Does the British Royal Family Have Any Power
What powers does Queen Elizabeth II have?
Hung parliament would leave monarch in a sensitive position once again
The fractious Brexit landscape has placed the Queen at the middle of political debate in 2019.
The prorogation row at the end of summer put her role under scrutiny - and should there be a hung parliament following Thursday's election, Elizabeth II volition exist in the spotlight again.
Here is a guide to Her Majesty'southward powers.
A constitutional monarchy and the Queen'south role
In a monarchy, the king or queen is the head of state. All the same, equally the United kingdom has a constitutional monarchy, the ability to brand and laissez passer legislation belongs to Parliament rather than the Queen.
The monarch retains a symbolic function in regime. She formally opens Parliament every year, and when the regime passes a bill, information technology cannot go an Human activity of Parliament until information technology receives her postage of blessing, a procedure called Imperial Assent. In reality, though, no monarch has refused to give Majestic Assent since 1708, when Queen Anne did then just at the behest of ministers.
As such, Queen Elizabeth II'due south formal duties are largely representational, such as embarking on goodwill visits abroad and hosting foreign heads of land. The monarch'southward main role is to serve equally a vital part of Britain'southward "national identity, unity and pride", says the official royal website, royal.uk.
Only the Queen does have a few unique legal privileges. Regal.uk says she "retains the right to claim buying of any unmarked mute swan swimming in open waters". She besides claims dominion over all whales, sturgeons and dolphins in the waters around England and Wales, doesn't need a passport to travel away, and tin can drive without a licence.
The Queen's role in a hung parliament
In a straightforward general election, the Queen would accept the resignation of the approachable prime minister and and then instruct the incoming leader to form a regime in her name - but this procedure is "put in jeopardy if in that location is uncertainty over the regime existence formed", says the Daily Express.
If no unmarried party wins an overall bulk in the House of Commons, the Queen is left in a sensitive position. She must be kept informed about any negotiations to build a coalition, but cannot practice whatsoever personal discretion over the choice of Downing Street's occupant.
With no majority, the existing PM is given the offset chance to create a government, either by trying to govern with a minority of MPs or past forming a coalition or "confidence and supply" arrangement with another political party or parties. If this fails, the largest opposition party is usually invited to try to practise the same.
In 2010, as Gordon Brownish attempted to reach a deal with the Liberal Democrats, the Queen "very conspicuously removed herself to Windsor Castle to betoken her unwillingness to play a part in the germination of a new government", writes Philip Murphy, managing director of the London-based Found of Democracy Studies, in an commodity on The Conversation.
David Cameron later admitted that he could non be totally certain well-nigh what kind of authorities he was going to form when he finally met Her Majesty to become PM.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a round-up of the well-nigh of import stories from effectually the earth - and a curtailed, refreshing and counterbalanced take on the week'due south news agenda - effort The Calendar week magazine. Beginning your trial subscription today–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
The Queen and the prime number minister
Once a PM is in office, the Queen meets with them weekly and offers counsel. She reads the Queen's Speech to open Parliament, although this is written by the authorities, and in normal times her powers are normally exercised on the communication of the PM.
However, as lawyer David Allen Greenish wrote in the Financial Times earlier this year, "these are non normal times". In the lead-upwards to the 31 Oct Brexit borderline, sometime attorney-full general Dominic Grieve raised the possibility that the Queen could sack Boris Johnson if he refused to comply with Parliament's new legislation to avoid a no-deal exit from the EU.
"This is now possible in constitutional theory and not inconceivable in the strange politics of the moment," wrote Green.
Robert Hazell, professor of regime and constitution at University College London, told The Guardian that the Queen could dismiss a PM if he or she lost a vote of no conviction and refused to resign. "But she would only do so if the House of Commons indicated clearly who should exist appointed equally prime minister in his place," Hazell said.
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act gives a fourteen-day window afterward a vote of no conviction to notice a new PM capable of securing the confidence of the Commons. In practice, the Queen could inquire another political leader to put an alternative administration in place that could win the confidence of parliament. "The removal from office of the prime number minister is implicit," says Light-green.
Source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/royal-family/97645/how-much-power-does-the-royal-family-have
0 Response to "Does the British Royal Family Have Any Power"
Post a Comment