Chapter 5: parliament

Question 1

House of Commons definition

Answer 1

The lower chamber, and the primary chamber of the UK legislature
- directly elected by voters

Question 2

House of Lords definition

Answer 2

The upper chamber of the UK legislature
- not directly elected by voters

Question 3

Legislature definition

Answer 3

The branch of government responsible for passing laws

Question 4

Parliament definition

Answer 4

An assembly that has the power to debate and make laws

Question 5

What are the two chambers of parliament?

Answer 5

• Bicameral legislature:
• House of Commons
• House of Lords

Question 6

HoC - structure

Answer 6

• 650 MPs (elected through FPTP)
• frontbencher: MP who holds a ministerial position
• backbencher: MP who does not hold a ministerial position

Question 7

HoC - Pay and privilege

Answer 7

• MP salary - 2016 £75,000
• Parliamentary privilege: legal immunity enjoyed by MPs. 2 elements:
  + Freedom of speech - free to raise any issue in par without fear of prosecution
  + Exclusive cognisance - right of each house to regulate its own internal affairs without interference from outside bodies

Question 8

HoC - Key office holders

Answer 8

• Whips:
  + Ensure that MPs attend parliamentary divisions (votes)
  + issuing instructions of how MPs should vote
  + enforcing discipline within parliamentary party
• Speaker
  + presides over debates in the Chamber, selecting MPs to speak and maintain order

Question 9

HoL - strucutre

Answer 9

• Hereditary peers
• life peers
• lords spiritual

Question 10

What are Hereditary peers?

Answer 10

92 hereditary peers
- inherited their title and a place in the upper house

Question 11

What are life peers?

Answer 11

PM appointed members to the upper house for life
- 2017:
+ cons: 204
+ lab: 197

Question 12

Comparitive powers HoC&HoL

Answer 12

• Parliament Act: HoL does not have a veto over legislation approved by HoC
• financial privilege: HoL cannot delay or amend £ bills
• Confidence and supply: HoC can remove the gov by no confidence vote - HoL does not have this
• Salisbury convention: HoL cannot block or try to wreck legislation that was promised in the manifesto of the governing party

Question 13

What are the debates about relative powers?
HoL & HoC

Answer 13

• Commons has input legitimacy as it is composition is directly elected and accountable to voters
• Lords as output legitimacy because it delivers scrutiny and revision produce better quality legislation

Question 14

Should the HoL be reformed?

Answer 14

no:
- An elected chamber would allow for wider representation through the use of different electoral systems and dates to ensure representation meets the current view of citizens, this would reduce the dominance of the South
- An elected chamber would have increased credibility and public support and therefore would be in a better position to challenge the growing power of the government and the PM
- An elected chamber would grant democratic legitimacy, the only basis for legitimate rule in a democracy is popular consent delivered through competitive elections
yes:
+ A non-elected house allows for descriptive representation as it is difficult for elected peers to make sure they resemble the social makeup of society as the makeup of the Commons demonstrates.
+ A non-elected house allows for specialist knowledge, its members can be chosen on the basis of experience and expertise, careerist politicians would be no benefit to the political system
+ In a non-elected house, appointed members are less partisan, allowing Lords to think for themselves and are able to tackle unpopular long term decisions.

Question 15

What are the functions of parliament?

Answer 15

• legislation
• scrutiny and accountability
• debate
• recruitment of ministers
• representation

Question 16

What is the legislative process?

Answer 16

1. first reading - formal presentation of the title of the bill - no debate or vote
2. second reading - main debate on the principle of the bill
3. committee stage - bills sent to a public bill committee - detailed scrutiny of each clause
4. report stage - amendments amde in committee are considered by full HoC
5. Third reading - debate on the amended bill
6. House of lords stages - bill sent to HoL and steps 1-5 are repeated
7. is accepted then Royal assent is given

Question 17

What are other bills?

Answer 17

• private members bills - a bill which is sponsored by a backbench MP

Question 18

What is secondary legislation?

Answer 18

a law made by ministers, who have been granted this authority by an Act of Parliament
around 3,500 each year

Question 19

How effective is the legislautre?

