Paper 2: Parliament Flashcards
Why is it so important that the Commons leads on passing new legislation?
It is crucial that the House of Commons leads on passing new legislation because it represents the will of the people, as its members are directly elected by the public. This ensures that new laws align with public interests and priorities. Additionally, the Commons holds greater legislative power than the House of Lords, making its role essential in shaping and enacting meaningful policies
What is the annual Budget and why is this an important moment in the Commons?
-the annual budget is the plan that forecasts income and expenditure for the next year.
-When taxation and expenditure is amended, the approval of the commons must be gained, in order to ensure the consent of those who were to pay the taxes. It is extremely rare in modern times for the commons to obstruct such proposals, but formal approval is always required.
What is private members’ legislation and how are these introduced?
While most of the legislative proposals are made by the government, there are occasions when backbench MPs develop their own legislation. This is called ‘Private Members’ legislation’. These Private Members’ Bills can be introduced in one of three ways. First, they can be introduced through a ballot, where names of backbench MPs are drawn randomly on the second Thursday of a parliamentary session and allocated specific time to introduce and have the proposed bill discussed.
Second, they can be introduced through the ten-minute rule, where MPs make a ten-minute speech in support of a proposed bill (this is far less successful than the ballot method as time is so limited and is usually more about making a political point than a serious attempt to introduce a bill). Finally, they can be introduced through presentation, where the MP notifies the House of their intention to propose a new bill and then simply presents the title of the proposed bill to the House, but does not discuss it. A backbench MP’s chances of seeing a bill through to law are small since the government has many opportunities to thwart such a procedure if it wants to.
However, there are occasions when the government supports a Private Member’s Bill, in which case it might pass. During the 2017-19 Parliament, a total
of 15 Private Members’ Bills achieved royal assent and became statute laws (14 via the Commons, one from the Lords).
What are some successful examples of PMBs?
-The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 provides stronger protections for emergency workers, including police officers, paramedics, firefighters, and prison staff, by making it a specific offense to assault them while they are carrying out their duties. The Act doubles the maximum sentence for common assault against these workers from six months to 12 months in prison, aiming to deter violence and underscore the importance of their roles. This legislation recognizes the risks emergency workers face and seeks to ensure they are safeguarded as they protect and serve the public.
-The Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Act 2019, commonly known as “Finn’s Law,” protects service animals, such as police dogs and horses, by preventing defendants from claiming self-defense when they injure or attack these animals in the line of duty. Named after Finn, a police dog injured while protecting his handler, the Act amended previous legislation to recognize the role and sacrifices of service animals. This law reinforces that harming these animals while they work to keep the public safe is unacceptable and ensures greater accountability and respect for their welfare.
-The Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019, also known as the “Upskirting Law,” criminalizes the act of taking intrusive photographs or recordings beneath someone’s clothing without their consent, typically in public places. This law addresses a gap in previous legislation, making “upskirting” a specific offense with punishments that include up to two years in prison and the possibility of being placed on the sex offenders register. Driven by a high-profile campaign, the Act aims to protect individuals’ privacy and dignity, recognizing the harm and violation caused by such invasive acts.
What are the impacts of the Parliament acts, and how can government override t THIS?
The Lords has the power to delay a piece of legislation for up to one year. In effect, when it does this, the Lords is saying to government. If the Lords does insist on trying to delay and prevent legislation that the government wishes to be passed, the Commons can vote to bypass the Lords and pass legislation without approval from the Lords after one year’s delay.
It rarely reaches this stage, but it has happened on four key occasions:
• War Crimes Act 1991, which allows the UK government to prosecute war criminals even if the offences were committed outside the UK.
• European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, which established a new closed-list system for elections to the European Parliament.
• Sexual Offences Amendment Act 2000, which lowered the age of consent for gay men to 16.
• Hunting Act 2004, which banned fox hunting with packs of hounds.
In each case the Lords performed its function of asking the government and House of Commons to reconsider, but in each case it was the Commons and the government that prevailed.
- What is secondary legislation and delegated legislation? How is this different to primary legislation?
Secondary legislation, sometimes called delegated legislation, refers to or any law-making change to the law being made by any member of government that does not need to pass through normal parliamentary procedures. These are detailed aspects of law and regulations that ministers can pass because they have been previously granted the power to do so according to a parliamentary statute. In other words, Parliament has delegated powers to ministers.
