The Political Parties of the UK

The main parties in the UK are the Conservative party (right wing), the Labourparty (left wing) and the Liberal Democrats (centre).

The Conservative party goes back to the Tories, or Royalists, who originated in King Charles’ reign (1660-1685). The Tories were the party that supported Church and King; the other main party at time were the Whigs, who were a group eager for political reform. The Tory party gave way to its successor, the Conservative party, in around 1830.

The Conservative party believes in free enterprise and the importance of a capitalist economy, with private ownership preferred to state control.

In 1899 the Trade Union Congress summoned a special conference of trade unions and socialist bodies to make plans to represent labour in Parliament. The proposal for such a meeting had come from Thomas Steels, a member of the Independent Labour Party, which had been formed in 1893. The conference met in February 1900 in London and has always been looked on as the foundation of the Labour Party. The Labour party believes that private ownership and enterprise should be allowed to flourish, but not at the expense of their traditional support of the public services.

There has been a Liberal party in Great Britain since 1868 when the name was adopted by the Whig party. The Whig party was created after the revolution of 1688 and aimed to subordinate the power of the Crown to that of Parliament and the upper classes. In 1981 a second centre party was created by 24 Labour MPs. It was called the Social Democratic party, and which became the Liberal Democrats after the 1987 election.

The Liberal Democrats believe that the state should have some control over the economy, but that there should be individual ownership.

There are other political parties within the UK. The Green party offers economic and industrial policies that relate directly to the environment. The Scottish Nationalist Party wants independence for Scotland within the European Community. Plaid Cymru – the Welsh Nationalist Party – is determined to preserve the Welsh language and culture as the foundation of a distinctive Welsh identity within the UK. Its radical wing has resorted to arson attempts as a means of protest.

 

14 Гілки влади Об’єднаного Королівства Великої Британії та Північної Ірландії, основні функції.

 

The Legislative branch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

What is the Government! The Government is the management of the country. The Government makes the important decisions, e. g. about foreign policy, education, or health, but all these decisions have to be approved by Parliament. If Parliament thinks that a particular Government policy is against the public interest, then it can force the Government to change its mind.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. It has either a king or a queen – as its Head of State, but the power of the monarch is limited by the country’s constitution. In practice the monarch reigns but doesn’t rule. The legal authority (the passing of acts) is given to Parliament, and executive authority (the carrying out of laws) to the government. All real power lies with Parliament and the existing government.

The British form of government, that of a “Constitutional Monarchy”, might seem a puzzling notion to many on discovering that Britain does not actually have a written constitution. The Constitution of the United Kingdom is not one document, as are the constitutions of many other countries. Much of it is not ever in writing and so the country is often said to have an unwritten constitution.

Some of the written parts of the Constitution come from laws passed by Parliament. Some written parts come from such old documents as Magna Carta, which limited the king’s power. Other written parts come from common law, a body of laws based on people’s customs and beliefs, and supported in the courts.

The unwritten parts of the Constitution include many important ideas and practices that the people have developed over the years. They include the Cabinet system of government and the relationship between the Cabinet and the monarch. The Constitution can be changed at any time by an act of Parliament or by the people’s acceptance of a new idea or practice. The Constitution is thus very flexible and adapts readily to changing political conditions and ideas.

State Organs of the United Kingdom include the monarchy, the legislative, executive and judicial organs of Government.

Parliament is the most important legislative body of the British people consisting of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Sovereign.

They meet together only on occasions of symbolic significance such as the state opening of Parliament or coronation of a new monarch. The agreement of all three elements is normally required for legislation.

Parliament in Britain exists since 1265. Having been organized in the reign of king Edward 1, it is the oldest Parliament in the world. The main functions of Parliament are:

- to pass laws;

- to give authority for the government to raise money through taxation;

- to examine (to scrutinize) government policy and administration, particularly its financial program;

- to debate or discuss the major political issues of the day.

The House of Commons is a nation-wide representative body, the lower house of the British Government. This assembly is elected by a universal adult suffrage. The House of Commons consists of 651 Members of Parliament, who are directly elected by voters in each of Britain’s 651 parliamentary constituencies. Members of the House of Commons are granted a salary for their parliamentary work. They are elected either at a general election or at a by-election following the death or retirement of an MP. The extreme duration of the House of Commons is fixed at 5 years. So not less frequently than once in 5 years the election has to take place. Only the House of Common can give permission for the Government to collect taxes. The House of Common decides what taxes shall be collected and how money shall be spent. The chairman, who keeps the House of Commons in order, is called the Speaker. He is elected by the members of the House immediately after each new Parliament is formed.