Answer 19

• in theory, UK par can make, amend or repeal any law
• threefold classification of legislatures:
  1. policy-making legislatures - amend or reject legislative proposals made by the executive
  2. policy influencing legislatures - can modify or reject legislative proposals from the executive
  3. legislatures will little or no policy influence - unable to modify or veto legislative proposals from the executive
• parliaments effectiveness in making and scrutinising law is limited by:
  1. gov bills: most come from gov - private members bills have little chance of succeeding without gov backing
  2. parliamentary timetable: executive control timetable and can use guillotine motions to curtail the time for scrutiny
  3. payroll - ministers and parliamentary private secretaries are required to support the gov
  4. party discipline: whip systems ensure that gov proposals are rarely defeated

Question 20

Scrutiny and accountability

Answer 20

• essential function of a legislature
• par scrutinises the actions of the executive and ensures gov accountability by requiring ministers to explain their actions

Question 21

What are the ways to scrutinising the executive?

Answer 21

1. PM Qs
2. opposition (party)
3. select committees
4. The opposition

Question 22

What are PM Qs?

Answer 22

• Parliamentary questions
• a time where backbenchers and opposition frontbenchers ask oral questions to government by ministers
  + allow direct questions to PM
  + allow for a certain time every week to ask the PM questions that they have to answer
• not always taken seriously - jokes and shouting
• not every question is answered nor are the questioned actually answered
• backbenchers from pm party can use this time to make pm look good not scrutinise

Question 23

What is the role and the significance of the opposition?

Answer 23

• largest party in the HoC that is not in government
• leader of opposition gets to ask 6 questions at PM Qs
• get 20 opposition days to chose topics discussed
• however, the party may be internally divided e.g. Corbyn allowed Labour MPs to vote freely on issues such as air strikes on Syria 2015-2016

Question 24

What are select committees?

Answer 24

• a committee responsible for scrutinising the work of a government, notably of a particular gov department
• aim: hold gov accountable for policy and decision making

Question 25

Are select committees effective in scrutinising the executive?

Answer 25

yes:
+ scrutinise policies and actions of gov, conducting detailed examinations of controversial issues
+ question ministers, civil servants, outside expertise
no:
- a gov with majority in HoC will also have maj in committees
- ministers and civil servants may not provide much info
- they have no power to propose policy

Question 26

Representation

Answer 26

• process by which an individual acts on behalf of a larger group
• 2017 - BAME: 52 MPs
• models of representation:
  1. delegate model - individual selected to act on behalf of others on basis of clear instructions - should not depart from them
  2. trustee model - MPs are responsible for representing the interests of their constituents in par - once elected they are free to decide how to vote based on own independent judgement
  3. Constituency representation - MPs are expected to protect and advance the collective interests of the constituency they represent
  4. party representation - political parties dominate elections as the canidate represents beleifs of the party and not entirely individual beleifs
  5. Descriptive representation - when a legislature mirrors the society it represents

Question 27

How important is the size of the governments majority?

Answer 27

• the FPTP does not always allow for a majority gov
• the larger a gov’s majority is the less likely it is that the other parties will be able to defeat or amend gov bills.
  e.g. 2001 election - 167 majority to Blair’s gov survived large rebellions from Lab backbenchers on Iraq

Question 28

Minority governments

Answer 28

• 4 post-war minority gov:
  + Wilsons gov 1974
  + Callaghan gov 1976-79
  + Conservative government 1996-97
  + Conservative government 2017

Question 29

Coalition government

Answer 29

• 2 or more parties form the gov
• e.g. 2010 Cons & LD

Question 30

How effective are backbench MPs?

Answer 30

• ## high failure rate for private members’ bills suggests that backbench MPs have little impact on legislation

Question 31

Has parliament become more effective?

Answer 31

• parliamentary scrutiny of the executive as been enhanced in recent years by the increased assertiveness of backbench MPs and the HoL

Question 32

Is parliament an effective check on the power of the executive?

Answer 32

yes:
+ executive’s control over parliamentary timetable has been weakened by the creation of BBBC
+ backbench MPs provide greater checks on gov policy than in the past, with increased incidents of rebellion a constraint on gov action
+reform of HoL, with no party majority, is a more effective revising chamber
+ selected committees have become more influential with governments accepting around 40% of their recommendations
no:
- the executive exercises significant control over the legislative timetable and MPs hoping to steer legislation through par face significant obstacles
- gov defeats are rare - backbench MPs from the governing party obey party whip
- select committees have little power