Another way of looking at this is to say that primary legislation means important laws that need parliamentary approval, while secondary legislation refers to more minor or specialised pieces of law that do not need to follow full parliamentary procedure. For example, primary legislation grants power to the secretary for transport to set speed limits on the roads, while secondary legislation concerns the minister actually setting those limits.
What are statutory instruments and why are these controversial at times, such as in the context of Brexit?
Most secondary legislation takes the form of statutory instruments, sometimes referred to as Henry VIII clauses. These raised tremendous concerns in the proposed Brexit measures by Theresa May in 2018 and 2019 because her proposed legislation included a number of statutory instruments (more than 600) that would have allowed the government to make many decisions about Brexit, the return of powers and the rights of people without having to consult Parliament or be scrutinised. In March 2019, the government was trying to force through 500 such measures without scrutiny and proper checks, even threatening to remove the power of the Lords to vote against statutory instruments, thereby removing an important check on government power. Had the government been successful, it would, effectively, have given the executive the power to do anything it wanted in terms of dealing with the consequences of Brexit, which was one reason for the opposition to such proposals.
What does the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee do and why is this so important
The Lords has more time and expertise to consider secondary legislation than the House of Commons. The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee considers all secondary legislation and decides what proposals might cause concern. Where concern is expressed, the matter is brought to the attention of the whole house and from there referred to the Commons. Such referrals are rare, but they do provide an important discipline on government. Members of the Lords also share in the work of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, which checks secondary legislation for errors in wording and meaning. This role is one where the Lords can claim to be more important than the Commons.
A key example of the House of Lords performing this function occurred in October 2015, when the Lords voted against a piece of secondary legislation that would have reduced the level of tax credits paid to low-income families. This action forced the government to amend the legislation until it was acceptable to peers.
How is the government scrutinized in the House of Commons? Explain the different ways this can happen
-It can take the form of criticising the government. This can occur on any parliamentary occasion, but usually happens during the sessions devoted to questions to ministers (every Monday and Thursday for an hour, based on a nota for ‘Oral Questions”) or Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQT) every Wednesday for half an hour.
- It can simply refer to the idea of forcing the government to justify its policies and decisions. If a minister knows they must face the Commons, they will be careful to prepare a good case for what they propose to do or what they have just done.
-Largely through the departmental select committees and the Public Accounts Committee, members of the Commons have opportunities to investigate the quality of government-in other words how well we are governed, whether taxpayers’ money is being well spent, whether government is efficient and rational, and whether policies have been well investigated. These committees are often critical of government and sometimes recommend alternative courses of action.
-Although the Commons is generally considered to be dominated by government, it can refuse to pass a piece of legislation. When this happens repeatedly, the government is weakened and made to appear ineffective, which can force a prime minister from power, as happened in 2019 with the pressure on Theresa May after repeated failures to pass proposals for Brexit through Parliament. To put it into context, between 2017 and 2019 May suffered 33 defeats, compared with only seven for Cameron in the 5 years of coalition and three for the period with a slim majority between 2015 and 2017.
What role do legislative committees play in scrutiny and what powers do they have?
In addition, the Commons must scrutinise the legislation proposed by the government (so this is both part of the legislative and the scrutiny functions of Parliament), and all backbench MPs are required to serve on legislative committees (also known as Public Bill Committees). These committees examine proposed legislation (ie bills), often examining every line, to see whether it can be improved and whether additions or amendments can be made to protect the interests of minorities. It does not mean that Commons committees have the power to reject proposed legislation altogether. Only the Commons as a whole can do this.
How does the HoL scrutinise government?
The role of the Lords in scrutinising the government is usually much more limited as it is rare for senior ministers, especially Cabinet ministers, to sit in the Lords, the 2023 appointment of David Cameron as a peer and foreign secretary being a notable exception. Government ministers do sit in the Lords to represent the government’s position, but the Lords lacks the means and methods for really scrutinising government actions, beyond asking questions of this small number of junior ministers.
When it comes to scrutinising legislation, though, the Lords does have some advantages. There are many members of the House of Lords who are experts in their field and who represent important interests and causes in society. When scrutinising legislative proposals, therefore, they have a great deal to offer.
Apart from general debates, the main way in which the Lords carries out scrutiny is through what is known as the ‘committee stage’ of a bill. At this stage, any peers may take part in debating the details of proposed legislation and may table or propose amendments. This is possibly the key role of the House of Lords. The committee stage often improves legislation, adds clauses that protect vulnerable minorities, clarifies meaning and removes sections that will not operate effectively. Occasionally the Lords may amend a bill SO severely that the government is forced to drop it altogether.