The House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament, consists of over 1,000 non-elected members: the Lords Temporal and the Lords Spiritual. The Lords Spiritual are the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, together with twenty-four senior bishops of the Church of England.

The Lords Temporal consists of hereditary peers who have inherited their titles: life peers who are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Government for various services to the nation (their titles cannot be inherited) and the Lords of Appeal (Law Lords) who become life peers on their judicial appointments. The latter serve the House of Lords as the ultimate court of appeal. This appeal court consists of some nine Law Lords who hold senior judicial office. They are presided over by the Lord Chancellor and they form a quorum of three to five when hear appeal cases. So the House of Lords is a Court of Justice, the highest Court of Appeal in Britain. The work of the House of Lords is largely complementary to that of the House of Commons, and includes examining and revising bills from the Commons, and discussing important matters which the Commons cannot find time to debate. The House of Lords doesn’t have the same power as the House of Commons.

It can:

- pass Bills sent to it from the House of Commons;

- amend Bills and send them back to the Commons for approval;

- delay Bills for a limited time;

- start its own Bills, but it must send them to the Commons for approval.

The monarchy is the most ancient institution in the United Kingdom, with a continuous history stretching back over a thousand years. The monarchy is hereditary. The present Sovereign of the UK, Queen Elizabeth II (born 1926; ascended the throne on February 6, 1952; crowned on June 2, 1953) is the head of the judiciary, the commander- in - chief of the armed forces of the Crown and the temporal head of the established Church in England. By convention the Queen invites the leader of the political party, which commands a majority in the House of Commons to form a government. In international affairs the Queen, as head of state, has the power to declare war and make peace, to recognize foreign states and to annex or cede territory. The Queen continues to play an important role in the work of the government. She holds meeting of the Privy Council, gives audience to her ministers and other officials in Britain and overseas, receives accounts of Cabinet decisions, reads dispatches and signs state papers. She must be consulted on every aspect of national life, and she must show complete impartiality.

 

The Executive branch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The UK is governed by the Government. The Ministry is the government of the moment. The head of the government is the Prime Minister who is appointed directly by the Crown. The Queen appoints but doesn’t select the Prime Minister. She has no choice because the Prime Minister is always the leader of the political party which has a majority of seats in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister is always a member of the House of Commons. His main functions are: leading the majority party; running the Government; appointing Cabinet Ministers and other ministers; representing the nation in political matters. He consults and advises the Monarch on government business, supervises and coordinates the work of various ministers and departments in the House of Commons. He also makes recommendations to the Monarch on many important public appointments.

Upon accepting office the Prime Minister must form a government, that is, select a cabinet and ministry (the government of the moment) from among the Members of Parliament of his own party. The majority of ministers are members of the Commons, although the Government is also fully represented by ministers in the Lords. The Cabinet constitutes the centre of the government and is composed of about 20 of the most senior ministers.

There is no limit on the size of the Cabinet but the number of salaried Secretaries of state is limited to 21. The Cabinet meets regularly (once or twice a week, usually on Thursday morning) under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister to decide government policy on major issues, exercise supreme control of government and coordinate government departments. All major decisions of the Government are made by the Cabinet, and therefore it is the Cabinet which forms Government policy. Decisions made by the Cabinet must be unanimous. It makes its decisions collectively and is collectively responsible to Parliament for all Cabinet decisions; individual ministers are responsible to Parliament for the work of their departments.

After the Prime Minister has formed his cabinet, he selects the rest of his ministry. Most of these ministers are the political heads of Government Departments and are members of one of the Houses.

Government Departments: Government departments are responsible for implementing Government policy. Each department is headed by two people: a political head who is usually the minister, and an administrative head from the Civil Service, called a permanent secretary. They are responsible for a permanent staff which is part of the Civil Service. There are many such departments, for example the Department of Education, the Ministry of Defence, etc. The most important department is the Treasury, and the Prime Minister is usually its political head. It is the Department which controls the economy of the nation.

As well as government departments there are government agencies formed to operate public services, e. g., the Post Office, British Rail, etc. Most of these agencies are subject to the control of one of the government departments. All the members of Mr. Blair’s Cabinet belong to the LabourParty. The Labour Party gained the right to form a Government by winning the general election in May 1997. Mr. Blair, the leader of the Labour Party, became Prime Minister. He selected a team of ministers to serve in his Government.

