'Executive power in the UK is dominated by the Prime Minister' Essay

'Executive power in the UK is dominated by the Prime Minister'. Discuss - Essay Example According to Allen (2003), the monarch acts within the constraints of convention and precedent, and exercises prerogative powers on the advice of the prime minister. The prime minister holds a weekly audience with the monarch; the records of these audiences are not taken and the proceedings remain fully confidential (Stewart, 2010). The monarch may express their views, but as constitutional rulers, they must accept the decisions of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister dominates the executive power in the United Kingdom; however, there are cases where the Prime Minister does not have full control of the executive. Appointments The Queen appoints the Prime Minister, who then appoints all other members of the government. This power to hire and fire extends to all ministers and cabinet members, giving the Prime Minister substantial control over the careers of members of parliament and peers. The Prime Minister can also create and establish new posts, departments, committees, policy uni ts and even merge the existing ones at will (Allen, 2003). This implies that the Prime Minister controls most of the governmental departments and commissions. Additionally, the Prime Minister has the powers to appoint and dismiss the government ministers. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the Prime Minister has been the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons. The power of the Prime Minster is based on the Royal Prerogative, where they exercise power on behalf of the monarch. Thus, the Prime Minister dominates the executive power of determining the members of parliament, cabinet, and ministers. As the head of intelligence and security services, the Prime Minister determines the composition of these agencies (Booth, 2006). The Prime Minister regulates their roles and functions and can deny permission if the security services want to carry out a particular task. The Prime Minister also appoints senior officers of the armed forces, and thus controls their functions. Other appointments carried out by the Prime Minister include top ecclesiastical, regius professorships, public sector, appointments to royal commissions and the Mastership of Trinity College (Allen, 2003). Giving the Prime Minister power to do all these appointments makes them to dominate the executive power. This is because the power to appoint is given together with the power to control. Head of the Executive The Prime Minister is the head of the executive. As the head of the executive, the Prime Minister is the chief policy maker because of the pre-eminence in making the government’s policy (Stewart, 2010). The Royal Prerogative gives the Prime Minister the power to make and break the composition of ministers and reshuffle the cabinet to meet the needs of government requirements. For example, Tony Blair decided to build the Millennium Dome when the cabinet stood against it (Stewart, 2010). Regardless of the fact that the announcement and the cabinet occurred simultaneously , the Prime Minister made the overall decision. Even though the prime minister can make such quick decisions, the cabinet can overrule their decisions, and they cannot impose policies through reluctant officials. Meetings must be conducted to make any ruling and the agreements from these meetings are bound to be followed to the latter. Conduct Parliamentary and Cabinet Business The Prime Minister