The second characteristic is the breakdown of the fusion of power and cabinet dominance. “In his classic, The English Constitution, Walter Bagehot states that the close union, the nearly complete fusion of the executive and legislative powers in the key explanation of the efficient operation of the British governments.” Thus, the traditional model is based on “strong cabinet leadership, which depends on majority support in the House of Commons and on the cohesiveness of the majority party. If these conditions are absent, cabinets lose much of their predominant position.” “Since 1970, there has been a significant increase in the frequency of parliamentary defeats of important proposals introduced by both majority and minority cabinets.” As a result, this even changed the “traditional view that cabinets must resign or dissolve the House of Commons and call for new elections if they suffer a defeat.”
A threat to the traditional two party system is also an important feature that characterizes the demise of the majoritarian model. Firstly, there has been a steady decline in the percentage of the total votes won in general elections by the Conservative and Labour parties. One of the major causes of this decline has been the weakening of “party identification.” Voters no longer have such strong emotional ties to particular parties. The reshaping of the two Parties’ interests and ideologies also makes a return to the old two-party system impossible.
Appearing cleavages and the downfall of the one-dimensional party system is also relevant to this topic. In the old model, the principal political difference that divided the British and their parties was disagreement about socioeconomic policies. The labour party represented the left-of the-centre and was supported by working class voters. The Conservative was right-of-the-center and was supported by the middle-class. British society used to be highly homogenous and the above issues were the only dimension that caused Parties to diverge. Yet now, the UK has become a “multi-national state.” The social class is no longer the only dimension of differentiation. Ethinicity and religion have become important determinants of voting behaviour also.
This leads us on to the notion of multi-level governance, which proves to undermine the traditional governmental model. The British political system was previously characterized as unitary, with a strong central base. At the present time, “the structure of the government is fragmented into a maze of institutions and organizations.” The model in particular fails to capture the complex reality of the British system. There is not only one centre of power. In practice, there are many centers and diverse links between many agencies of government at local, regional, national levels and also links with the EU. There is a very complicated architecture to systems of government.
‘Devolution’ is also key when discussing the demise of the system. The United Kingdom although it remains a unitary state, is no longer a highly centralized state and is no longer united as previously. Previously, local governments were under the power of the central government and dependent on it financially. A ‘devolution’ of power has caused Scotland and Wales to separated themselves from England. Scotland has had its own Parliament and Executive since 1999 and Wales an Assembly and Executive. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are able to practice their own policies in key domestic areas and policies in relation to local government. They have also developed independent relationships with the EU, which lets them by-pass London.
The plurality system of elections of the Westminster model has not been changed, but has been highly criticized, leading to demise of the system. Due to the disproportional results it produced, the plurality single-member district method of electing the House of Commons has been disliked. The Liberals were very eager to introduce the proportional representation method (lip pg 14). Proportional representation has been used to elect representatives to the new assemblies and to the Scottish parliament, challenging the old Westminster model of government by a single party.
Britain’s membership in the European Union has brought great changes to its political system and thus also to the Westminster model it has followed in the past. Due to the entry into the EU, the British government can no longer be considered as fully sovereign, which shows the demise of the model. The EU had steadily become a significant factor in all aspects of British politics and policy-making. Britain is legally subordinated to Brussels. Constitutional superiority of the EU law over Westminster legislation further breaks down the credence of the majoritarian model.
“The rule that the referendum is incompatible with the Westminster model was broken in the 1970’s.” In the past, Britain’s politicians viewed referendums with much suspicion. Clement Attlee even described them as “devices alien to out traditions.” Nevertheless, Britain has restored to increasing use of the referendum. Referendums have been used to solve issues regarding the devolution and the European Community
The House of Lords has also gone through important reform. Historically this body has always had a judicial role and until the 19th century all peers were able to playa part in judicial proceedings. Today, only 12 law lords and peers who have held high judicial office undertake exercise specialist tasks in this branch of Parliament. Thus, the House of Lords’ power has been significantly curbed and its influence in politics decreased.
The fact that Labour and the Conservatives have set aside their distinctive ideologies also undermines the traditional Westminster model. The transformation of the Labour into the New Labour Party marked the beginning of a drawing together, thus towards the centre, of the policies of the two distinct parties. New Labour altered Clause Four and rejected old left-wing socialism and ‘labourism,’ and began to appeal more to the middle class.
The demise of the Westminster model is also being witnessed in the area of constitutional reform programme that the Labour party wants to carry out. Among the key issues on the reform agenda are such as the change voting system, radical freedom of information, or the emergence of the second chamber of the House of Lords. If the constitutional reform programme delivers change in each of these sphere, the old Westminster model will be transformed.
Most people still use the old term ‘Westminster model’ in order to describe the form of government present in the United Kingdom. Yet we see that as time passes by, politics also go through radical changes and transformations and with it, terms also have to be altered. All elements of the old political model of the UK have been challenged and the system is rapidly breaking down. We are witnessing a demise of the ‘Westminster model’ in the UK and now have to ask ourselves the question: how do we define the British political system of the new millennium?
Works Cited
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Liphart, Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries (1984).
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Coxall et al., Contemporary British Politics, 4th ed., (2003).
P. Dunleavy et al., Developments in British Politics 6, (2000).
A. Liphart, Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries (1984), p. 10.
B. Coxall et al., Contemporary British Politics, 4th ed., (2003), p. 150.
P. Dunleavy et al., Developments in British Politics 6, (2000), p 31.