What happens when there is a change in Government?

During the last 27 years there have been eight general elections. Four of these resulted in a change of Government.

1970 Conservatives took over from Labour. 1974 Labour took over from Conservatives. 1979 Conservatives took over from Labour. 1997 Labour took over from Conservatives.

On each of these occasions the ministers in each Department changed. Ministers of the winning party took over from those of the loosing party. The two main parties have very different ideas – for example, about education, housing and industry. Departments and ministers are run by civil servants, who are permanent officials. Even if the Government changes after an election, the same civil servants are employed.

The Privy Council: The Privy Council developed from a small group of royal advisers at court into the chief source of executive authority. But its position was weakened in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as more of its functions were transferred to a developing parliamentary Cabinet.

Today its main role is to advise the monarch on a range of matters, like the resolution of constitutional issues and the approval of Orders in Council, such as the granting of Royal Charters to public bodies. The most important task of the Privy Council today is performed by its Judicial Committee. This serves as the final court of appeal from the dependencies and commonwealth countries. It may also be used as an arbiter for a wide range of courts and committees in Britain and overseas, and its rulings can be influential.

The office of Privy Councillor is an honorary one, conferred, for example, on former Prime Ministers.

 

The Judicial branch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

 

The United Kingdom has no Ministry of Justice. Responsibility for the administration of the judicial system in England and Wales is divided between the courts themselves, the Lord Chancellor, and the Home Secretary. The Lord Chancellor is responsible for the composition of the courts, civil law, parts of criminal procedure and law reform in general; the Home Secretary is responsible for the prevention of criminal offences, trial and treatment of offenders and for the prison service. He recommends all judicial appointments to the Crown, appoints magistrates.

The Judiciary is independent of executive; its judgments are not subject to ministerial direction or control. The Prime Minister recommends the highest judicial appointments to the Crown.

The Lord Chancellor is the head of the judiciary, except in Scotland. He recommends all judicial appointments to the Crown – other than those recommended by the Prime Minister and appoints magistrates. The House of Lords is the final court of appeal, but in practice appeals are heard by life peers who are senior judges or who have held high judicial office. Other peers do not take part in the judicial work of the lords.

Criminal Proceedings. There are two courts of trial and two courts of appeal for criminal proceedings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The courts of trial are the Magistrates’ Court and the Crown Court, and the courts of appeal are the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords.

The Magistrates' Court. The most common type of law court in England and Wales is the Magistrates' Court. The Magistrates' Court is the lower court of trial. It deals with summary offences. Summary or less serious offences, which make up the vast majority of criminal cases (about 90 percent of all crimes), are tried by magistrates – justices of the peace (JPs). Magistrates’ courts can impose fines of up to £ 2,000 or prison sentences of up to six months. More serious criminal cases, so called indictableoffences, then go to the Crown Courts. The most severe punishment is life imprisonment: there has been no death penalty in Britain since 1965. Civil cases are dealt with in County courts.

So Magistrates' Courts have limited powers of penalty but may commit a convicted offender to the Crown Court if it is considered that the powers of the Magistrates' Court are insufficient. Approximately 95% of all prosecutions are dealt with in the Magistrates' Courts.

Juvenile Courts are composed of specially trained magistrates. They try most charges against children and young persons under the age of 18 years. Coroners’ courts investigate violent, sudden or unnatural deaths.

The Crown Court. The Crown Court is the senior court of trial for criminal offences. The courts are established at various centres throughout the country. The courts are presided over by either a High Court Judge, Circuit Judge or Recorder who sits with a jury. The Crown Court for the City of London is the Central Criminal Court, also known as the Old Bailey. The Crown court may also hear appeals against conviction and/ or sentence for some offences dealt with at the Magistrates’ Court. The Crown Court has 90 branches in different towns and cities.

 

Civil Proceedings. Civil proceedings consist of litigation about property, family matters and actions to obtain financial redress for damage to property and personal injury. The courts of trial for such litigation are the County Court and the High Court of Justice. County Courts are local courts and are presided over by a single Judge. The High Court of Justice is situated in London. Some cases before the High Court of Justice may be heard before a jury.

 

 


15 Моя майбутня професія. Плани на майбутнє.

