5-The British Government -BAH Sékou

Vocabularies and expressions

• The Bill of Rights : Declaration des Droits

• The head of the government : le chef du gouvernement

• The head of state : le chef d’etat

• First past the post : scrutin majoritaire à un tour

• A Member of Parliament or MP : un député

• Left-wing : de Gauche

• Right-wing : De droite

• 10 Downing Street (address of the Prime Minister) : Premier ministre

• Conservative Party (British right-wing political party) : Parti conservateur

• Labour Party (British politics: left-wing party) : Parti travailliste

• Cabinet or council of ministers : conseil des ministres

• parliamentary monarchy or constitutional monarchy : monarchie parlementaire ou monarchie

constitutionnelle

• The Tories : Conservative party

• Facts / issues
• The United Kingdom has been a parliamentary monarchy since the Glorious Revolution (or
Bloodless Revolution) in 1689. This system was established by the Bill of Rights, which limits
the power of the king.

• The Prime Minister is the head of the government and the King or Queen is the head of
government. The two leaders meet every Tuesday to review the country's politics.

• British people do not vote for a Prime Minister, they vote for an MP in a general election and
the candidate with the most votes wins ( rst past the post). The elected representatives have
a seat in the House of Commons and the party with the most seats chooses the Prime
Minister. But it is the Queen, now King Charles III, who o cially appoints the new Prime
Minister.

• The Prime Minister chooses the members of the government, but it is the Queen who appoints
them.

• In the United Kingdom, Parliament consists of two houses, the House of Lords and the House
of Commons. The rst has a restraining role, amending and controlling laws. The House of
Commons votes on laws and sanctions the government.

• Since 1922, the Prime Minister has come from either the Conservative or the Labour Party.

•
• The United Kingdom does not have a written constitution like France or the United States,
everything is based on conventions and customs.

News
• During her 70-year reign, Elizabeth II appointed 170 prime ministers throughout the
Commonwealth, including 15 in the United Kingdom.

• After many lies, Boris Johnson has stepped down as Prime Minister. Liz Truss, the new Tory
leader, has occupied Dowling Street since September 6.

• On Saturday 10 September, Charles III succeeded his mother Elizabeth II as monarch of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland.

•
• After the Brexit, the UK and EU signed an agreement for Northern Ireland to continue to follow
EU rules on product standards so that these goods can move freely through the EU. The U.K.
government wants to rectify these agreements by introducing a bill, which provides for separate
"green" and "red" lanes for goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland, with goods
destined to remain in the U.K. being exempt from EU controls. This measure increases tensions
with the EU, which is threatening to take retaliatory measures.

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