THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

INTRODUCTION

This unit deals with the parliamentary system of government and discusses its major characteristics and features. It also examines the dual nature of its executive and the balancing role it was meant to serve. The Unit then considers the merits and demerits of the parliamentary system of government.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to

1. Define and explain the basic features of the parliamentary system of government

2. Understand the primacy of the parliament as well as role of the cabinet as the clearing house, jointly working to ensure the success of the parliamentary system. 

3. Know the advantages and the advantages of the Parliamentary system of government.
4. Use Britain as one model to demonstrate the success of the parliamentary system of government

MAIN CONTENT

3.1 The Meaning and Structure of Parliamentary System of Government

 3.1.1 Essentials of Parliamentary System of Government

Parliamentary system of government is the system of government in which the office of the head of government is different from head of government. The head of government performs the real and executive function. In Britain, a good example of a country operating the parliamentary system of government, the prime minister, who is the head of government, performs the substantive executive functions. The prime minister is usually appointed by the head of state from the party that controls majority seats in the legislature. 

 The head of state, like the Queen in Great Britain performs ceremonial duties like welcoming foreign dignitaries, presiding over important national functions or ceremonies, signing bills into law in the parliament and addressing the parliament at the beginning and the end of parliamentary life. The position of head of state in Britain is heredity.


In Britain the parliament is made up of the Queen, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. In a parliamentary system of government the Prime minister occupies a pivotal and key position; he appoints ministers from the elected members of House of Commons, and they are all answerable and accountable to the parliament for the discharge their functions. The prime minister is the chairman of the cabinet and he has primary responsibility for the execution of policies.

3.1.2 Parliamentary System as a Responsible Government
A Parliamentary system of government is otherwise referred to as a responsible government. This term can be applied to the British system in three ways viz: First, a major characteristic feature of the British system is that Governments act in a responsible manner; in the sense that they do not abuse the wide legal powers that they possess as a result of the various features of the constitution, particularly its unwritten part which concentrates considerable powers in the Government. Thus, in this sense a responsible government is a trustworthy government. Second, a  parliamentary government is responsive to public opinion, and acts in accordance with what it judges to be the wishes of the majority of the people.

Here, there is an overlap between two meanings, for it is assumed today that in order for a government to be regarded as trustworthy it must be responsive to public opinion. Third, a very important feature of a parliamentary system is that government is accountable to parliament. This is based on

 (a) the principle that ministers are drawn from parliament and

 (b) that government has to have the support of the majority of members of House of Commons in order to survive. Two doctrines stem from this third meaning 

(1) Collective Government Responsibility and 

(2) Individual Ministerial Responsibility to Parliament.

Collective Responsibility
This means that all members of the government are collectively responsible for the successes/failures of the government and all ministers, not just departmental ministers concerned, must collectively share moral responsibility for its policies. Implicit in the doctrine is the notion that all ministers are bound to support government decisions before the public, parliament and the party, and at the very least, must refrain from openly criticising government policy. This doctrine also implies that a minister who dislikes a particular government policy must reconcile his differences or resign from the government. Sometimes resignation comes immediately, as Mr. Christopher Mayhow did when he resigned over defence policy in 1966. Alternatively, the ministers may remain for a time in the cabinet hoping to convert its views as with Mr. Frank Cousins who was known to be hostile to the prices and incomes policy of the then Labour government long before he eventually resigned in 1966.

A similar lack of cabinet solidarity on a fundamental issue was revealed in 1974 when both Michael Foot (Secretary of State for Employment) and Eric Heffer (Minister of State for Industry) openly disagreed with the Labour Government’s decision to supply arms to the then new anti-Communist regime in Chile. The maintenance of a united government front is an essential prerequisite for the
preservation of party discipline in the Commons, and to the answering of opposition  and public criticism of government policy. In this respect collective responsibility also serves as a means of suppressing differences of opinion within the government itself. The doctrine applies to all ministers, from senior cabinet ministers to junior ministers.

Ministerial Responsibility
This related concept also has a number of meanings: In a legal sense it means that the ministers not the monarch, is responsible for a particular aspect of governmental activity, and in this sense it is the logical expression of the principle that the monarch exercise prerogatives only on the advice of ministers