GOVERNMENT OF

THE UNITED
KINGDOM
2022

PRESENTATION BY HMELNYTSKA OLEXANDRA

 The Government of the United Kingdom (British Government or UK
Government), commonly and officially Known as His Majesty's Government,
GOVERNMENT is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland. The government is led by the prime minister (currently Liz
Truss, since 6 September 2022) who selects all the other ministers. The
country has had a Conservative-led government since 2010, with successive
prime ministers being the then leader of the Conservative Party. The prime
minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-
making committee, known as the Cabinet.

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WESTMINSTER
AND WHITEHALL
The government is sometimes referred to by the
metonym "Westminster" or "Whitehall", due to
that being where many of its offices are situated.
These metonyms are used especially by
members of the Scottish Government, Welsh
Government and Northern Ireland Executive in
order to differentiate their government from His
Majesty's Government.

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HISTORY The United Kingdom is a constitutional
monarchy in which the reigning
monarch (that is, the king or queen who
is the head of state at any given time)
does not make any open political
decisions. All political decisions are
taken by the government and
Parliament. This constitutional state of
affairs is the result of a long history of
constraining and reducing the political
power of the monarch, beginning with
Magna Carta in 1215.

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HISTORY
Since the start of Edward VII's reign in 1901, by
convention the prime minister has been an
elected Member of Parliament (MP) and thus
answerable to the House of Commons,
although there were two weeks in 1963 when
Alec Douglas-Home was first a member of the
House of Lords and then of neither house.

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HISTORY
A similar convention applies to the position of
chancellor of the exchequer, as it would
probably now be politically unacceptable for the
budget speech to be given in the House of
Lords, with members of Parliament unable to
question the Chancellor directly. The last
chancellor of the exchequer to be a member of
the House of Lords was Lord Denman, who
served for one month in 1834.

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 Parliament's job is to look closely at the
WHAT DOES Government's plans and to monitor the way they are
PARLIAMENT running things.
Parliament works on people's behalf to try to make
DO? sure that Government decisions are:
open and transparent – by questioning ministers
and requesting information
workable and efficient – by examining new
proposals closely and suggesting improvements,
checking how public money is being spent and
tracking how new laws are working out in practice
fair and non-discriminatory – by checking that
they comply with equalities and human rights
laws and by speaking up on behalf of affected
individuals

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WHAT IS THE The Opposition works in Parliament. After a General Election, the largest non-
government party in the House of Commons becomes the Official

OPPOSITION? Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition takes the lead role in questioning
the Prime Minister when they come to Parliament.
The Leader of the Opposition chooses a team – known as the Shadow
Cabinet – who take the lead in questioning other Government ministers when
they come to Parliament.

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THANK YOU
FOR
ATTENTION!
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