United Kingdom

S

Television and Radio

The BBC, the Independent Television Commission (ITC), and the Radio Authority, all public bodies, are licensed to provide television and radio broadcasting services. Altogether Britain has 5 terrestrial television channels and almost 200 radio stations. There are numerous satellite companies based in Britain, and an increasing number of cable companies.

Founded in 1922 and working under a royal charter, the BBC operates 8 domestic television channels (including those dedicated to news and children’s programming) as well as 11 national radio networks and some 40 local radio stations. It is financed predominantly by revenue from a television licence fee and supplemented by trading activities. The World Service, initiated in 1932 as the Empire Service, provides radio news broadcasts in more than 33 languages to an audience estimated at more than 151 million, and is funded by the government. In 1991 the BBC set up World Service Television as a commercial subsidiary to operate its television satellite services.

The BBC’s royal charter is renewed periodically, normally following discussions between the corporation and the government over financing and other issues. The current charter was renewed in 2006. The 1994 White Paper included the recommendation that licence fees remain the prime source of BBC finance until at least 2001, with the possibility of whole or partial privatization thereafter to be examined in the interim.

The first regular independent television (ITV) programmes began in London in 1955 under the aegis of the Independent Television Authority (ITA). In 1972, when the first independent radio stations were licensed, the ITA was replaced by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), which oversaw the operation of both television and radio. Today, the third (ITV), fourth (Channel 4), and fifth (Channel 5) domestic television channels are operated by independent television companies: ITV is operated by regionally based television companies and one breakfast-television company; Channel 4, which began operating in 1982, has a remit to provide programmes for minority audiences of various kinds. In Wales the fourth channel is operated by a Welsh-language company, S4C. The government provides the majority of the funding for S4C, but Channel 4 raises its revenue through advertising and other commercial activities, as do the ITV companies. Channel 5 was launched in 1997.

There are about 250 commercially financed independent local radio stations in Britain, with many more planned. During the 1990s the first three national independent radio stations were launched: Classic FM (1991), Virgin 1215 (1993, now merged with Capital Radio), and Talk Radio UK (1995). Many more exist locally, providing a huge variety of music, discussion, and phone-in entertainment.

The 1990 Broadcasting Act overhauled the regulation of independent television and radio in the light of changes such as the introduction of satellite and domestic cable television services. In 1991 the IBA was replaced by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Radio Authority. At the same time the Cable Authority was made part of the two new bodies. The ITC is responsible for licensing and regulating the terrestrial channels; licences for the third channel (ITV) are awarded on the basis of competitive tender. It is also responsible for cable services, independent teletext companies, and satellite services broadcast from Britain. The Radio Authority carries similar responsibilities for independent radio.

In 2000 more than 39 million television licences were issued each year, and there were estimated to be more than 85 million radios. See also Cable Television; Satellite Television.

T

The Press

In 1996 there were 99 daily and Sunday newspapers—including 10 national dailies and 9 national Sunday papers—and around 2,000 weekly newspapers published in Britain.

The national papers were once all centred on Fleet Street, in central London; the name “Fleet Street” became synonymous with the newspaper industry. All have now moved their editorial and printing facilities to other parts of London, or away from the capital altogether. Ownership of the national press is highly concentrated. Three groups—News International (owned by Rupert Murdoch), the Mirror Group, and United Newspapers—own the majority of titles between them.

The national press is often divided into three market-based categories: the “quality”, the “mid-market”, and the “popular” press. The qualities, also called “broadsheets” because of the size of the paper they are printed on, include the most respected, and some of the oldest, British newspapers such as The Times (founded 1785), The Guardian (formerly the Manchester Guardian, 1821), the Daily Telegraph (1855), the Financial Times (1888), The Independent (1986), and the Observer (1791), a Sunday paper. The mid-market and, especially, the popular papers—the Sun (1964), the Daily Mirror (1903), and the Daily Star (1978)—are referred to as “tabloids” and are printed on smaller sheets of paper. Characterized by sensationalist stories and large quantities of photographic material, the mass-market tabloids are very influential. A recent innovation has been the publication of both The Independent and The Times in a “tabloid-sized” format.

Britain has a large, long-established publishing industry, including many outstanding book publishers. More publications per capita are produced in Britain than anywhere else in the world: some 7,000 periodicals, mainly weeklies and monthlies, are published. Noted weeklies include the Economist, the New Scientist, New Statesman, The Spectator, and the Times Literary Supplement.

V

Government

The United Kingdom is a parliamentary monarchy based on an unwritten constitution that has evolved over centuries. It comprises statute law, common law (judicial precedent), and custom and can be altered by act of Parliament, general agreement, and judicial precedent and is thus adaptable to changing political conditions. The principles of the constitution and of constitutional practice are inherent in the institutions of government, which overlap in function but which can be clearly distinguished. They are the Crown, the government and Cabinet, the Privy Council, and Parliament.

