Parliament

Question 1

What is the structure of parliament?

Answer 1

• bicameral (two chambers - Lords and Commins
• Commons has 650 MPS
• Lords has approx 800 peers

Question 2

What are the six functions of parliament

Answer 2

Debate: regularly debate key issues
Represent: views of wider community expressed in speeches and questions
Legislate: supreme law making body in the UK
Recruit ministers to the executive: conventionally PMs cabinet and junior ministers all drawn from parliament
Legitimise the executive: government not directly elected but commons is
Scrutinise the executive; examines actions closely and asks questions

Question 3

How are members in the House of Commons selected?

Answer 3

elected by first past the post to represent one constituency in the UK

Question 4

What are the three types of peers in the House of Lords?

Answer 4

Life peers - appointed by the king who follows advice of the PM, appointed for life achievements or loyalties
Hereditary peers - inherited from father, House of Lords Act 1999 removed most, 92 remain
Lords Spiritual - senior bishops in the CofE granted automatic peerage

Question 5

What powers does the Commons have?

Answer 5

• create, amend and reject both money and non money bills
• reject bills in governments manifesto
• bypass the other chamber after a year delay (Parliament Act 1911 was two years, 1949 brought it to a year)
• refuse to ratify international treaties (never used yet)
• ask written and verbal questions to ministers
• bring down a government and trigger an election (vote of no confidence or against government budget)

Question 6

What powers do the Lords have?

Answer 6

Do:
- create, amend and reject non money bills
- ask written and verbal questions to ministers
- could reject bill in governments manifesto but tend not to due to Salisbury convention

Cannot:
- influence money bills
- bring down the government
- bypass the other chamber

Question 7

What is the trend in number of defeats of government in the Commons?

Answer 7

Commons almost never defeats government - there is a majority for the ruling party
Exp: 1997-2001 Blair government never defeated
Except: 2017-19 May government defeated 46 times - minority

Question 8

What is trend of defeats by the House of Lords?

Answer 8

Lords frequently defeat the government - no overall majority of one party
However tend to back down after a while as they are the unelected house

Question 9

What is the Salisbury convention?

Answer 9

The House of Lords will not reject bills that the government put in the manifesto - elected by the people while Lords are not
Created by Conservative leader Lord Salisbury in the Lords 1945 during a Labour majority government

Question 10

What is a confidence and supply act?

Answer 10

Agreement between party in government and other party who will support them in votes if no confidence and the annual budget - exp: May and the DUP in 2017

Question 11

What are Legislative bills?

Answer 11

Proposed laws- after parliament approval it goes to the monarch and becomes and act of parliament
can begin in either chamber

Question 12

What are private members bills

Answer 12

individual MPS or peers from the backbench can propose bills

Question 13

What is the process for a bill to get approved

Answer 13

House of Commons
First Reading - title but no debate
Second Reading - main principles debated and voted on
Committee stage - examined by public bill committee
Report Stage - final amendments
Third reading - final bill debated and voted on

Lords:
same stages however
Committee stage - takes place in main chamber and no time limit
Third reading - can still make amendments

Both - consideration of amendments until both chambers agree

The monarch - gives Royal Assent

Question 14

When has the sailsbury convention been disagreed with?

Answer 14

2015 Lib Dem peers as Cameron’s government only had 37% of the vote

2017 - Labour peers argued against May as she did not have a majority

Question 15

How many times has the Parliament Act been used and why is this?

Answer 15

7
a year is a long time to wait depending on general elections
Lords can make good amendments
the act purely existing is enough to deter the Lords from rejecting a bill

Question 16

What is the role of backbenchers?

Answer 16

sit behind government or opposition to support them
votes depend of what they vote for - majority
told how to vote by party whips and this could affect their career if they choose to defy

Question 17

What are party whips?

Answer 17

chosen by PM - loyal to the party - to give instructions to backbenchers

Question 18

What is the trend of MP rebellions in the Commmons

Answer 18

Most MPs stay loyal to their party and rebel less than 1% of the time - they are at risk of losing a job otherwise

Question 19

What is the trend of rebellions in the lords?

