Parliament Flashcards
What was Blair’s majority and what was he able to do with it?
-His majority was 179 seats and he was able to survive considerable backbench rebellions, for example over the Iraq War and over tuition and constitutional reform.
By how many votes was Theresa May’s second Brexit deal denied by?
-230 votes against the deal. The largest defeat for a sitting government in UK history. She had a minority government propped up by the DUP. Her slim majority meant she lost control of the commons and was unable to push through legislation due to a lack of even a simple majority.
What is an example of the Lords attempting to influence but being unable to?
- Lords can only delay bills.
- For example in 2017 the Lords attempted to add amendments onto the passing of the Article 50 bill to trigger the exit from the EU.
- Attempted to guarantee citizens’ rights for those already living in the UK.
- Swiftly overturned by the Commons.
What are 6 arguments that the Lords are powerful at challenging the government?
1) Party control in the Lords is much weaker, Gov can’t even rely on own party peers.
2) There is more political balance in the Lords, no one party dominance.
3) More expertise and specialist knowledge, bills are more effectively and carefully scrutinised.
4) Peers are from a range of backgrounds, represent different groups of society, gives legitimacy.
5) Mesures in the Commons, such as PMQs are ineffective.
6) Governments tend to dominate commons with usual majority- meaning bill can be passed fairly easily.
bain
scape
How could it be argued that the Commons has more power than the Lords?
-6 points
1) Lords can only delay bills and suggests amendments- can be overturned by the Commons.
2) Commons can actually vote down legislation, unlike the Lords.
3) Commons has vote of no-confidence option, unlike the Lords.
4) MPs more independently-minded than in the past- less party-lined.
5) Commons is democratically elected unlike the Lords, has increased legitimacy.
6) Committees and PMQs used to scrutinise the Gov, PM does not stand before the Lords.
What is the Salisbury Convention of 1945?
-Lords are unable to delay or block legislation included in a government manifesto.
What is a Private Member’s Bill?
- Affects whole population and is introduced by an individual backbench MP or members of the Lords.
- Much less likely than a public bill to become law as they depend on time being found to complete all stages in parliament.
How many Labour MPs from the 2000’s onwards rebelled?
-In total 123 Labour MPs rebelled, 1/3 of the Parliamentary labour Party.
What is an example of a large rebellion that was ineffective due to the large majority of the government?
- The Iraq War rebels were 139 Labour MPs that were opposed to Labour decision for war with Iraq.
- Despite the large nature of the rebellion, e.g. it was the largest revolt in a governing party in modern British politics, the plans went ahead as Blair had such a big governing majority.
What is an example of a government defeat due to backbench rebellions?
- Maastricht rebels successfully denied the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty in British Law.
- At the time the government had only a majority of 18 and the rebels amounted to 22 rebels.
- As a result the government lost a vote.
What are two example of the Whip system controlling MPs?
(To do with Party Gate)
(To do with a certain coloured-book)
- William Wragg (chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee) accused government whips of blackmailing their MPs. Said Whip were threatening MPs with decreased funding for their constituencies.
- Philip Cowley famously stated that Conservative Whips kept a ‘black-book’ of MP misdemeanors for political leverage.
How can Backbench ideas be brought to attention?
-What is an example of success?
- Through the Backbench Business Committee.
- 2016 following cuts to local council’s public health budget (reduction of £331m over 5 years) meant that early intervention to child obesity was unable to occur.
- 2016 a national Soft Drinks Industry Levy was proposed and enacted in 2018 following a motion put forward by the Backbench Business Committee.
What are two example of MPs disobeying a three-line whip?
- 47 Labour MPs disobeyed a three-line whip in 2017 over the vote for the triggering of Article 50.
- 2019 118 Conservative MPs voted against the Government’s Brexit deal.
- Brexit has proved very important in terms of MPs toeing the Party line. Divisions within all major parties has meant that MPs are more confident to rebel as they feel consequences will be less severe due to social support.
-What percent of the time did MPs rebel during the coalition?
What number of votes out of the first 110 were there backbench rebellions?
-What is the significance of this?
- 35% of the time
- 59/110 votes were riddled with rebellion.
- It is significant as it shows that the government were not the dominant factor all of the time.
