Certainly not a balanced range of sources about a complex issue (the energy policy rather than the powers of the minister). The secretary of State for Energy does have a slightly different role to other members of cabinet, in that he or she has statutory powers, including the awarding of licences, through the 1998 Petroleum Act. The Prime Minister, for obvious reasons, cannot interfere in that act. The Prime Minister is not a President or King. He is First Among Equals. So there is collective cabinet responsibility. Milliband's policies are in line with Labour's manifesto, for better or worse, and they won the election. Politically, in the HoC, only two viewpoints matter; that of the government, and that of His Majesty's Official Opposition. The Hot Air from the rest matters not a jot. Farage, for instance, is of no more importance than the seperatist Scottish MPs or the reformed terrorists from Sein Fein, The Conservatives have currently a different policy from the government. A few years ago, not so different. But 2 years is a complete age in politics. Badenoch at times is very good, and at other times is staggeringly bad. On this occasion, she asked the wrong question, when she asked the PM is he would "approve the licences for Rosebank and Jackdaw gas fields in the North Sea". Starmer, the lawyer, answered correctly, in that he doesn't have that power. The whole point of the 1998 Petroleum Act was to vest statutory powers in the Energy Secretary. The Bill was introduced n 1997 by the Blair government, with no opposition from the Shadow Cabinet. The US government these days is run by Presidential Executive Orders; everything is seemingly signed off by the President. The Prime Minister doesn't have the same role. It was Parliament who, in 1998, awarded the statutory powers to the Secretary of State over licences, not the Prime Minister. In the British system, ministers are responsible to Parliament and the Prime Minister. Ultimately, a minister needs to command the confidence of the Commons to keep their job. Badenoch's question wasn't quite the gotcha that the Daily Fail/Sun/GBN thinks it is. Badenoch has served in cabinet before, so you would think she knows how the British constitution works. So when she asked the question, she already knew what the answer was. If the PM had responded that he personally makes the decision over the award of every oil licence, I suspect the Opposition would also call for his head, accusing him of unconstitutional behaviour and acting illegally. This is typical PMQs. If the PM did that, then the oil companies, the ones who didn't get the licence (through some competitive process) would take the government to court, and likely win, and be awarded damages. It would likely mean the Minister resigns in protests, probably followed by other ministers, triggering a constitutional crisis. A Commons Vote of Confidence would ensue. It will NOT trigger a general election. In fact, it is considered so illegal, for a PM to override statutory powers, that its never happened. Dim witted foreigners think the Prime Minister is the same as a President.
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