Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The United Kingdom is also responsible for several other territories, which fall into two categories: the Crown Dependencies, in the immediate vicinity of the UK, are strictly-speaking subject to the British Crown (i.e., the Monarch) but not part of the United Kingdom (though de facto British territory), and British Overseas Territories, as ...
His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government, is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. [2] [3] The government is led by the prime minister (Keir Starmer since 5 July 2024) who selects all the other ministers. The country has had a Labour government since 2024.
The Government of the United Kingdom is divided into departments that each have responsibility, according to the government, for putting government policy into practice. [1] There are currently 24 ministerial departments, 20 non-ministerial departments, and 422 agencies and other public bodies, for a total of 465 departments. [2]
The concept of the separation of powers has been applied to the United Kingdom and the nature of its executive (UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive), judicial (England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) and legislative (UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru and Northern Ireland Assembly) functions.
The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. [7] Written during the English Civil War (1642–1651), it argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign .
Federalism in the United Kingdom aims at constitutional reform to achieve a federal UK [1] or a British federation, [2] where there is a division of legislative powers between two or more levels of government, so that sovereignty is decentralised between a federal government and autonomous governments in a federal system. [3]
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the highest court in the UK for all criminal and civil cases in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and for all civil cases in Scots law. [13] The Supreme Court is the final court, in the normal sense of the term, for interpreting United Kingdom law.
Government departments are directly liable for damage caused by their acts. However, the sovereign retains immunity from prosecution. [21] In M v Home Office, the Home Secretary was found to be liable for contempt of court. [22] The substantive interpretation of the rule of law is controversial in the United Kingdom.