Houses of Parliament Flashcards
Parliament
Bicameral system of parliament meaning it’s made up of two chambers: HoL and HoL. Parliament is the legiskature and has the role of making laws
House of Commons Selection
Lower house in bicameral system, MP’s sit who are elected at a general election
House of Commons membership
Most mebers are backbenchers (MPs that do not sit on the two front benches, all parties have them)
MP’s who sit on the front benches are members of government (cabinet ministers, members of shadow cabinet and the opposition party’s leadership team)
Speaker manages and chairs debates, elected by other MP’s
House of Lords
Upper house in the bicameral system in the UK, members are known as peers
Peers in the HoL
Life peers, hereditary peers, archbishops and bishops. Peers known as ‘Lord Temporal’
Most members are life peers, meaning they are a Lord for lifetime but cannot pass onto children (676 as of 2018)
Members of HoL used to all be hereditary but the HoL ACt 1999 reduced it to 92
Lords Spiritiual in the HoL
Bishops and Archbishops are known as ‘Lord Spiritual’. There are 26 and come from the Church of England
House of Lords selection
HoL appointments committee can appoint members who are not aligned with any party.
Any member of public can nominate a person to be reviewed for membership selection by the commitee
House of Lords selection 2
PM can appoint members through the power of patronage. Examples Include…
Gordon Brown appointed Lord Sugar in 2009
David Cameron appointed Ed Llewellyn, his former chief of staff, 2016
Functions of the House of Commons: Scrutiny
When the party in government is held to account for their actions
MPs can question dovernment ministers and have the power to remove them and the government fro power
Functions of the House of Commons: Debate
MPs debate major issues of importance to voters and the country
Functions of the House of Commons: Providing Ministers
Majority are MP’s (PM aswell), ministers make up the cabinet, shadown ministers in the opposition make up the shadow cabinet
Functions of the House of Commons: Representation
MPs must protect needs and interests of their constituency in Parliament
MPs speak on behalf of them at debates and make voting decisions on laws which appeal to constituents
Legitimation
It must approve all bills which become laws and has the power to support or question the government in the action it takes
HoC Functions of the House of Commons: Law Making
Make legeislation that are binding to all UK citizens.
Under parliamentary sovereignty, parliament is the ‘supreme’ law-making authority in the UK
HoC Functions Fulfilled: Representation
Represents all geographical regions, 650 Mps represent an average of 75,000 voters
Mps represent their constituents interests in debates and votes…
MP Ken Clarke voted to give Parliament a vote on any Brexit deal reached, as his constituents voted to remain, going against Conservative policy
HoC Functions Fulfilled: Law making
Number of stages and laws are hevaily debated
Government bills are often successfully passed by parliament…
The Data Protection Act 2018 is an example, which increased regulation of personal data
HoC Function Fulfilled: Private members bills (law-making)
Introduced by MPs and if passed become laws…
The City of London Corporation Act 2018 is an example which allowed the City of London Corperation to have a greater management of open spaces in London
HoC Function Fulfilled: Legitimation
Has used its legitimacy function to stop, change and question government action…
2013 the HoC voted against military intervention in Syria whcih was proposed by the government
HoC Function Fulfilled: Scrutiny (PMQs)
Question times where ministers have to provide answers for government action.
PMQs every wednesday where the PM is questioned by the Leader of the opposition and other members of parliament
HoC Function Fulfilled: Scrutiny (Select Committees)
Scrutinise government department work and ministers, ask more in depth questions than in Question Times. Examples include…
Nick Hurd (Home Office Minister) was questioned by the Housing Communities and Local Government Commitee on the support provided by the Grenfell Tower Fire
HoC Function Fulfilled: Scrutiny (Individual Ministerial Responsibility)
This convention holds all ministers in government accountable for the actions of themselves and their department. Examples include…
Amber Rudd resigned as Home Sercretary after she misled the HoC over her department’s targets for removing illegal immigrants fro the UK
HoC Functions Not Fulfilled: Representation
HoC fails to represent Uk, despite becoming more diverse…
Age: 2017 52% aged 50+ and 2% under 30
Ethnicity: 2017 8% of MPs were from ethnic minorities compared to 14% in the UK
Education: 23% of MPs went to Oxford or Cambridge
Gender: 2023 225 femle MPs, highest number to date, but only 35%
Hoc Functions not Fulfilled: Law Making
Timely as has to pass through a number of stages such as The Assualts on Emergency Workers Act 2018 took over a year to pass.
