INFLUENCES ON PARLIAMENT Flashcards
POLITICAL PARTIES
- before elections parties produce manifesto
- party with most seats form government
- most laws passed during that time are from government bills
- King’s speech opens parliament
POLITICAL PARTIES EVALUATION
DISADS = different party may hold majority in next election and change laws already passed, costly and open to criticism. small majority government = restricted in passing laws. coalition government = two parties may not agree on implementation of some laws
ADS = party with majority voted in by the public based on proposals in manifesto reflective of societies wishes, minority parties have the opportunity to put forward ideas for law
PUBLIC OPINION/MEDIA
- strong public opinion forces parliament to react
- stronger during time of elections
- media influences public opinion
- media brings issues to parliament’s attention
- can hold parliament to account if not acting
PO/M EVAL
ADS = specific events play a role in forming the law, DUNBLANE MASSACRE, FIREARMS AMENDMENT ACT 1997
- media and free press can bring the issues to parliament’s attention, Sarah’s law
- social media provides a platform for discussion
DISADS = knee jerk reaction from parliament, DANGEROUS GODS ACT 1991
- media is biased and can manipulate public opinion
- media can cause social unrest and negatively impact the law
PRESSURE GROUPS
- brings specific issues relating to the group to the attention of public and to parliament
- legitimate v illegitimate
- pressure group activity can make parliament reconsider the law on certain areas
- SECTIONAL = represents interests of a particular section of society. often represent groups of people of professions. can include trade unions, often work with parliament to change laws
- CAUSAL = exist to promote a particular cause, once the cause has been achieved they disband
PG EVAL
ADS = larger pressure groups can reach a larger number of people. campaign for equal rights. environmental groups force parliament to make changes to laws to protect environment
DISADS = some pressure groups only impose their own ideals. some pressure groups have conflicting opinions. some pressure groups use illegitimate measures to pressure Parliament
LOBBYING
- people trying to persuade individual MPs to support their cause. meet in hallways of Parliament
- most lobbying done by professional lobbyists on behalf of businesses and charities. has the most significant affect
- try to get MPs to ask questions in the House of Commons to attract public attention
- try to promote ideas for laws for MPs to put name in ballot for Private Member’s Bill
LOBBYING EVAL
- ADS= issues are brought directly to MPs.
- professional lobbyists are good at bringing direct issues to Parliament and MPs attention
- anyone can use the system of lobbying
- DISADS= professional lobbying can lead to an abuse of process. MPs have been paid to ask questions in Parliament. big businesses have bigger influence than ordinary people
LAW COMMISSION
- law commission act 1965
- composition consists of: chairperson and four other commissions and support staff and parliamentary draftsperson who draft proposed bills
- consider areas of law which require reform
S.3 LAW COMMISSION ACT 1965
- it shall be the duty of each of the commissions to take and keep under review all the law with which they are respectively concerned with a view to its systematic development and reform including -
- the codification of such law;
the elimination of anomalies
the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary enactments
the reduction of the number of separate enactments and
generally the simplification and modernisation of the law
HOW DOES LC WORK
- topics referred to the law commission by the Law Chancellor on behalf of the government
- may select areas of law themselves to review and seek government approval to investigate
- research is carried out on given or chosen area
- publish a consultation document setting out current law, criticisms relating to current law and ideas for reform
- following consultation LC set up a positive proposals for reform in a report
- report is sent to government along with a draft bill explaining how the changes could be implemented
CODIFICATION
- brings together the law on one topic area into one source of law
- originally designed to bring full areas of law together, too big to consider, especially in areas such as contract, crime and family
- LC now concentrates on smaller areas of the law
- provides consistency and certainty in the law
- can also make the law too rigid and broad allowing for inconsistency in judicial interpretation
REPEAL
- repealing an act means that the Act ceases to be law
- only Parliament can repeal an Act of Parliament
- LC prepares a statue law bill for parliament to pass
- by 2015, 19 statute law acts.
- over 3,000 out-of-date acts have been completely repealed
- parts of thousands of other acts have also been repealed
- this ‘tidying up’ of the statute book helps to make the law more accessible and clearer
CONSOLIDATION
- brings together multiple acts on one area of law into one single Act, aim is to make statute law clearer, shorter and more accessible
- does not look at changing or updating the law, just consolidating existing law into one Act, Education Act 1996
- problem with consolidation is that when one area becomes consolidated, another area is being fragmented by further acts
SUCCESS OF LC
- celebrated initial success after implementation. first 10 years showed an 85% success rate. first 20 proposals made were enacted
- the years following dropped to a 50% success rate, lack of parliamentary time and interest in technical areas of law.
- LC act 2009 = requires the lord chancellor to report to parliament annually on the Governments progress in implementation report of the LC, introduced a dedicated parliamentary procedure to implement LC reports