A

The Monarchy

The British sovereign is head of state and as such is, in law, the head of the executive, an integral part of the legislature, head of the judiciary, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Crown, and the “supreme governor” of the established Church of England and the Church of Scotland. In addition, the British monarch is head of the Commonwealth of Nations and head of state of 16 Commonwealth countries. The monarchy is hereditary, descending to the sons of the sovereign in order of birth, or to the daughters if there are no sons. Under the Act of Settlement (1700) only Protestant descendants of Princess Sophia, Electress of Hanover and granddaughter of James I of England and VI of Scotland, are eligible to succeed. The present monarch, Elizabeth II, succeeded to the throne on February 6, 1952, on the death of her father George VI. The heir to the throne is her eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales.

The monarchy is the oldest institution of government, dating back to the Saxon King Egbert. However, its once absolute powers have been progressively reduced, and today the sovereign acts on the advice of ministers, which constitutionally cannot be ignored. In practice, this means that Britain today is governed by Her Majesty’s Government in the name of the Queen and with the approval of Parliament. Within this framework the monarch has specific functions that are considered essential to constitutional government in Britain. Because of this, legal provision has been made for a regent to be appointed should the sovereign become incapacitated or be under age. These functions include summoning, proroguing, and dissolving Parliament, and giving the royal assent to bills passed by both houses of Parliament; without this assent bills cannot become law.

The monarch also formally appoints the prime minister and government, as well as judges, officers in the armed forces, governors, diplomats, and archbishops, bishops, and other senior Church of England clergy. The monarch confers honours and awards, and has the sole power, as head of state, to declare war and make peace, to recognize foreign states, and to conclude treaties. In terms of the day-to-day working of government, the monarch has the right to be consulted on all aspects of national life and must show complete impartiality; Elizabeth II chairs meetings of the Privy Council (see below), meets regularly with the prime minister, receives accounts of Cabinet decisions, reads despatches, and signs state papers.

B

The Executive

The executive functions of government, although nominally vested in the monarch, are in practice carried out by Her (or His) Majesty’s Government, comprising a body of ministers, headed by a prime minister and dependent on the support of the majority of members of the elected lower house of Parliament (the House of Commons). Normally this means that the government is formed by the majority party in the Commons, and the prime minister is the leader of the majority party. However, in modern times governments have sometimes been formed by coalitions of the main parties, notably during the two World Wars, or by a party with no overall majority in the Commons—as between 1974 and 1979 when a minority Labour Party government was able to stay in power because the Liberal Party generally voted with it.

The office of prime minister began to develop in the 18th century during the administration of Robert Walpole, but was not constitutionally recognized until 1905. The prime minister, who is formally appointed by the monarch, chooses the government ministers who are usually from the Commons, but can also be from the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament. By modern convention the prime minister is always a member of the Commons, and by tradition is also First Lord of the Treasury and minister for the civil service. The prime minister’s responsibilities also include recommending many of the appointments nominally within the sovereign’s gift, including those of senior Church of England clergy and judges, privy counsellors, the Poet Laureate, and the Constable of the Tower of London.

Ministers who are heads of government departments are normally known as secretaries of state; some have historic titles, such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Secretaries of state are supported by ministers of state, and by junior ministers, known as parliamentary under-secretaries of state or parliamentary secretaries.

Supreme government authority is vested in the Cabinet, which decides and implements policy and coordinates government departments. It normally numbers between 15 and 20 members chosen by the prime minister and approved by the monarch. It comprises the secretaries of state; a number of non-departmental ministers who hold traditional offices (such as the Lord President of the Council, the Paymaster General, and the Lord Privy Seal); and also, at times, ministers of state.

Cabinet government developed during the 18th century from informal meetings of Privy Counsellors who were also government ministers, and who found that decision-making was easier and more efficient in a relatively small committee. Key doctrines of Cabinet government are collective and ministerial responsibility. Collective responsibility means that the Cabinet acts unanimously, even when Cabinet ministers do not all agree upon a subject.

The policy of departmental ministers must be consistent with that of the government as a whole. Ministerial responsibility means that ministers are responsible for the work of their departments and are answerable to Parliament for their departments’ activities. They bear the consequences of any failure of their department in terms of administration or policy.

Before the development of the Cabinet system the Privy Council was the chief source of executive power; its origins can be traced back to the court of the Norman monarchs. Most of its former functions have been taken over by the Cabinet and today it is mainly responsible for advising the monarch on the approval of Orders in Council, of which there are two kinds: those which are made by virtue of the royal prerogative, for example the ratification of treaties, or the granting of royal charters of incorporation; and those which are authorized by act of Parliament.

The Privy Council also advises on the issue of royal proclamations, such as the summoning or dissolving of Parliament. Membership is conferred for life and comprises all current Cabinet ministers, surviving former Cabinet ministers, the archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and eminent public figures (mainly judges and politicians) from Britain and the independent monarchies of the Commonwealth. At present there are about 400 privy counsellors.

The Privy Council has a number of committees. They include those dealing with legislation from the crown dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, and the judicial committee. One of the most important Privy Council committees, the judicial committee is the final court of appeal from courts of the British dependent territories, the Crown dependencies, and of certain independent members of the Commonwealth.