2. Parliament

Question 1

How many MPs are there in the House of Commons?

Answer 1

650

Question 2

What is a life peer?

Answer 2

A peer appointed for life (usually by the Prime Minister) either for political reasons or merit.

Question 3

What is a bicameral system?

Answer 3

A political system with two legislative chambers.

Question 4

How many peers are there in the House of Lords (as of 2025)?

Answer 4

circa 800

Question 5

How are life peers appointed?

Answer 5

Most life peers are political appointees chosen by party leaders. All candidates are vetted by the Appointments Commission.

Question 6

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Who scrutinises appointments to the House of Lords?

Answer 6

The House of Lords Appointments Commission.

Question 7

Who is the current speaker of the House of Commons?

Answer 7

Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

Question 8

What is the Salisbury Convention?

Answer 8

Peers in the House of Lords should not block any legislation that appeared in the governing party’s most recent (election) manifesto.

Question 9

What is the Confidence and Supply Agreement.

Answer 9

An agreement whereby a party (or parties) pledge to support a minority government on confidence motions and appropriate budgetary motions (which are the fundamentals required to have the confidence of the house to run a govt).

Question 10

What concession did the DUP receive in return for confidence and supply in 2017?

Answer 10

£1bn of extra funding for Northern Ireland.

Question 11

What did the Conservative x DUP confidence and supply agreement determine?

Answer 11

The DUP’s 10 MPs would support the minority May government with its 317 MPs (on certain motions only).

Question 12

What are the Commons Select Committees?

Answer 12

Smaller committees of MPs focused on scrutinising a particular aspect of the governments work.

Question 13

Name some select committees.

Answer 13

• Public Accounts Committee (most important)
• Departmental Select Committees (there are 19 DSCs)
• Liaison Committee

Question 14

What does the Public Accounts Comittee do?

Answer 14

Scrutinises public finances and holds the government to account for the delivery of public services (this includes taxation and spending particularly).

Question 15

What do Departmental Select Committees do?

Answer 15

These 19 committees each scrutinise a government department and can make recommendations and criticisms (growing in importance).

Question 16

What does the Liaison Committee do?

Answer 16

Includes the chairs of all select committees and questions the prime minister on public policy twice a year.

Question 17

What do Commons Public Bill committees do?

Answer 17

Examine proposed legislation for improvements and amendments in the interest of minorities but no power of rejection (only the whole Commons can do this - they rarely amend legislation without govt approval).

Question 18

What are Lords Select Committees?

Answer 18

They investigate public policy, proposed laws and government activity. Committees are small groups of members (usually 12 in total) who meet outside the chamber and are appointed to consider specific policy areas.

Question 19

What is the importance of scrutiny and revising of legislation in the Lords?

Answer 19

Effective scrutiny can improve legislation at the committee stage (by adding clauses to protect minorities, clarify meaning, and remove ineffective sections).

Question 20

What is ministerial question time?

Answer 20

Time for questioning various government ministers, both about their departmental work or to pursue grievances.

Question 21

What are Prime Minister Questions (PMQs)?

Answer 21

Convention where every Wednesday at noon the PM spends approximately half an hour answering questions from MPs.

Question 22

What is the main power of the Lords?

Answer 22

Scrutinising legislation.

Question 23

What did the first House of Lords Reform Act do?

Answer 23

1999 - removed all hereditary peers except 92.

Question 24

How did membership of the Lords fall after the 1999 House of Lords Reform Act?

Answer 24

From 1330 to 669

Question 25

What did the second House of Lords reform Act do?

Answer 25

2014 - allowed peers to resign or retire, or be excluded for serious criminal offences (jail sentence >1 year) or if they fail to attend for a whole session.

Question 26

What did the Life Peerages Act do?

Answer 26

1958 - introduced position of life peer to House of Lords.

Question 27

Who are Lords spiritual?

Answer 27

26 (Church of England) Bishops that sit in the House of Lords.

Question 28

What is a recent example of the Lords delaying legislation?

