
★ This sets the agenda for Parliament and the legislative process
2. Proposing a Budget
a. Needs to calculate how much the gov needs to run the country
b. Income
★ comes from taxation/duties/investments/loans
★ Also based on estimate of how economy will perform
1. How much investments will bring in
2. How many people will be earning for taxes
c. Outgoings
★ Spending amounts allocated to departments
★ Has to be passed by Parliament or all the government have to resign
1. Highly unlikely as HoC normally has a majority
2. And HoL can’t reject a budget
3. Making policy decisions within laws and the budget
LESSON ONE
The Structure of the Executive
- ‘Executive’ comes from the concept of ‘execute’ or to make things happen
- The Executive are the ones that make laws happen
- Make policy decisions, take action, run the country
- The Executive has to answer to Parliament
- BUT if the PM has a large majority most legislation is passed easily
Who makes up the Executive?
- PM
- appointed (technically) by the monarch
- E.g. Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson, David Cameron .etc
- Cabinet
- senior ministers who run departments
- E.g. the Home Office
- appointed by the PM
- Junior ministers
- support in the departments but are not part of the Cabinet
- Education Secretary usually has 3
- Early years and primary
- Secondary
- Universities and higher education
- Civil Service
- permanent officials that deal with the day-to-day work of gov departments
- They should be neutral
- Special Advisors
- Has been a growth of SPADs that are employed as civil servants to advise
ministers
- Shouldn't be seen to be MAKING political decisions
- Alistair Campbell under Blair
- Dominic Cummings under Boris Johnson
- Was his Chief of Staff
- Led 2019 election campaign
- Appeared to be making decisions about policy rather than neutral
advice
- Resigned late 2020
- All of the executive is under the control of the PM
- Under the Royal Prerogative
- These are powers and privileges belonging to the monarch but
exercised by the PM or Cabinet
, - The PM, Cabinet and Junior Ministers all need to be Members of Parliament so that
they can be held accountable for their actions through elections
- There are around 120 MPs or Peers in the Executive at any given time
Who is important in the Executive?
- Some parts play a bigger role than others
- Known as the Core Executive
- The PM
- Chief executive
- The Cabinet
- Approve policy
- Settle disputes
- The Treasury
- Managing the gov’s finances
- Government Departments
- Developing and implementing specialised policies
The Role of the Executive
- The role of the executive is to govern and ensure that the country can operate
- It needs to make decisions and come up with ideas
- It has a number of key roles
- Proposing legislation
- Proposing a budget
- Making policy decisions within laws and the budget
1. Proposing legislation
a. Develops legislative proposals for a first reading in Parliament
★ This sets the agenda for Parliament and the legislative process
2. Proposing a Budget
a. Needs to calculate how much the gov needs to run the country
b. Income
★ comes from taxation/duties/investments/loans
★ Also based on estimate of how economy will perform
1. How much investments will bring in
2. How many people will be earning for taxes
c. Outgoings
★ Spending amounts allocated to departments
★ Has to be passed by Parliament or all the government have to resign
1. Highly unlikely as HoC normally has a majority
2. And HoL can’t reject a budget
3. Making policy decisions within laws and the budget
