Parliament Flashcards
When was devolution given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
1998
How much money did Parliament grant Scotland for 2022-2023?
£56 billion
What was NI granted in 2010?
Their own criminal justice system
What system of devolution was introduced by the coalition government (2010-2015)?
Metro Mayors
What was an issue with metro mayors?
9 of the 12 intended cities rejected the idea of having a metro mayor
State two successes of devolution
Stopped the breakup of the UK
Peace in NI for more than 20 years
State two failures of devolution
Scottish independence has increased dramatically
Turnout in devolved assembly’s are low
What has the voter turnout been for Senedd elections (Welsh parliament)?
No Senedd election has reached over 50% of the electorate
What was the voter turnout for the 2003 Senedd elections?
38%
How many Lords did Cameron appoint to parliament from 2010 onwards?
295
What is unique about UK parliament?
Fusion of powers
What does fusion of powers look like in the UK?
The executive sits in the legislature (HOC)
What three parts make up Parliament?
The executive
The legislature
The monarchy
What is a confidence and supply agreement?
Used in the instance of a minority government, another party will support the largest one in order to form a government
What are the two functions of Parliament?
Legislating
Debating
How do Parliament legislate?
Both houses review and scrutinise the laws that the government wish to pass. They are generally expected to pass them
How do parliament debate?
Debates offer a way to hold the executive to account and scrutinise the governments ideas
Name an example of when an emergency debate was used
An emergency debate followed after the phone-hacking scandal in 2006 in which the royal family’s phones were hacked by newspapers
What are two issues with representation of parliament?
Parliament membership does not represent the UK
HOL are unelected
How many MP’s were of an ethnic minority in 2019?
66
How has social media increased representation?
More direct contact between MP’s and constituencies
How has coalition caused representation to fail?
Lib-Dem’s in 2015 voted with the conservatives to raise tuition fees despite promising to abolish them
What is legitimation?
The idea that all legislation must be approved by Parliament
Why is legitimation a good thing?
Makes laws through the will of the people
Name three features of the house of commons?
Veto legislation
Constituency representation
Reject legislation
Name three features of the house of lords?
Delay legislation for a year
amend legislation but this needs approval from the commons
experts in specific fields
Name a piece of legislation that the Lords changed?
Removed article 4 of the public order bill which would have removed certain protest tactics such as road blocks
Name a Lord who is currently an MP
Lord Krebs who specialises in zoology
What has increased the House of Lords’ power?
removal of life peers has given it more legitimacy
How many EU withdrawal bills did the HOL defeat?
14 in 2018
Name a piece of controversial legislation that the Lords have defeated the government over?
2012 welfare reform act
Name a bill that the Lords delayed for a year but was ultimately passed
2004 fox hunting act
What is the Salisbury Convention?
Constitutional rule that prevents the HOL from blocking government manifesto bills
Name three ways parliamentary scrutiny is carried out
Questioning
Select committees
Legislative committees
How was questioning effectively used by Jeremy Corbyn?
Corbyn as opposition leader used PMQs to overturn the welfare state reforms
What is a select committee?
committees that scrutinise specific government departments
Name a success of a select committee?
2013 public account committee heavily criticised Amazon, Starbucks and Google for avoiding tax
What is the traditional role of backbench MP’s?
to simply follow the way in which their party votes
What has increased backbencher independence?
need for constituency representation and involvement in select committees
What limits backbench power?
Whips which encourage party votes by enticing MP’s with rewards such as trips or promotions
How many years has Stormont served given that parliament has shut it down three times?
16 years of its 25 year life span
How did Sadiq Kahn respond to the BLM riots?
Ordered the review of statues and street names in order to make sure there were no race implications
What is section 35 of the 1998 Scotland act?
Allows for the UK Parliament to halt Scottish bills
When has section 35 been used by Parliament?
Stop the gender recognition bill in 2022
What was the voter turn out for the 2014 Scottish referendum?
85%
When was the constitutional reform that removed the HOL power to veto government bills?
1911
What is the significance of Sarah Champion and the vote to leave the EU?
She voted against her personal belief of remain in order to honour her constituencies vote of leave
What bill did Gordon Brown drop in 2008 following defeats from the HOL?
Terrorist tension bill
