effectiveness of parliamentary representatives in holding government to account

Question 1

SCRUTINY IN COMMITTEE BY MPS
P- Parliment can scrutinise the PM and their giovernment through work of parlimentary committees

e - Parliament has both general and select committees which scrutinise government legislation. Committees are an extension of parliament and have the power to call witnesses and subpoena documents.

example?

Answer 1

e- The science and technology select committee investigated whether the government’s decision to allow Chinese mobile phone company Huawei access to the UK’s 5G telecommunications network was a threat to national security

Question 2

SCRUTINEE IN COMMITTEE BY MPS

R/E- However some question the effectiveness of committee scrutiny due to the fact the governing party has a greater number of committee chairs

e - chairmanship of committees reflects the party balance in parliament so once the number of seats won by each party is known, a proportianate number of committee chairs are allocated to each party

Example?

Answer 2

following the 2019 general election conservatives were entitled to 16 chairs, Labour were given 9 and th SNP were given 2

Question 3

SCRUTINY BY THE LORDS
P/E- Parliaments can hold the Government to account through the HoL the second chamber of parliament.

e - arguably lords are less divided by party political division than the HoC and lords are more likely to put party affiliation aside and work together to ensure good legislation passes

example?

Answer 3

e - when Theresa May convinced the hol to support her article 50 brexit bill it failed to get the supportof hol who passed it back demanding 2 amendments to be made; 1: garuntee of rights for EU citizens in the UK, 2: ensure parliament had a vote on any future EU deal

Question 4

SCRUTINY BY THE LORDS
R- However some argue hol lacks democratic legitimacy, and therefore lacks the ability to provide effective scrutiny of the government

e - Unlike hoc hol not democratically elected by citizebs, therefore attempt not to obstruct new laws as to not be viewed as undemocratic by media or public

example?

Answer 4

e - When hol demanded amendments be made to Theresa May’s brexit bill some sections of british media lambasted it for being undemocratic and accused it of deliberately trying to block the democratic will of the british people