Answer 28

The Hunting Act 2004 (banned fox hunting with packs of hounds).

Question 29

What is Parliamentary Privelege?

Answer 29

MPs and Peers can't be prosecuted for slander in the Palace of Westminster (this means complete freedom of speech), though behaviour is still regulated by the parliamentary commissioner for standards and the speakers.

Question 30

What is Cronyism?

Answer 30

When party leaders reward supporters and friends with peerages (regardless of merit).

Question 31

What is a Crossbencher?

Answer 31

Peers who are not formal members of any political party.

Question 32

How many crossbenchers are in the Lords?

Answer 32

184

Question 33

What is Cranborne Money?

Answer 33

The annual payment to Opposition parties in the Lords to help them with their costs (not including partisan activities such as campaigning).

Question 34

What is Short Money?

Answer 34

The annual payment to Opposition parties in the Commons to help them with their costs (not including partisan activities such as campaigning).

Question 35

What is a vote of no confidence?

Answer 35

A vote in the Commons to determine whether the government has the confidence of the House (determined by whether the 'no confidence' motion is passed or defeated).

Question 36

What is the party whip?

Answer 36

A party official appointed by the party leader whose role is to maintain party discipline and loyalty as well as keeping MPs and party leadership informed. The current Chief Whip for the Labour party is Alan Campbell/Shadow Whip for the Conservative party is Rebecca Harris.

Question 37

What is an example of the whip being withdrawn?

Answer 37

In July 2024 Labour suspended seven MPs who went against the party on an amendment to the two-child benefit cap.

Question 38

What is Secondary legislation?

Answer 38

Laws, regulations, and orders made by government ministers which only require partial parliamentary approval (most is not discussed in Parliament and passes automatically, the Lords has more of a role in scrutinising this).

Question 39

What did the Parliament Acts do?

Answer 39

1911 - Lords lost power to regulate finances and could only delay legislation 2 years (instead of being able to block). 1949 - reduced the delay to 1 year (thus made HoC clearly superior).

Question 40

What are some key functions of the Houseo of Commons?

Answer 40

- Legitimation (of govt legislation). - legislating. - scrutiny. - representation (of constituency and interests), debate.

Question 41

What are some key functions of the House of Lords?

Answer 41

- Scrutiny and revising of legislation. - Delaying. - Scrutinising secondary legislation (e.g. SIs). - Debate.

Question 42

What is the affirmative procedure for approving statutory instruments?

Answer 42

SI laid before Parliament and unless a motion is passed in 40 days, the SI becomes law, though no timetable for debate on these (77% in 2015-16 session used this).

Question 43

What is the negative procedure for approving statuatory instruments?

Answer 43

SI laid before Parliament and must be approved before it can come into effect with some committee debate (20% in 2015-16 session used this).

Question 44

What are Frontbenchers?

Answer 44

Ministers who have been given a portfolio – an area of responsibility. In the House of Commons, the role of a minister includes introducing bills and answering questions about their portfolio during Question Time.

Question 45

What is a Filibuster?

Answer 45

An action such as a prolonged speech that obstructs progress in a legislative assembly while not technically contravening the required procedures.

Question 46

What are some arguments suggesting backbenchers have become more significant in recent years?

Answer 46

- The greater independence of select committees has made them more effective in scrutinising government departments. - The Backbench Business Committee has provided MPs with more control over the parliamentary agenda, enabling them to choose more topics for debate. - MPs have an increasingly important legitimising role. Since the Iraq War in 2003 the House of Commons has voted on whether to support large-scale military expeditions overseas.

Question 47

What are some arguments suggesting backbenchers have not become more significant in recent years?

Answer 47

- Despite recent reforms, select committees’ reports and the scrutiny of the Liaison Committee have no binding power over government. - The government’s increasing use of secondary legislation to change laws has negatively impacted MP’s legislative function. - It is only a convention that the House of Commons should be consulted on the deployment of British troops. Theresa May took military action in Syria in 2018 without a parliamentary vote.