British Constitution Flashcards
The UK has a bicameral legislature, what does this mean?
This means that Parliament has two chambers being the House of Lords and House of Commons. House of Commons holds primacy over the House of Lords due to Salisbury-Addison Convention and Parliament Act.
What is the House of Commons?
The lower elected chamber made up of the 650 candidates elected to represent their constituencies. There are 2 opposing sides in the HoC; the Government (the elected party by FPTP by the people to govern and usually has a majority) and the Opposition Government or Parliament (the parties who were not elected by the people)
There are crossbenchers; Independent MPs who unaffiliate themselves with any parties and are bipartisan
What is a majority government?
An elected government that has managed to achieve 326 seats within the House of Commons. The size of the majority increases the power of the government which offers executive dominance and decreases the power of Parliament.
What is a minority government?
An elected government that has the highest number of seats but fails to meet the majority quota of 326 seats. Minority governments are usually weak and fickle so they form coalition or rainbow governments to increase their number of seats to achieve majority
What is the House of Lords?
A primary appointed chamber of Parliament made up of 805 members. Their main function to scrutinise the legislation of the
