The Government Style of Britain

The Government Style of Britain

Lord Hailsham suggested the phrase elective dictatorship in his

academic paper written in 1976. Elective dictatorship refers to the

fusion of powers of the executive and the legislature; where the

legislature is drawn from the executive therefore resulting in

dominance of the executive over the legislature.

Firstly the executive’s majority in the House of Commons reinforces

the executives dominance. Elective dictatorship occurs in conjunction

with this situation and that of the governing party, the executive.

The party in power will by definition have more seats, i.e. more

voting power than all the opposition parties. This means that any

legislation or motion proposed by the governing party could be passed

unless government MPs dissents, because only a simple majority is

required. Due to the strength of the whip system to prevent MPs of the

governing party voting against it, in practice government bills are

extremely rarely defeated in the House of Commons. The government

proposes usually around 95% of the bills passed. Also from 1997-2005

the Labour party had not lost a bill. Another reason why Britain is

considered to be an elective dictatorship is the limited powers of

parliament, which has led to the undermining of parliamentary

sovereignty. The central issue to why Britain has become an elective

dictatorship is the decline in strength of parliament even though it

is regarded formally as the sovereign body within the constitution.

Recent developments and modifications have meant that Parliament’s

effectiveness in holding the executive to account, restraining the

executive and scrutinising the...

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... in the process of legislation. The house of lords

has the power to amend and reject bills and also the House of Lords

are able to delay bills.

The power of the executive has grown and the checks are in place

to prevent abuse of this power. It is important for the legislature to

keep a watch on the executive so the control is maintained and it does

not slip into a dictatorship. These checks mean that Britain is not

theoretically an “ Elective Dictatorship”, as rules still exist which

means the executive can not have a dictatorial role. Britain currently

is not an “ Elective Dictatorship”, as the Parliament still has some

effectiveness in scrutinising the executive, however as Britain is

falling more into a Prime-ministerial style government there is

possibility that Britain can become an “Elective Dictatorship.”