Private members bills often fail. Only 2 have passed into law since the 2017 GE
HoC Functions not Fulfilled: Law Making (Party Whips)
MPs can not always freley debate as told to follow party line. Gov can use party whips who are MPs apinted by the party to force bills through Parliament…
A three-line whip is an instrunction for MPs to vote in a party-approved way
This was used by the conservatives to order their MPs to vot for triggering Article 50, to begin leaving the EU process
HoC Functions not Fulfilled: Legitimation
HoC has legitimated gov action which was not in the interests of the people in the UK…
War in Iraq was legitimated depte lots of public opposition. Over 750,000 protested in London on a single day in Feb 2003 against the war
HoC Functions not Fulfilled: Scrutiny
Some see Question Time and PMQ’s as lacking power to properly scutinise gov…
Ministers often avoid answeirng questions directly
Members of Parliament often ask planted questions at PMQs to make the gov and party leaders appear strong to the public
PMQs labelled ‘Punch and Judy’ as is more a shouting match than scrutiny
HoC Functions not Fulfilled: Scrutiny (select committees)
Can also be innefective when holding gov account as ministers are unhelpful in providing evidence when questioned…
2016 Boris Johnso, foreign secretary at the time, was accussed of “waffling” by the foreign affairs select committe during questioning
Functions of the House of Lords: Law Making
Scurtinises the bill through the use of commitees.
HoL proposes amendments to bills during which are considered by HoC
Can delay passage of bill if they do not agree
The lords can defeat secondary legislation, and can defeat government by not passing a bill anfd sending it back to parliament
Functions of the House of Lords: Government Scrutiny
Takes place in the form of written and spoken questions put to government and through debates over policy
Functions of the House of Lords: Investigating public policy
Investigates debates important publuc policy issues
Select committees in the HoL conduct investigations into policy areas, by hearing evidece from a range of people including experts
2016-2017, the HoL produced 41 reports on policy areas including Brexit
Functions of the House of Lords: Representation
Contins peers who represent less well represented people in public life
Represents expertise from across society and different professional backgrounds
HoL also represents different political views…
Conservatives = 250 peers
Labour = 187 peers
Lib dems = 98 peers
185 crossbenchers who do not align themselves with any party
HoL Functions Fulfilled: Law Making
Contains experts who can provide input into debates and committee reviews of bills. Examples include…
Lord Krebs (zoologist and expert in science) was former president of the British Science Association
Lord Mandelson has past political expertise and had governent roles for the Labour Party
HoL Functions Fulfilled: Scrutiny
Each government department has a member of HoL linked to it that will face questions during question time from other lords
- Questioning of the government happens for 30 minutes each day from Monday to Thursday
HoL submits written questions to the government
- Between 2016-17, over 7000 written and spoken questions were put to the gov
HoL Functions Fulfilled: Scrutiny 2
No single party controls HoL, increasing non-partisanship in the chamber
Life peerages mean that Lords dont have to worry about losing their position if they disobey a whip
Lords dont have constituencies, so can spend more time in parliament scrutinising the government
HoL Functions Fulfilled: House of Lords Interventions
2015 HoL voted to delay cuts to tax credits
- In response, the proposed cutes were dlayed and modified in the Autumn statemnt the next month
EU Withdrawal bill had been defeated in the Lords a total of 17 times by October 2018
- HoL forced legislation changes such as making sure that EU environamental law is still applied after Brexit
HoL Functions Fulfilled: Representation
Reduced number of hereditary peers
Members of the House of Lords represent and advocate for diverse grops in Parliament
-Baron Bird advocates for homeless
HoL Functions not Fulfilled: Law Making
HoL able to stop legislation it disagrees with, it can only delay and propose amendments.
- 2017 HoC rejected two amendments to a bill enabling the UK to start negotiations to leave the EU
- 1911 and 1949 The Parliaments Act means HoL which prevents them from stopping government spending or taxation bills
Salisbury convention means HoL is unable to oppose policies in the manifesto of the elected gov
HoL Functions not Fulfilled: Scrutiny
Some peers odnt fulfil role and only turn up to receive their expenses
- Large amounts were claimed by 277 peers eventhough they spoke five times or less between 2016-17
Has difficulties when posing written and spoken questions to the government
HoL Functions not Fulfilled: Representation
Members not elected by teh public and doesnt represent citizens
Still 92 hereditary peers wo inherited their titles may not deserve it
Over half of members are over 70 therefore not representative of population
Church of England bishops are in HoL but no other religions
