26 Marks

Question 1

Which institutions is Parliament made up of?

Answer 1

The House of Commons (MPs who represent constituents), The House of Lords (unelected peers), and the Monarchy (less powerful, but the King has final (ceremonial) sign off on all laws and peerages)

Question 2

What is the key function of Parliament, and therefore the constitutional function of the House of Commons?

Answer 2

To make laws which are binding to everyone in the UK

Question 3

While the vast majority of legislation is introduced by the Government, how is it possible for backbench MPs to make their own legislation?

Answer 3

Through a Private Member’s Bill
- However, the chance of seeing these through to law are very low unless Government supports a PMB

Question 4

How many PMB’s became law between 2017 and 2019?

Answer 4

15

Question 5

What are MPs who aren’t in the Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet known as, and by how much do they outnumber Cabinet ministers?

Answer 5

Backbenchers
- Outnumber frontbenchers 6:1, and so when acting together have the power to defeat the Government. This is not the case in reality through, particularly when a Government has a significant majority (160 MP majority of Blair)

Question 6

Why are PMBs a lottery?

Answer 6

Only 20 PMBs are chosen to be debated annually, and very few pass without Government support

Question 7

How can MPs scrutinise government legislation?

Answer 7

Through committee membership and questioning - however the reality is if a Government wants their legislation to pass, it will go through

Question 8

Where does the real opposition to Government legislation come from?

Answer 8

The House of Lords

Question 9

What is the annual beginning of the law-making process?

Answer 9

The State Opening of Parliament by the King, where the King gives a speech at the beginning of the parliamentary session, and the Government provides its Legislative agenda for the new Parliament
- It is a highly traditional, symbolic occasion and the only time when the 3 parts of Parliament all meet together

Question 10

Why does a Government usually announce more legislation than it actually has time for or is capable of passing?

Answer 10

To seem radical and effective

Question 11

How does the Executive dominate the legislature?

Answer 11

The Prime Minister is dominant in the process of choosing legislation, and the Cabinet takes time to prioritise the legislative agenda it produces. After this, it is the job of the Leader of the House of Commons, the members of the Cabinet and the Party Whips to get legislation passed
- Electoral mandate

Question 12

What are the three types of bills?

Answer 12

1. Public Bills - introduced by the Executive Office, usually between 25 and 35 each parliamentary session. Tend to pass without much obstruction
2. Private Members Bills - proposed by backbench MPs using a ballot system, which often requires Government support in order to pass
3. Emergency Bills - this is when the Government can react to a situation which has just occurred and legislate accordingly. Example - after the 7/7 London bombings, new anti-terror laws passed to combat the threat of

Question 13

In the UK, legislation follows an established process of what?

Answer 13

Debate - scrutiny - amendment

Question 14

What are the seven stages in the process a bill goes through to become law?

Answer 14

1. First Reading
2. Second Reading
3. Committee Stage
4. Report Stage
5. Third Reading
6. House of Lords
7. Royal Assent

Question 15

Explain the First Reading stage of the legislative process

Answer 15

• Simply an introductory announcement of the proposed Bill to Parliament
• No debate or vote at this stage
• Printed copies of the Bill are made available to MPs to begin scrutinising and Pressure Groups to begin studying the Bill and lobbying MPs

Question 16

Explain the Second Reading stage of the legislative process

Answer 16

• This is the crucial stage, a few weeks after the first reading
• The Government Minister will argue in favour of the Bill, before the Shadow Minister will cross examine the Bill
• Backbench MPs will be able to debate the bill
• A vote is taken, whether to accept the Bill in principle or not (the party whips often ensure the Govts. wishes are carried out and it is passed without any problems in principle)
• It is vary rare to have a Government defeat at this stage (example is 1986 Sunday Trading Bill (14 vote defeat, despite 140 MP majority)

Question 17

Explain the Committee Stage of the legislative process

Answer 17

• This is when the Bill is investigated and scrutinised by a Public Bill Committee (established solely to scrutinise this Bill and dissolved afterwards), which examines it line-by-line, page-by-page
• The Committee will suggest any amendments which need to be made to the Bill
• Importantly, these Committees contain around 16 MPs and are reflective of party strength in the Commons. In other words, the party of Government usually has a majority on the Committees, and Bills can get a smooth ride through this stage

The question is often raised if this makes for effective legislation if whips influence committee stage and majority helps it sail through

