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by btbuilder 3041 days ago
Hold your horses there.

The emphasis on OP's quoted line should be on _technically_.

A bill has to proceed through Royal Assent by the Queen before it becomes law [1]. It just happens that she is always timely with this duty and always agrees with Parliament.

Also the government's executive power is primarily through Royal prerogative [2]. _technically_ the Queen could exercise these powers herself for her own benefit.

The "checks and balances" that keep the Monarch from abusing these powers are a combination of tradition, facing the wrath of the British people and precedent set by what happened last time a monarch attempted to abuse royal prerogative [3]

[1] http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/lords/l... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_prerogative_in_the_Unite... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England