Main Problems with the Royal Prerogative - Case Study Example

1 Royal Prerogative: Problems and Reforms The definition of Royal Prerogative The usage ‘Royal Prerogative’ is entirely related to the United Kingdom(UK) though it is sparingly and sarcastically used in several other countries. Except in UK, people in other countries generally refer to this usage when they want to convey that somebody has been enjoying the royal privileges freely. The best known and judicially approved definition of the royal prerogative is provided by A.V.Dicey. According to Brazier,1 Dicey says: “The prerogative is the name for the remaining portion of the Crown’s original authority, and is therefore,…, the name for the residue of discretionary power left at any moment in the hands of the crown, whether such power be in fact exercised by the King himself or by his ministers”. Wikipedia describes the Royal Prerogative “as a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognised in common law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the Crown alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government are possessed by and vested in a monarch with regard to the process of governance of their state are carried out. It is not subject to parliamentary scrutiny but an individual prerogative can be abolished by legislative enactment” 2 . Practically speaking, Royal Prerogative is the usage accorded to the formal powers of the Crown within the executive process of the British politics. As part of the common law, the Queen represents the British constitutional monarchy that is apolitical, symbolic and impartial. ------------------------------------------------ 1Rodney Brazier, Ministers of the crown (Oxford University Press, 1997), 204 2Royal Prerogative, first Para, article. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Prerogative 2 The Queen exercises the Royal Prerogative on behalf of the elected ministers. As per the Royal Prerogative vested on the Monarchy, the Queen has the right to appoint and dismiss a prime minister.3 The Queen has the powers to appoint ministers, peers, senior C of E officials, head of BBC and senior civil servants. But, in reality, the Prime Minister exercises these powers. Only the Order of the Garter and the Order of Merit are at the personal disposal of the Queen indicating that vast powers in senior appointments rest with the Prime Minister. Under the Royal Prerogative, the Queen has the right to grant pardons and input some sentences but this has mostly remained a theoretical power with the Home Secretary retaining this power in practice. The Monarch has the power to declare war or treaties internationally but the Prime Minister has been exercising these powers on behalf of the Crown as we have seen in case of war on Iraq in 2003. Also, the Monarch is above the law and has immunity from law. In fact, it is commonly said in UK that the Queen always reigns but does not rule. According to John Oakland 4, Royal Prerogative represents the powers to initiate unilateral action that was legally and historically vested in the hands of the crown. But, in practice, most of these prerogative powers are now exercised by the ministers in general and by the Prime Minister in particular. Problems and reforms Irrespective of whether the Queen enjoyed any administrative or ruling powers in -------------------------------------------------------- 3The Royal Prerogative, available from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/royal_prerogative.htm 4 John Oakland, British civilization: a student’s dictionary. ( London: Routledge (UK), 2003. 3 practical terms due to the Royal Prerogative extended to Her Majesty by the Constitution, the Prerogative part has its drawbacks and problems that are inherent in the Monarchy. The facility or provision of the Royal Prerogative is coexistent with the Monarchy and a serious debate has been going on for a long time in UK whether to continue with it or not, with the debate limiting itself to private circles and the Government not willing to be dragged into this controversy. Frankly speaking, the Royal Prerogative, as it is linked with the Monarchy, is the pride of the British nation. But, the failure on the part of the political system to evaluate the need to continue with the old practices and traditions in the changed circumstances is the weakness of the British nation. When we look at the system of Royal Prerogative in an unbiased manner, we are flooded with many problems. They can be broadly categorised into financial problems, democratic problems and social problems. Financial problems The Royal Prerogative, extended to the Monarchy, has had its effect on the economy of the country. The financials spent on the Queen and her entourage are mountainous every year and the system of making grants repeatedly under the Royal Prerogative needs to be revamped quickly. It has made the Queen Elizabeth II, the symbolic monarch of the British constitution, one of the worlds wealthiest women5. The official website of the Queen displays proudly her ------------------------------------------------------ 5 What do you think?, first Para. Biography, Queen of England, Elizabeth II. Available from http://www.astrodatabank.com/NM/QueenElizabethII.htm 4 annual expenditure for the financial year 2004-05 as £ 36.7 million 6. This is exclusive of the expenditure incurred on her ceremonial services by the Army, Police and other security services personnel. The website goes on to say that this expenditure is met from public funds in exchange of the revenue earned by the Queen through Her Majesty’s Crown Estates. It provides the impression that the Government has been spending a mole in return of a mountain coming from the Queen out of her compassion to the state coffers. Accounts for the financial year 2000-1 also disclose that due to their Royal Prerogative, the Royal family spent £ 35 million during the year out of which £ 5.5 million related to the travel expenditure alone 7. Chief accountant Peat claimed that £133 million revenue, handed over to the state, should be considered as the contribution of the royal family to the nation. Unfortunately nowhere is it mentioned in the report that the Crown Estates was in fact handed over to the state as far back as in 1760. Practically speaking, the properties owned by the Crown Estates are the nation’s properties and the revenues accruing on them also belong to the nation. But the feeling on the part of the Royal family that they are donating their money to the nation smacks of their feudalistic notions. However, is it necessary to spend so much money on the figure head monarch under the Royal Prerogative when the nation is struggling with financial problems in several public welfare programmes? ------------------------------------------------------ 6 Head of state expenditure available from http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page433.asp 7 June 2001, Windsors Take Another £35M, available from http://www.centreforcitizenship.org/news.html 5 The Government has been struggling to upgrade all council homes in the country to their Decent Homes Standard (DHS) 8 by 2010 and due to paucity of funds, Government has been indulging in housing stock transfer to private land lords under several programmes 9. This is only an example of the fund scarecity being faced by the Government and several other welfare schemes have been moving at a snail’s pace due to lack of funds. Why cannot the Government divert those Funds to this housing sector. Sun columnist Richard Littlejohn once conducted a 10-minute video programme calling for the abolition of the Monarchy and the Royal Prerogative. BBC banned it but Littlejohn did not leave it there. The news paper called for readers’ views on the issue and most of the readers who wrote supporting his views did so assuming that the Royals were spongers and parasites who did not deserve a penny of public money 10. There is an emergent need to reform the structure of this financial commitment towards the Royal family under the Royal Prerogative. As part of this, the Government must bring out a law or implement a reform programme to see that the Royal expenditure is at its lowest on par with the annual retirement benefits of a civil servant / minister. This will certainly help the Government allot more funds for public welfare in the annual budgets. ------------------------------------------------------ 8 Decent Homes Standard & Stock Options Appraisal, Stock options appraisal. Available from http://www.reading.gov.uk/housingandbenefits/counciltenants/General.asp?id=SX9452-A78028D8 9 Summary , point 1, available from http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/02-03/0203496es.pdf 10Abolish the Monarchy, 16th Para, available from http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7111/monarchy.htm 6 Democratic problems The Royal Prerogative extended to the Monarchy continues to evade a democratic system in the UK and the country needs reforms to move towards a real democracy. As already pointed out, the Queen is above the law and enjoys the immunity of crown. But due to extension of this immunity to servants and institutions of the Crown, Cabinet ministers may try to take advantage of this and refuse to release important documents for public scrutiny when they are most needed to be made public 11. The administrative functioning of the British polity has also made observers think that the system in the country still represents the feudal order and there is no such thing as democracy. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s admission that he is opposed to democratisation of the British Legislature has confirmed this beyond doubt 12. There are startling disclosures that the Royal family members have been unduly influencing the policy decisions of the Government for a long time shattering the big claims of the Monarchy supporters that the head of state is politically neutral 13. It seems that the politicians of UK are in no mood to learn democratic lessons from others. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien revealed his objections indirectly to the continuity of the feudalistic society in Britain under the Royal Prerogative14. ------------------------------------------------------ 11The Royal Prerogative, last Para , available from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/royal_prerogative.htm 12January 2003, Blair Admission in Democracy Row, 13January 2003, Windsor interference confirmed 14June 2001, Canada Tells Blair No Place For Feudal Titles In Democracy available from http://www.centreforcitizenship.org/news.html 7 He has thoroughly attacked the system of awarding knighthoods to people during the Queen’s birthday celebrations and refused to accept the feudal titles conferred on two Canadian citizens. In an aggressive posture that made Tony Blair hang his head in shame, Chrétien declared that the British action did not represent democracy. This practice should be stopped. Social problems More than anything else, the social system is at its lowest ebb in the UK because of the Royal Prerogative extended to the Monarch. It has further strengthened the ancient class system due to violation of laws by the members of the royal family. The reason lies in the overconfidence of the royal families that they are at liberty to violate the law. It won’t be an exaggeration to opine that the Royal Prerogative has helped develop racial discrimination in the UK. According to Liberal-Democrat Simon Hughes, imbalances were allowed to grow in the British society under the Royal Prerogative15. Hughes had argued in favour of eliminating the racial imbalances in the employment of whites and nonwhites in the Royal establishment. He had moved an amendment to the Race Relations Bill seeking a binding from the Royal family to abide by the strengthened law against racial discrimination. He contented that the ethnic minorities employed by the Royal family in London was not in proportion with their population the Capital city. He had stated that the Royal family wrongly believed that it had been exempted under the Royal Prerogative from following the employment and racial laws and this must be --------------------------------------------- 15April 2000, Liberal-Democrat Says Queen Should Not Be Exempt from Laws, available from http://www.centreforcitizenship.org/news.html 8 corrected. Racism allegations against the family members of the Monarch were not without base and Hughes did not introduce the amendment without sufficient reasons. He should be appreciated for showing such courage to speak against the Royal members. In December 2001, Elizabeth Burgess, former personal secretary to Charlie Windsor, the Prince of Wales, had alleged that her complaint of being forced out of job because of her black face was dismissed by the employment tribunal in Bristol, near Mr. Windsor’s High grove Estate 16. She disclosed that one of Windsor’s valets had abused her in filthy language saying, “What the hell would you know? You are just a fucking nigger typist.” The members of the Royal family, as the family representatives of the Monarch, are supposed to treat each and every citizen with equal respect and dignity. But it was most surprising that the abusing staff member was allowed to go scot-free. One year before this incident, Darren Beckford, a black employee, was humiliated by colleagues and ultimately dismissed from the service of Windsor’s charity, The Prince’s Trust. A tribunal found fault with the dismissal and called it unfair. These incidents stand as tall witnesses of the misuse of the Royal Prerogative extended to the family members of the Monarch. Unfortunately, the Royal Prerogative remains the most misused in the British society. A suitable mechanism is to be developed with public consensus in the political and administrative system to see that the Royal Prerogative is eliminated once and for all totally for the overall benefit of the British citizens. Necessary laws should be made for this purpose. ---------------------------------------------------- 16December 2001, Royal Racism Allegations, available from ttp://www.centreforcitizenship.org/news.html 9 Works cited: Abolish the Monarchy. 8 Dec.2005 April 2000, News Archives 2000 and 2001. 9 Dec.2005 Brazier, Rodney. Ministers of the crown. Oxford University Press, 1997. December 2001, News Archives 2000 and 2001. 9 Dec.2005 Decent Homes Standard & Stock Options Appraisal, Stock options appraisal. 9 Dec. 2005, < http://www.reading.gov.uk/housingandbenefits/counciltenants/General.asp?id=SX9452-A78028D8> Head of state expenditure, Royal Finances. 8 Dec.2005 January 2003, News Archives 2002 and 2003. 9 Dec.2005 June 2001, News Archives 2000 and 2001. 9 Dec.2005 Oakland, John. British civilization: a student’s dictionary. London: Routledge (UK), 2003. Royal Prerogative. Article. 8 Dec.2005 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Prerogative> Summary, Improving social housing through transfer. Report by the comptroller and auditor general.HC 496 session 2002-2003:19 March 2003. 9 Dec. 2005 10 The Royal Prerogative. 8 Dec. 2005 What do you think? Biography, Queen of England, Elizabeth II. 8 Dec.2005 Read More