Question 18

Explain the Report Stage of the legislative process

Answer 18

• At this stage, any Committee amendments are read out in the House of Commons and are passed, one by one
• Once again, a Government majority in the Commons ensures this is a straightforward procedure
• Example of Government losing at report stage - John Major’s Conservative Government lost the 1993 Maastricht Treaty (to strengthen relations with EU)

Question 19

Explain the Third Reading stage of the legislative process

Answer 19

• No debate
• No more amendments allowed
• Formality vote - passes

Question 20

Explain the House of Lords stage of the legislative process

Answer 20

• The Bill goes to the House of Lords and follows the same legislative procedure
• The Lords may produce its own amendments which the Commons can either except, reject, or re-amend. This can go back and forth between each Chamber - something known as ‘parliamentary ping-pong’
• The Lords can potentially vote against the Bill, and delay the legislation, but it doesn’t happen often

Question 21

Explain the Royal Assent stage of the legislative process?

Answer 21

• This is a formality - the Bill must be approved by the King before it becomes law, but the King cannot reject a Bill, and so it receives Royal Assent and becomes an Act of Parliament

Question 22

On average how many PMBs become law?

Answer 22

Less than 2 per year

Question 23

What are three reasons that PMBs are rarely sucessful?

Answer 23

1. Timing: there is little time for PMBs due to a tightly timetabled Government agenda (Government can use ‘guillotine’ to axe a bill if they feel it is taking up too much time
2. Support: For a PMB to pass it almost always relies on Government support
3. Executive Tactics: Filibustering can be arranged to ensure a PMB is ‘talked out’ - MPs debate it for so long, it runs out of time

Question 24

Despite how rarely they pass, PMBs have proved to be highly useful politically and have been used to draw attention to major issues or have even introduced landmark UK legislation. What are two reasons a Government may support a PMB and what are some examples of PMBs which have passed?

Answer 24

If it fits their legislative agenda or is a slightly controversial issue, but one they wish to see pass

• Murder Act 1965 (abolition of death penalty)
• Abortion Act 1967
• House of Lords Reform Act 2014 (had support in both chambers)

Question 25

Why does the whip system prevent Parliament from performing their legislative role effectively?

Answer 25

Politicians will vote the way their party leaders want them to on the majority of occasions, and if the Government really want a piece of legislation to pass they will issue a three-line-whip. The consequences of defying this whip could be suspension of the party temporarily or withdrawl of the whip, meaning MPs would have to stand as an independent candidate in future elections, who end to perform badly in UK system.

Question 26

Despite Government domination of the legislation, there have been more backbench revolts than ever since when?

Answer 26

2010

Question 27

Who described the Government as acting as a “elective dictatorship”?

Answer 27

Lord Halisham

Question 28

From a purely constitutional perspective, Parliament is said to be what?

Answer 28

Sovereign, ensuring that it makes the key decisions, and therefore should not be able to be dominated by Parliament

Question 29

How have the Government been able to dominate parliament through the House of Lords?

Answer 29

By curtailing their powers

• Parliament Act of 1911 took away Lords’ ability to veto legislation and limited delaying power to 2 years
• Parliament Act of 1949 further reduced delaying power to one year, and removed Lords’ ability to emend or reject finance measures
• Labour 1945-1951 introduced Salisbury Convention meaning that HOL could no longer interfere with a measure that had been included in the Government’s manifesto

Question 30

Why can select committees help the Government dominate legislative process?

Answer 30

• Influence reports in their favour
• If that fails, using lawyers and experts that work in PM’s office and Cabinet Office to try and avoid Select Committee findings
• They will not ignore or reject findings all of the time, but will reject them sometimes, and if the Government doesn’t follow up on recommendations, there is very little Select Committees can do about it

Question 31

What are some prominent examples of Parliament reasserting power over the Government?

Answer 31

• In 2012, 91 Tory MPs voted against Lords reform, defying three-line-whip
• In 2013, defeat in Commons vote for British air strikes in Syria after 31 backbenchers rebelled, and the vote was opposed by the Labour Party. MPs complained that Britain’s mission in Syria was not clear enough. The rebellion damaged David Cameron’s reputation and made him much cautious over votes of this scale in the future
• A key reason why British air strikes against ISIS are now limited to Iraq and do not cross to Syria is because the PM is not willing to risk losing again, proving that the influence of backbench rebellion can sometimes be hugely significant internationally