MY FUTURE SPECIALITY

One of the most significant (важливий) decisions (рішення) you make in life is choosing (вибір) the kind of work you want to do. It’s important (важливо) to find (знайти) the work that best suits (підходить) you and for which (для якої) you are best qualified. The person who has a career that fits (підходить) his or her special (особливий) needs and abilities (здібності) finds satisfaction (задоволення) in working. I consider the occupation I’ve chosen to be the one that best suits me.

Next year I'll graduate from Berdychiv Polytechnic College and become a lawyer, I mean a specialist who is in a great need nowadays. I guess, it is one of the fastest-growing professions and one of the most popular fields of study in colleges and universities. Colleges and universities train specialists for law offices, court, Procurator’s office, the Bar, notary office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs etc. So we’ll work as people’s judges, investigators, procurators (prosecutor), notaries, lawyers, legal advisers (experts) etc. We’ll have to deal with human destinies in our everyday work, and it’s not an easy job.

We realize that to become a lawyer we should have deep knowledge of legal subjects but it’s not enough nowadays. On the one hand, a lawyer should be a person of high moral qualities. He must strictly keep the rules of community, his conduct must be irreproachable, he must be honest, just, be an example for other people and people must trust him, because he stands on guard of the interests of our state, rights and interests of our citizens, public order. On the other hand, he should constantly develop himself. Mastering foreign languages will greatly contribute to his general education and advance.

Our lawyers are waging a decisive struggle against criminal phenomena in our life. This struggle consists not only in punishing, but also in reeducation of offenders, rooting out and eliminating the conditions creating these crimes. If a crime has been committed it is necessary to find the criminal, to investigate the case carefully and rapidly and punish those who are guilty in order to guarantee the principle of the inevitability of punishment. Tremendous work is also done by lawyers to prevent crimes. So as you see, there is no need to say how responsible all this work is. To carry it out one needs to be highly educated and have good professional training.

No doubt, people of our country show deep feeling of respect and trust for lawyers and I am proud to become one of them.

We know that lawyers are employed in a number of different job settings but most job openings for lawyers require advanced training. Those college graduates who wish to seek higher level jobs usually enter university and obtain a bachelor’s, specialist’s or master’s degree in law. So on graduating from college I am going to continue my education at one of the universities of Ukraine.

16 Вимоги до спеціаліста. Перспективи.

 

 

We realize that to become a lawyer we should have deep knowledge of legal subjects but it’s not enough nowadays. On the one hand, a lawyer should be a person of high moral qualities. He must strictly keep the rules of community, his conduct must be irreproachable, he must be honest, just, be an example for other people and people must trust him, because he stands on guard of the interests of our state, rights and interests of our citizens, public order. On the other hand, he should constantly develop himself. Mastering foreign languages will greatly contribute to his general education and advance.

Our lawyers are waging a decisive struggle against criminal phenomena in our life. This struggle consists not only in punishing, but also in reeducation of offenders, rooting out and eliminating the conditions creating these crimes. If a crime has been committed it is necessary to find the criminal, to investigate the case carefully and rapidly and punish those who are guilty in order to guarantee the principle of the inevitability of punishment. Tremendous work is also done by lawyers to prevent crimes. So as you see, there is no need to say how responsible all this work is. To carry it out one needs to be highly educated and have good professional training.

 

No doubt, people of our country show deep feeling of respect and trust for lawyers and I am proud to become one of them.

We know that lawyers are employed in a number of different job settings but most job openings for lawyers require advanced training. Those college graduates who wish to seek higher level jobs usually enter university and obtain a bachelor’s, specialist’s or master’s degree in law. So on graduating from college I am going to continue my education at one of the universities of Ukraine.

17 Працевлаштування. Проходження співбесіди.

 

An interview

 

An interview is a formal meeting at which a person who is interested in getting a job is asked questions to learn how well he would be able to do this job.

The purpose of the interview is to see if the person matches/meets the requirements of the job. Interviews take many different forms. They are:competencybased interviews (focused onqualitiesof theinterviewer),case study interview (the interviewer would like to know what you would do in different situations), structured interview (the interviewer asks all the candidates the same questions), face-to-face interviews(two people are involved in the interview- you and theinterviewer), panel interviews (involve several people sitting as a panel),telephone interviews, group interviews (several candidates are present and asked questions in turn), sequential interviews [si′kwen∫əl] (there are several interviews in turn, with a different interviewer each time).

 

18 Прокуратура України. Основні функції.