chapter 6 parliament Flashcards
how many bishops and archbishops in HOL?
26
front bench MPs
government ministers, senior and junior
example of opposition using supply days to defeat the government
2009 opposition defeated the government on issues of whether. Nepalese Gurkha soldiers should have right of residence in the UK
do the lords effectively scrutinise government?
yes- secondary legislaion in 2008 new clauses of the counter terrorism bill which meant that terror suspects could be held for 42 days without rial was defeated b lords by 1919 votes
no- sailsbury convention 1945 means that lords cannot veto and laws that were in the party’s manifesto or campaign
public accounts committee
- scrutinises value for money and the economy
- chair is always a member of the main opposition party
- elected by MPs
- members act independently on the whole ignoring party allegiance
- reports often unanimous
how many hereditary peers?
92
how many life peers did tony Blair nominate
203
2016 PAC investigation into googles tax affairs
googles payment of back tax of £130 million considered too low. HMRC should investigate a better way of regulating the tax affairs of multinational companies
liaison committee
made up of all chairs of all 19 departmental committees meeting twice a year to question the primeminister extensively
legislative committee
temporary committees which scrutinise proposed legislation and proposed amendments
types of legislation:
- public bills
- primary. legilsation
- secondary legislation
- private members bills
- private bills
do backbenchers play a signifanct role in legislation?
yes- can propose private members bills. historically the. most significant being the 1967 abortion act indicating that abortion was lawful if ‘the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman’
no- whips ensure that all government legislation is passed and private members bills are rarely timetabled in. from 1997 to 2010 only 7 government-backed bills failed to pass through parliament
backbench business committee
determines the business of the house for more than 20 days a year (supply days)
functions of house of commons
- legitimation (the formal process of making proposed laws legitimate by granting consent)
- accountability
- scrutiny
- constituency work
- representation of interest
- national debate
do select committees effectively scrutinise the government
yes- select committees such as the public accounts committee are nonpartisan, elected by MPs and in 2016 the PAC found that google’s £130 billion tax return was a little low, and HMRC and the government should be regulating multinational companies tax affairs more closely
no- public bill committees are partisan, selected by whips, and usually don’t hold the government to account. in 2015 think tank ‘reform published a report that public bill committees were mainly for point scoring and getting backbench MPs into higher party positions
do backbenchers effectively scrutinise government?
yes- 2010-2015 clegg-Cameron coalition was defeated 7 times by backbenchers from left and right
no- when a government like johnson have a big majority 2021 81 majority even if 30 backbenchers rebel a law can still be passed
1911 and 1949 parliaments acts
1911 lords cannot vote laws
1949 lords can only. delay legislation for 1 year
Salisbury convention
lords cannot obstruct any proposed legislation that was contained in the governing parties last election campaign
select committees
permanent committees of backbench MPs holding government to account
what is parliamentary privilege?
MPS are free from outside interference and cannot be persecuted or charged for anything said in hose of commons
do committees effectively scrutinise government?
yes- select committees are nonpartisan, elected by MPs and hold gov to account for example 2016 PAC held gov to account on tax affairs of big companies
no- select committees can be ignored, for example, David Cameron directly ignored committee reports on drug legislation while he was passing a law on it. and usually, you are only picked to chair a committee if you are popular in the parties, for example, ken Livingstone is very experienced in local gov ut unpopular party so never got a committee role
how many MPs?
650
