2.2 the comparative powers of the house of commons and house of lords

Question 1

What area does the commons have exclusive authority?

Answer 1

to give consent to taxation and public expenditure

Question 2

Where is the chancellor of the exchequer obliged to sit and why?

Answer 2

• in the commons
• the annual budget is always presented

Question 3

What is confidence and supply?

Answer 3

• type of informal coalition agreement sometimes used in the event of a hung parliament where the minority partners agrees to vote with the government on key issues

Question 4

What is an example of a confidence and supply situation?

Answer 4

The conservative party’s arrangement with the democratic unionist party following the June 2017 election (conservative were 8 seats short of a majority)

Question 5

What are the two most important legal restraints on the power of the Lords?

Answer 5

Parliament Act of 1911 and 1949

Question 6

What did the Parliament Act of 1911 set out?

Answer 6

• the lords had no right to delay money bills
• its power to veto non-financial bills was to be replaced by a power of delay lasting two parliamentary sessions (two years)

Question 7

Why was the Parliament Act of 1911 created?

Answer 7

The Lords rejected the ‘peoples budget’ in 1909, which brought out a long constitutional crisis

Question 8

What did the Parliament Act of 1949 do?

Answer 8

halved the length of time that the upper house could use its delaying power

Question 9

What was the 1945 Salisbury convention?

Answer 9

the House of Lords does not delay or block legislation that was included in a governments manifesto

Question 10

What are the current distinctive powers of the Lords?

Answer 10

• acts mainly as a revising chamber (proposes amendments to government legislation, which government can accept or reject)
• can delay non-financial legislation for one year
• if a government were to attempt to prolong the life of parliament beyond it legal maximum term, the Lords is legally empowered to force it to hold a general election

Question 11

What has increased the Lords’ sense of legitimacy?

Answer 11

• removal of most hereditary peers, meaning the Lords was now dominated by life peers

Question 12

How was the reformed House of Lords more inclined to challenge the government?

Answer 12

Life peers were more likely to play a regular part in the work of the House

Question 13

How many government defeats were there in the House of Lords by the conservative government between 1979-97?

Answer 13

241

Question 14

How many government defeats were there in the House of Lords by the labour government between 1997-2010?

Answer 14

528

Question 15

How many government defeats were there in the House of Lords by the conservative-liberal democrat coalition government between 2010-15?

Answer 15

99

Question 16

How many government defeats were there in the House of Lords by the conservative government between 2015-16?

Answer 16

60

Question 17

What party’s dominance in the House of Lords was removed after the departure of hereditary peers?

Answer 17

Conservative

Question 18

How did the Lib Dem peers demonstrate growing independence during the period of the New Labour government?

Answer 18

• after the 2005 election, they opposed Tony Blair’s proposals for identity cards
• even though this policy had been announced by the Labour Party in advance

Question 19

What did the the Lib Dem peers do in order to demonstrate growing independence during the period of the New Labour government?

Answer 19

• argued that the salisbury convention no longer applied because the government had been re-elected on a very low share of the popular vote

Question 20

How did cross-bench peers begin to play a more important role in holding the government to account?

Answer 20

• as neutral figures, they are more likely to assess a bill on its merits and to decide accordingly whether to support or oppose the government

Question 21

What is parliamentary ping pong?

Answer 21

a bill going back and forth between the two houses

Question 22

How long was the 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Bill debate?

Answer 22

30 hours

Question 23

What can the government use to force a bill through?

Answer 23

Parliament Act

Question 24

How many times did the Blair government use the Parliament Act?

Answer 24

three times

Question 25

What three bills were passed using the Parliament Act during the Blair government?

Answer 25

• changing the voting system for European parliament elections (1999)
• equalising the age of consent for gay and heterosexual people (2000)
• banning hunting with dogs (2004)