How, and how far, do MPs represent their constituents in the Commons?
It is widely acknowledged as a great strength of the UK political system that every MP represents the interests of their constituency. This is a neutral, non-partisan role in that an MP is expected to take care of the interests of all constituents, no matter for whom they voted. It might involve lobbying a minister whose department is proposing something that is unpopular in the constituency, or it might involve raising the matter on the floor of the House of Commons where it will receive considerable publicity. It might even involve joining a local campaign of some kind.
Sometimes the interests of a constituency may run counter to government policy. This presents a dilemma for MPs from the governing party. What are they to do A if a government policy may cause strong dissent in their constituency? This has occurred, for example, with the fracking debate. The Conservative government supports fracking but many constituencies with a Conservative MP representing them feel threatened by fracking. Usually, MPs abandon their party loyalty on such them fees and lobby for their constituency.
It also happens that individual constituents approach their MP for help if they are in dispute with a public body, such as HMRC over tax or the Department for Work and Pensions over welfare payments. Indeed, constituency work of this kind takes up much of the average MP’s time. Most MPs hold regular ‘surgeries’ when constituent can bring their problems to the MP’s attention. If MPs feel their constituents have a good case, they try to put things right on their behalf. This function is often described as the redress of grievances.
In what ways are other groups represented in the Commons?
MPs do not only represent the narrow concerns of their constituents; they often also pursue the interests of a section of society or a particular cause. This is often the result of their background before they became MPs. For example, members of trade unions will tend to support their former fellow workers, while former business leaders will support their former industry. All pressure groups try to recruit MPs to their cause as it gives them exposure in Parliament. Organisations such as the Countryside Alliance, Friends of the Earth and Age UK enjoy the support of groups of MPs. Furthermore, increasingly, campaign groups encourage supporters to write to MPs in large numbers to try to further their cause. Modern examples of this concern opposition to such issues as fracking, HS2, Heathrow expansion and banking regulation.
MPs have also formed themselves into groups to pursue a particular interest or cause by creating cross-party groups. Among these have been all-party parliamentary groups on these subjects:
• Aging and older people
• Betting and gambling
• Counter-extremism
• Islamophobia
• Motor neurone disease
• Race and community
• Sex equality
These groups transcend party allegiance and seek to exert collective pressure on government over key issues. They have varying degrees of success and while they may choose to represent a group, they are not necessarily elected by these groups.
Why could it be argued that groups are better represented in the Lords?
In some ways, this form of representation is better carried out by the Lords than the Commons. Since the removal of most of the (mainly) Conservative hereditary peers in 2000, no single party has an overall majority, allowing for of opinions and views to be represented. As the Lords do not need to concern themselves with the needs of a constituency or getting re-elected, they can focus on issues that affect a group from across the whole of society. In addition, since many of those sitting in the House of Lords come from non-political backgrounds, they represent a wider range of experience than the House of Commons.
Furthermore, the Lords allows a much larger range of political opinion to be represented than the Commons, partly because the power of the whips is much weaker, so party control is much weaker, but also because peers can represent small parties that find it difficult to win seats in the Commons. UKIP actually had five peers in the Lords until 2019, when they chose to sit as independents. In addition, the large number of non-affiliated and crossbench peers have much greater freedom to speak about more marginal interests and to represent a wider range of groups.
What is national debate in both chambers and when does this tend to happen?
National debate: The Commons
From time to time a great national issue arises and stands above party politics, it is an issue that concerns foreign policy and the use of the armed forces, and it has also involved the signing of foreign treaties. On major issues like an armed conflict or a time of national crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic, it is Parliament (both houses) that is called on to debate the issue and to express the national will. Here, Parliament is often seen at its best, when party allegiances are set aside, when powerful speeches are heard, and when the representatives of the people can be heard above the noise of party conflict.
National debate: The Lords
Like the House of Commons, the Lords occasionally holds debates on important national issues. The Lords tends to specialise in issues that have a moral or ethical dimension. In recent years, therefore, the Lords has held debates on such issues as assisted suicide, control of pornography, treatment of asylum seekers and refugees, stem cell research and the use of genetically modified (GM) crops. Such debates do not normally result in decisions but they help to inform decision-makers, especially as the Lords contains so many experts in these fields.
