Questions tagged [united-kingdom]
Questions relating to the government and politics of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. If your question relates to a specific country within the Union, be that England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, use with the relevant tag.
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What governmental power does the Monarch hold in Great Britain in practice?
We have been led to believe that much of the power that was once held by the monarchy has been transferred to the Parliament and that the King is mostly a figurehead. However, the government is still ...
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What personal decision-making powers does the British monarch retain in practice? [duplicate]
De-jure, the Queen is the supreme ruler of the UK and retains significant decision-making power. But in practice she is obliged to follow the instructions of Parliament and the Prime Minister.
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Could the British government un-trigger Article 50?
At some point, probably early in 2017, the British Prime Minster is likely to trigger Article 50. A number of expert commentators and a large proportion of the British public still believe that it is ...
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Why is it impossible to leave the Single Market without a hard Irish border?
I see a repeated assumption that puzzles me. From another well asked and answered question:
On one hand it is impossible for the UK to leave the Single Market while maintaining an open border with ...
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Why don't British kings and queens veto laws? [duplicate]
I've learned from Wikipedia that the British king or queen has the right to veto laws, but they don't use the right. Why is that? Is it because of tradition, respect for democracy, some regulations or ...
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How do Whips enforce control over MPs in the UK Parliament?
Whips are often used to 'persuade' MPs in their party to vote the way the Party wishes them to vote.
What power, or powers, do Whips have over backbench MPs to enforce this wish?
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What will Scotland's status in the EU be, assuming the Scots vote for independence?
The Scots will vote on whether Scotland should be an independent country or not, on September 18, 2014. Assuming the majority vote is for independence, will Scotland remain in the European Union ...
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What treaties or (written) agreements would a hard border in Ireland breach, post-Brexit?
Would the hard border that would come up in a "no deal" Brexit (between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) be violating any binding agreements that the UK has signed? (And the same goes for ...
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How could the UK resolve the Irish border conundrum without staying in the Single Market?
Right now the UK seems to be in a stalemate in regards to the Irish border situation post-Brexit:
If they don't leave the Single Market, Brexit would be effectively a farce as the UK would be forced ...
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Is there a legal way to postpone or call off a general election in the UK due to concerns one way or another?
I'm asking this as a follow up question after this one when Steve Melnikoff raised an interesting point in the comments as to whether there was a legal mechanism to postpone or call off a general ...
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What are the main reasons for why negotiating a proper Brexit deal has been so hard?
When the UK voted for Brexit, then it was generally expected that the pro-Brexit politicians had some idea of how negotiations for a Brexit deal would fare and what the outcome would be.
Now years ...
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Why does the EU care so much about the UK divorce payment?
Most current estimates of the UK exit bill show that the sum is somewhere around 50 billion Euros. This is equivalent to 0.3% of the EU's yearly GDP, so it's pretty much a negligible sum for the EU ...
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Must the UK leave the EU?
The BBC has projected that a majority voted for the UK to leave the EU.
To what extent is the referendum binding?
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Why don't Sinn Féin take their seats in the UK parliament?
It seems that whatever happens (or happened) in a UK general election, the Irish nationalist party, Sinn Féin, will presumably always be in opposition.
This means that the British government - ...
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Can the UK veto its own extension request?
Every member of the EU has to agree any extension to article 50.
Does this mean the UK PM could (technically) use his vote in the European Council to veto his own request for an extension?
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No deal Brexit : How is it going to help UK to create new trade deals?
There is a lot of optimism that leaving EU's Single Market, will be an opportunity for UK to create new trade deals with other countries outside the EU. I have seen articles and people using this ...
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Why is the polish PiS considered dangerous, but not the UK conservatives?
Both parties won an absolute majority of seat in the parliament of their respective countries, and that without winning an absolute majority of the votes, because of how the election system works.
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Why is an MP required to comply with a Three Line Whip?
We already have a question about why MPs are required to comply with party whips in general. But I would like to know why is an MP required to comply with a Three Line Whip in particular.
I've just ...
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How could Scotland become independent given that Theresa May rejected a referendum?
Given the stance of Theresa May on allowing Scotland a second referendum, how could Scotland become independent?
In short, if the UK government refused to acknowledge the mandate of the SNP to call a ...
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Can the Prime Minister prorogue Parliament?
Can the Prime Minister of the UK prorogue (ie. suspend) Parliament at any time?
Or are there constraints on this?
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Mechanics of a second Brexit referendum
Some people advocate a simple n-way ballot like:
Remain
Deal
No deal
But this splits the leave vote.
An alternative is to use Single Transferable Vote, which in the case of a referendum would be an ...
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Could the UK re-join EU after leaving?
Let's assume that
Article 50 is invoked and UK officially leaves EU
For some reason, both UK populace (a large share) and enough powers that be or popular will in EU, decide that UK ought to re-join ...
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Why shouldn't BBC have to register as a foreign agent?
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is, as far as I know, a fully government-subsidized British TV channel. Does that not make it an arm of the British government? While some may point to its ...
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Which, if any, UK parliament petitions have ever succeeded?
The UK government official parliamentary petition website allows citizens to submit and sign petitions.
Which petitions have ever succeeded? By succeeded, I mean been debated and then actually acted ...
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Why do the British opposition parties not want a new election?
I'm trying to understand why Labour and other parties do not want an election. The bill blocking the no-deal exit on the 31st of October will almost certainly pass today. That means that the no-deal ...
