ETVT opposition is effective in the HOC

Question 1

para 1- contribution to legislation (argument for)

Answer 1

when the govt has a slim or no majority, the opposition are sucessful in defeating legislation
1. theresa may faced 33 defeats between 2017-19
2. snp exploited this, voting down 3 acts may wnated to pass; grammar school, fox hunting and sunday licensing

eval; this is anomalous; only efective in weak govt

Question 2

para 1- contribution to legislation; against

Answer 2

but fptp usually produces a strong and stable govt which makes it hard to vote down bills;
1. ALL labour mps voted against the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, and they even tabled an amendment that wouldve stopped it in its second reading but that was defeated 359 to 225
2. labour tabled amendments to the election bill but it was overturned

Question 3

para 2; PMQs/ opposition days

Answer 3

O.Days 20 days a parliamentary session, allows the issues to be put in the public eye
1. in 2020, labour used an OD to put through a motion tfor fsm to be extended into term time; though rejected, it opened up public debate
2. it was labour that put through the motion to see if johnson was ‘in contempt of parliament’ -privelidges committee

PMQS held every wednesday and allows leader of opposition to ask up to 6 questions e.g starmer embarrasing bojo, number of Urgent Questions have increased 4 in 2007-8 to 307 in 2017-19

Question 4

paragraph 2- pmqs (against)

Answer 4

however, the effectiveness of PMqs are limited
1. cameron described it as a ‘punch and judy show’ showing it was theatrical rather that effective scruting e.g in 2015 when tory mps would bark in parliament after cameron called milliband alex salmonds lap dog. in 2024 uproar over starmers stutter
2. 50% of pmqs are asked from the govt, allowing for planted questions

Question 5

paragraph 3- select committees

Answer 5

the opposition contributes in select committees which are significant.
1. the heath committee suggested a 30% sugar tax, to which osbourne introduced later that year
2. enviroment committee 5p plastic bags
3. privelidges committee found boris johnson was in ‘contempt’/ intentionally misled parliament

govt must restond within 60 days

Question 6

para 3- select committees- againstb

Answer 6

but select comittees relect the compostition of govt, which because of fptp is mostly a majority

reccomendations are not always bindin; only 40% of reccomendations are implemented into policy.

very little power in encorcing outcomes e.g nobody recieving a fixed penalty over partygate, patel did not have to resign after the bullying claims