influences on parliament Flashcards
briefly explain how government policies influence parliament to make changes to the law
(AO1)
- relates to general elections
- political party put forward a manifesto of changes they wish to make if they win, the party with majority will get their manifesto out through to change the law.
- public bills and private members bills
public bill
change the law as it applies to the general population and are the most common type of Bill introduced in Parliament by the government.
private members bill
public bills introduced by MPs and Lords who are not government ministers, but by creating publicity around an issue they are more likely to have their bill put through to change the law
briefly explain how public inquiries influence parliament to make changes to the law (include examples)
(AO1)
- often triggered by a tragedy and media reaction
- grenfell tower: influenced building safety bill for cladding on buildings
- Dunblane: only ever school shooting in UK created snowdrop campain of a pressure group that led to the government banning the private possession of handguns
- Stephen Lawerence: mass media triggered a public inquiry for family having injustice by no further enquiry. Triggered changes to PACE act and stop & search, changed law on double jeopardy
briefly explain how the media influences parliament to make changes to the law (include examples)
(AO1)
medias role is to inform the public on important issues that may affect them.
It allows the government to demonstrate its policy to the public to indicate how successful a political idea will be and see what the public are looking for.
Therefore there’s a two way relationship betweem the government and the public accessed through various types of media (public use media to get views across to government and government use it to get ideas across to public)
give 3 examples of how public inquiries & media influence parliament to make changes to the law (include examples)
(AO1 & AO3)
- Stephen Lawrence: double jeopardy, institutionalism racism from police.
- Dangerous dogs act (1991) & XL bully ban (2024): children were killed by dogs so went through goernement fast because public felt unsafe, however person who drafted this did it really poor which created uncertainty and confused people
- same sex marriage (2013): pressure group causation for Stonewall, media tool the civil partnership act (2002) to change same sex marriage after noticing injustice
briefly explain how pressure groups influence parliament to make changes to the law (include examples)
(AO1)
pressure groups are a body of people with a share interest in getting Parliament to change an area of law to benefit a cause or section of society. They do this by lobbying MP’s, creating petitions, working with media to gain possibility.
give 4 examples of how pressure groups influence parliament to make changes to the law (include examples)
(AO1 & AO3)
- Stonewall- homosexual rights pressure group ammended sec28 by Margret Thatcher (1988), trying to achieve equality, sexual amendment act (2000) created equality for sexual rights in LGBTQ couples to meet the 16+ age limit
- trade union- ammended minimum wage act (1988) and national living wage by BMA strike of doctors and nurses, and teacher strikes. Due to pressure on parliament they have now got a 22% increase for junior doctors and changing their name to resident doctors.
- countryside alliance: found the hunting act (2004) which created 2 opposing viewpoints so parliament struggled to please both sides. Hunting act went through eventually after House of Common forced it through by going through House of Lords
- lobbyists go to parliament or ask MP for action on certain issue. Created smoking ban in public smoking, links to private members bill, done by petitions by public interest (shows signatures of many people)
what are the 2 types of groups within pressure groups?
(AO1)
sectional group: represents/promotes interests of a particular section of society
cause group: promotes causes/values
briefly explain how law commission influences parliament to make changes to the law (include example)
(AO1)
- established in the Law Commission act 1965.
- Group of expert advisers in charge of proposing various bills concerning different areas of law.
- Most powerful group in judicial system, as their influence is widely accepted due to being former lawyers with expert knowledge and research of areas they wish to reform.
- main goal: ensure laws are fair and easy to understand for everyone in society.
- example of their influence: Sentencing Act 2020, made it clearer with a more logical structure making it accessible to public and judiciary
briefly explain the advantage and disadvantage of the influence of public opinions/inquires and the media on parliament
(AO3)
adv:
* media has allowed public opinions to spread widely, drawing attention of government towards the issues raised. Meaning Parliament can use their influence to pass laws pleasing public to prevent issues such as protests that cause larger harm to wider society.
dis:
* media doesn’t always potray a balanced opinion of the public, downplays others. Meaning government is influenced to pass laws that aren’t agreed on by entire public, reducing effectiveness due to contrasting views of the laws passed.
briefly explain the advantage and disadvantage of the influence of pressure groups on parliament
(AO3)
-include example for disadvantage
Adv:
* allowed government to see needs of a large majority of society, as sectional groups represent ideas of a particular group of people of issues arising. Therefore improving quality of life for large groups due to their influence.
dis:
* may have strong opinions on causes they are promoting that don’t agree with those of wider society. Therefore government feel pressured to concentrating on passing these, which leads to rival groups who have conflicting opinions.
* They do this by using extreme measures, e.g. just stop oil: glued to motorway, causing disruption to people’s lives to make them listen to their cause;
briefly explain the advantage and disadvantage of the influence of law commission on parliament
(AO3)
adv:
* allows government to make detailed decisions on new legislations, as influence is widely accepted due to the expertises. Therefore, been able to reform areas of law to make them simpler and modernised for th epublic.
dis:
* in some instances gov don’t have time to address influences of them as other influencers (e.g. pressure groups) may need overwhelming attention of gov. Meaning they don’t have great possibility to make changes.
give one example of an influence made by law commisions on parliament
(AO1 & AO3)
occupiers liability act 1975 was realised to be only governing liability of lawful visitors, so in 1984 law commissions made changes that governed the duty owed to those entrants lossely reffered to as tresspassers
