The potential new leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has made comments wanting to reduce the powers of The Queen.
His comments, made during a leadership hustings last week, have been branded an ‘assault on the Monarchy’, as he wants to further reduce the role Her Majesty plays in Government as Head of State.
“The royal prerogative should be subject to parliamentary vote and veto if necessary,” said Corbyn. “The Queen hands her powers to the Prime minister and he can then exercise them. It’s a very convenient way of bypassing Parliament. Also, orders in council are a very convenient way of bypassing parliament.”
The Queen holds a number of powers, called Royal Perogatives. They enable decisions to be taken without the backing of, or consultation with, Parliament, though in reality are limited: it is still the government that holds the power of law making – The Queen just signs off on them.
These powers include:
- the declaration of war;
- the making of treaties;
- the accreditation of diplomats; and
- the deployment of armed forces
- the appointment and dismissal of ministers;
- the appointment of a Counsel;
- the dissolution of Parliament;
- the granting of honours (MBE, OBE, Knighthood, etc);
- appointments to, and employment conditions of, the civil service;
- the calling of elections.
Sir Anthony Seldon, historian, told LBC radio: “It’s hard to know what would be left of the Monarchy. The fact that Jeremy Corbyn is saying that would be seen as an assault on the Monarchy. It would be crossing the Rubicon. He would be the first Labour leader who started talking about a reduction in the role of the Monarchy. It would be very serious. Presumably he is saying it because he knows it will go down well with his supporters.”
The politician has made a slur of comments recently, which appear to show his support for terrorist group Al Queda. Footage emerged of him telling Iranian television that it was a ‘tragedy’ that bin Laden was killed by the United States rather than being put on trial.
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