Knowledge Nugget | Keir Starmer’s exit: How the UK Parliamentary system differs from India’s

Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here’s your knowledge nugget on the UK system of government and its comparison with India.

Two years after routing the Conservatives, in an election that saw Labour win 412 seats, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has resigned both as PM and leader of the Labour Party.

Starmer’s resignation and impending replacement mean that the UK will officially have had seven Prime Ministers over the course of a decade. Despite a Prime Minister’s fixed term of service being five years, not a single UK PM has come close to completing their term since 2016. Boris Johnson came the closest, having served as the PM from 2019 to 2022.

Let’s understand the political structure of the UK and compare it with India.

Key takeaways:

1. The UK comprises England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It has a constitutional monarchy, which largely remains ceremonial and symbolic.

2. The Parliament has a two-house system – the House of Commons (lower house) and the House of Lords (upper house) – which meet at the Palace of Westminster in London. The House of Commons comprises 650 members elected directly, while the House of Lords, whose numbers are not fixed, comprises life peers, bishops and hereditary peers. The Prime Minister heads the executive branch of government for five years.

3. A common misconception is that the PM is elected to serve a fixed term of five years. In reality, the limit applies to the parliamentary term for the party in power and not the individual that becomes the PM. Thus, even though the government and the party may enjoy popular support, the top leadership can continue to witness upheaval.

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4. The loss of internal confidence can trigger a leadership election within the party, which, if successful, leads to the replacement of the sitting PM. This provision is based on the fact that the British system treats the PM as the first among equals or the primus inter pares.

5. In Starmer’s case, the former Labour Party leader had been the subject of intense scrutiny owing to poor results in the May local elections and the controversy over the appointment of Peter Mandelsor as the Ambassador to the US, despite his connection to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Comparison of India and the British Parliamentary system

Similarities

1. Both countries have a head of state who performs a ceremonial role: the Monarch in the UK and the President in India. However, the Indian President is more powerful than the British ceremonial head.

2. Each has a bicameral parliament consisting of an upper house (the House of Lords in the UK and the Rajya Sabha in India) and a lower house (the House of Commons in the UK and the Lok Sabha in India).

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3. Governance is based on majority party rule, with the Prime Minister serving as the leader of the party or coalition with the majority of seats in the lower house.

4. In a coalition government, the consensus binds the ministers. Both systems exhibit that the executive is responsible to the legislature, ensuring a system of checks and balances that is vital for democratic accountability and transparency.

Differences

1. Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution. It gives Parliament the supreme legal authority to create or end any law. However, India follows a constitutional government where the constitution limits the power of Parliament to legislate.

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2. India’s head of state (the President) is indirectly elected for a five-year term, whereas the UK’s head (the Monarch) holds a hereditary position.

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3. If the prime minister or ministers are not members of parliament at the time of appointment, they must secure a seat within six months. In contrast, the UK’s Prime Minister is traditionally a member of the House of Commons, ensuring direct electoral accountability.

4. The role of the Speaker also differs: In India, a member belonging to the ruling party is generally elected as Speaker, whereas in the UK, the Speaker renounces party affiliation upon election to uphold impartiality.

5. India’s parliamentary sessions feature Zero Hour, a unique aspect where members can raise urgent matters without prior notice. The UK has no direct equivalent, although MPs can raise urgent issues through other parliamentary procedures.

6. In India, MPs must adhere strictly to party discipline, often voting along party lines. The Anti-Defection Law mandates that MPs who defect from their party face disqualification, necessitating a by-election within six months.

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7. In contrast, while the UK employs a robust party whip system, MPs occasionally have more flexibility to vote according to their conscience or the interests of their constituents. Unlike India, the UK has no equivalent to an anti-defection law, allowing MPs more freedom in voting decisions.

8. The representation within the legislative bodies reflects the diversity of each country. India has reserved seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to ensure the representation of marginalized communities. While not having reserved seats, the UK is trying to increase diversity among MPs through party selection processes.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Presidential form of government

1. India and the UK follow the Parliamentary form of government, while the USA operates under the Presidential form of government and executive powers are in the hands of the president.

2. According to the NCERT, in a presidential system, the president is the Head of State as well as head of government. In this system, the office of president is very powerful, both in theory and practice.

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3. The presidential system employs the doctrine of separation of powers to separate the executive from the legislature, giving significant powers to the President as head of state and government.

4. Further, the US Constitution provides for a federal system wherein the states have much more autonomy vis-a-vis the federal government. The residuary powers in the US context rest with the states.

5. In terms of judicial review, the US Constitution has established a system of judicial supremacy, granting the Supreme Court the power to declare any law unconstitutional, ensuring a check on the legislative branch.

Post Read Question

We adopted parliamentary democracy based on the British model, but how does our model differ from that model? (UPSC CSE 2021)

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1. As regards legislation, the British Parliament is supreme or sovereign but in India, the power of the Parliament to legislate is limited.

2. In India, matters related to the constitutionality of the Amendment of an Act of the Parliament are referred to the Constitution Bench by the Supreme Court.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer Key

(c)

(Sources: Understanding UK political parties, What makes replacing the UK Prime Minister so simple? The constitutional process, for one,  What is parliamentary system of governance, why has India adopted it, The role of constitution in shaping Indian and American democracies )

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