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After Brexit, can the UK deal with individual countries of the EU?
After Brexit, would the UK be able to do trade deals with individual countries such as Germany, France, etc. without these deals having to be sanctioned by the European Union?
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If the UK Prime Minister suddenly dies, what happens?
With the news that Boris Johnson has tested positive for COVID-19, and was later hospitalised, a question occurred to me:
What happens if the UK Prime Minister suddenly dies?
I know that the ...
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Equivalent to government shutdown in parliamentary systems
Given the recent government shutdown in the US, there have been a lot of related questions here wondering about the possibility of it happening in the UK, Australia, and so on. In general, the ...
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If the UK government doesn't ask for article 50 extension, can parliament do it instead?
The Guardian reported under the headline "Brexit: Gove refuses to rule out ignoring any law passed to stop no deal":
Michael Gove has repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility that the ...
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Can the Queen refuse to suspend the Parliament?
According to BBC in Government asks Queen to suspend Parliament:
The government has asked the Queen to suspend Parliament just days after MPs return to work in September - and only a few weeks before ...
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What are the limits of parliamentary privilege?
From what I understand, parliamentary privilege affords MPs and Lords freedom of speech without fear of prosecution within their respective Houses of Parliament.
I’ve only seen it come up into ...
CDJB♦
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What is a Hung Parliament?
How is the Labour Party, with 57 fewer seats, able to still be in power in government?
Did the Labour Party hang Parliament?
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Brexit divorce bill breakdown
Articles like http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39453338 claim that UK might have to pay to leave the EU a bill estimated to be as much as €60bn (£51bn; $64bn).
What's the justification of the ...
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What forms of redress are available if a government decides to act illegally by omission?
At present, the UK parliament is attempting to pass legislation that would require Boris Johnson's government to take action to avoid a no-deal Brexit scenario. For the purposes of this question, I am ...
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Could Boris Johnson theoretically ignore any legislation passed to prevent no-deal brexit?
The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has clearly set out his position in that he wishes to leave the EU on 31st October with or without a deal. I.e if further negotiations with the EU do not result ...
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Why doesn't the UK hold a second Brexit referendum to clarify what the public wants from Brexit?
In following the ongoing Brexit drama I've seen claims that the first vote was unfair because it was only for yes/no and didn't say anything about what form an actual Brexit would take. This ...
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Do US politicians issue UK-style manifestos?
In the UK, political parties publish manifestos that go into reasonable detail about their plans post-election. Naturally, as politicians, they don't always deliver on their promises, but at least it ...
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What's the procedure of the Tory party if the Prime Minister lost his seat in the upcoming UK general election?
It is quite possible that Mr Johnson loses his seat in the upcoming general election, while the Conservative party gains a majority.
Does the Conservative party have official procedures for what ...
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What kind of legislative power does the British monarchy possess?
When did the British monarchy actually hand over its legislative powers to the parliament? Why is the monarchy still present today? There seems to be no real need for it anymore. Not only that I think ...
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What can UK citizens do to replace first past the post with a proportional representation voting system? [closed]
First past the post (FPP) is the voting system that is used in the United Kingdom to elect representatives to its lower house, the House of Commons. Due to FPP's winner-takes-all setup, voters have ...
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What are the arguments in favour of Brexit?
As a fairly typical UK citizen, with a partner, children, job, mortgage, etc., what benefits can I expect to experience over the next five years as a result of the UK leaving the EU?
I'm aware of ...
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Why did the UK trigger Article 50 before having a negotiation position?
Why did the United Kingdom invoke Article 50 before it had reached a negotiation position? Two years is a short time to negotiate something as complex as a withdrawal from the European Union, yet the ...
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Can the UK realistically back out of Brexit?
Note: this is not a question about whether Brexit is a good or bad thing. Keep answers impartial please.
It is quite obvious that the current British government negotiating Brexit terms has a very ...
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What do hard-Brexiteers want with respect to the Irish border?
Hard-Brexiteers would like the UK to have a "clean break" with the EU, and in particular they don't want any part of the UK to stay even temporarily in the customs union (the so-called backstop).
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Will English be dropped as an official/working language of the EU after Brexit?
English is currently one of the 24 official languages of the European Union (EU), and one of the three “working” languages alongside French and German.
Will the United Kingdom leaving the EU (Brexit) ...
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What would the United Kingdom's "optimal" Brexit deal look like?
As far as I could tell, the Brexit issue boils down to three core points for the UK:
The UK no longer has to follow any EU regulations.
The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland ...
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How does the expelling of diplomats work to create pressure on the diplomats' home country?
The UK has decided to expel Russian diplomats as response to the poisoning of an ex Russian spy in the UK. This tactic has been used by UK and other countries in the past (example: 4 diplomats were ...
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Why is May in charge of Brexit negotiations? What happened to the prominent Brexiteers?
I don't follow UK politics much, but I did get interested during the Brexit referendum two years ago. Back then, the main names I recall are David Cameron, Boris Johnson, and Nigel Farage, and maybe ...
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Why does the UK have more political parties than the US?
After reading this article, I got to wondering why the US has 2 viable political parties while the UK appears to have many, even though both use first-past-the-post voting.
Across England and Wales,...
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Why is the EU concerned about the UK "unilaterally withdrawing" from a proposed Irish backstop?
As I understand, one of the sticking points in the Brexit negotiations has been Britain's level of obligation to a proposed customs union backstop.
I understand also that this is essentially a ...
