Politics of Erealand
The United Kingdom of Erealand is a unitary state with the framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. His Majesty King Alexander I serves as the head of state, while the Erealandian government is led by the Prime Minister of Erealand, currently Gabriel McKenna. The government exercises executive power on behalf of and by the consent of the monarch, and the devolved governments of ??? and ???. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as in the other parliaments.
Since the 1920s, the Erealandian politics were dominated by two major parties, which are the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. Before the Labour Party rose in Erealandian politics, the Liberal Party held its position as a major party alongside the Conservatives. While coalition and minority governments have been an occasional feature of parliamentary politics, the first-past-the-post electoral system used for general elections tends to maintain the dominance of these two parties, though each has in the past century relied upon a third party, such as the Green Democrats, to deliver a working majority in Parliament.
With the partition of ???, ??? received home rule in 1920, though civil unrest meant direct rule was restored in 1972. Support for nationalist parties in ??? led to proposals for devolution in the 1970s, though only in the 1990s did devolution happen. Today, ??? and ??? each possess a legislature and executive. The Erealandian government remains responsible for non-devolved matters and, in the case of ???, co-operates with the government of the Republic of ???.
The constitution of Erealand is uncodified, being made up of constitutional conventions, statutes and other elements. This system of government, known as the Westhaughton system, has been adopted by other countries, especially those that were formerly parts of the Erealandian Empire. The country is also responsible for several dependencies, which fall into two categories: the Crown Dependencies in the immediate vicinity, are strictly-speaking subject to the Crown (i.e, the Monarch) but not part of Erealand's sovereign territory (though de facto Erealandian territory), and Erealandian Overseas Territories, which are parts of Erealand's sovereign territory, and where most aspects of internal governance have been delegated to local governments, though remaining subject to the Erealandian Parliament.
The Crown
The Erealandian monarch, currently King Alexander I, is the head of state of the United Kingdom. Though the sovereign is not directly involved in government, the Crown remains the source of ultimate executive power. These powers are known as royal prerogative and can be used for a vast amount of things, such as the issue or withdrawal of passports, to the dismissal of the prime minister or even the declaration of war. The powers are delegated from the monarch personally, in the name of the Crown, and can be handed to various ministers, or other officers of the Crown, and can purposely bypass the consent of Parliament.
The head of His Majesty's Government, the Prime Minister, also has weekly meetings with the sovereign who may express their opinions, warn, or advise the Prime Minister in the government's work.
According to the Erealandian constitution, the monarch has the following powers:
Domestic powers
- The power to appoint (and in theory, dismiss) a prime minister
- The power to appoint and dismiss other ministers
- The power to summon, prorogue and dissolve the Parliament
- The power to grant or refuse royal assent to bills passed by the Parliament
- The power to issue commissioned officers for the Armed Forces
- The power to command the Armed Forces
- The power to appoint members to both the Privy Council and King's Counsel
- The power to issue, cancel or revoke Erealandian passports
- The power to grant prerogative of mercy
- The power to grant, cancel and withhold any honours
- The power to create corporations (including the status of being a city, with its own corporation) by royal charter, and to amend, replace and revoke existing charters
Foreign powers
- The power to make and ratify treaties
- The power to declare war and conclude peace with other nations
- The power to deploy the Armed Forces overseas
- The power to recognise states
- The power to credit and receive diplomats
Executive
Her Majesty's Government
The monarch appoints a Prime Minister as the head His Majesty's Government, following the strict convention that the Prime Minister must be a member of the House of Commons most likely to form a government with the support of the House.
In practice, this means that the leader of the political party with an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons is chosen to be the Prime Minister. If no party has an absolute majority, the leader of the largest party is given the first opportunity to form a coalition. The Prime Minister then selects the other Ministers which make up the Government and act as political heads of the various government departments. About twenty of the most senior government ministers make up the Cabinet and approximately ??? ministers in total comprise the government. In accordance with constitutional convention, all ministers within the government are either members of Parliament or peers in the House of Lords.
As in some other parliamentary systems of government, notably those based on the Westhaughton system, the executive ("the government") is composed of and accountable to the Parliament - a successful vote of no confidence forces the government to resign or to seek a parliamentary dissolution and a general election. In practice, MPs from all major parties are strictly controlled by whips, who try to ensure that they vote in line with party policy. If a government has a large majority, it is unlikely for it to lose enough votes to be unable to pass legislation.
Prime Minister and the Cabinet
The Prime Minister, currently Gabriel McKenna, is the most senior minister in the Cabinet. They are responsible for chairing Cabinet meetings, selecting Cabinet ministers and other government officials, and formulating government policy. The Prime Minister being the de facto leader of Erealand, exercises executive functions that are nominally vested in the sovereign by the Royal Prerogatives. Historically, the Erealandian monarch was the sole source of executive powers in the government, until following the lead of the ??? monarchs, an arrangement of a "Prime Minister" chairing and leading the Cabinet began to emerge. Over time, this arrangement became the effective executive branch of government, as it assumed the day-to-day functioning of the Erealandian government away from the sovereign.
Theoretically, the Prime Minister is "first among equals" amidst their Cabinet colleagues. While they are a senior Cabinet minister, he or she is theoretically bound to make executive decisions in a collective fashion with the other Cabinet ministers. The Cabinet, along with the PM, consists of Secretaries of State from the various government departments, the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord President of the Council, the President of the Board of Trade, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Ministers without portfolio. Cabinet meetings are typically held weekly, while Parliament is in session.
Government departments and the Civil Service
The Government of Erealand contains a number of ministries known mainly, though not exclusively as departments, e.g., Department for Education, Science and Innovation. These are politically led by a government minister who is often a Secretary of State and member of the Cabinet. He or she may also be supported by a number of junior ministers. In practice, several government departments and ministers have responsibilities that cover England alone, with devolved bodies having responsibility for ???.
Implementation of the Minister's decisions is carried out by a permanent politically neutral organisation known as the Civil Service. Its constitutional role is to support the present government regardless of which political party is in power. Unlike some other democracies, senior civil servants remain in post upon a change of government. Administrative management of the department is led by a head civil servant known in most departments as a Principal Secretary. The majority of the civil service staff in fact work in executive agencies, which are separate operational organisations reporting to Departments of State.