Answer 19

More rebellious the MPs but have party intrest in mind

Question 20

What is parliamentary privilege:

Answer 20

members of both chambers can speak freely during debates without fear of being taken to court

Question 21

Examples of parliamentary privilege?

Answer 21

Lib Dem MP naming Ryan Giggs who had an injunction from being named in press story - protected by privilege
Layla Moran MP names Russian oligarchs thought to be aiding Putin in 2022

Question 22

What are some restrictions to MPs behaviour?

Answer 22

• rule of law still applies to MPs - David Chaytor jailed for fiddling with expenses
• unparliamentary language to create a nice environment
• bad behaviour is dealt with my the speaker

Question 23

What are select committees?

Answer 23

Work in both houses
check and report on areas ranging from department to economic affairs

Question 24

What are departmental select committees?

Answer 24

Committees in the commons examining each department’s spending and police
have a minimum of 11 members and can appoint specialist advisers
elected by a secret ballot of MPs

Question 25

What are the three other committees those in the Commons

Answer 25

Liaison committee- made up of chairs of all select committee and question PM twice a year
Backbench business committee - ability to schedule debates on days not controlled by government
Petitions Committee- decided weather to debate an epeition with over 100,000 signatures

Question 26

What are Lords select committees?

Answer 26

Do not shadow a department but look into specialist subjects
take advantage of lords expertise and greater amount of time
currently six permanent ones

Question 27

What is the official title of the largest opposition party

Answer 27

His Majesty’s Loyal Oppostion

Question 28

What is the role of the HM opposition?

Answer 28

ongoing check on government power usage - ask questions and deciding debate topics of opposition days
attractive alternative set of policies - Corbyn and tuition fees in 2019
Alternative government to take over

Question 29

How effective does Common perform its legislative role

Answer 29

for: carefully checks books in several stages before it becomes law
can pass bills quickly - Early Parliament general elections act 2019 passed in three days
private members bills offer additional ideas - Education Act 2021 put more are by Mike Amesbury regarding costs

against:
- gov outnumber opposition
- whipped gov MPs fail to check bills properly and programme motions
private members bills don’t really become law - only 7 passed in 2029-21
West lothian wuestion

Question 30

How effective is Commons in scrutinising

Answer 30

for - PMQs, ministers questions and written questions
20 opposition days - Oct 2020 labour debates on free school meals
select committees- department examine in detail gov department work and liaison interview PL twice a year
westminster hall

against:
PMQs seen as punch and just politics
Only very few opposition days and motion passed not legally binding
select committees have a gov majority still and cannot directly change policy
Westminster hall is poorly attended

Question 31

How effective is commons at representation?

Answer 31

for:
directly elected every five years
MPs arrive in constituency - Maria Miller dec 2023 asked about hosing targets in basingstoke
gender balance is improving due to labours all women shortlist and ethnic balance improving

against:
FPTP results in washed votes - 2010 1/3 or MPs received 50% of votes
no legal obligation for MPs to be int ouch in constituency- 2011 Stuart Bell as britains laziest MP
Commons still not fully representative - only 1/3 are women and in 2019 65 MPs were from ethnic groups

Question 32

is Lords effective at legislation

Answer 32

for:
carefully checks bills - whips are weaker and no programme motions
gov is regularly defeated - 125 in 2022-23
includes members of expertise - Lord Sugar, Baroness Brady, Lord Cameron

against:
can fake a long time to pass bill though lords
unelected so shouldn’t really block bills
significantly weaker in law making power after parliament acts
level of expertise overestimated as sometimes peerage granted through endorsement

Question 33

How effective is scrutiny in the lords

Answer 33

for: become more assertive - after hereditary peers removed
joint committee on HR challenge gov - brexit, rwanda
lords question minister regularly - dec 2023 cameron asked questions about UK support for Ukraine by Lord Robinson

against:
weaker than commons in scrutinising foreign policy
doesn’t not have specific select committees
cannot typically question most senior decision makers

Question 34

How effective is the Lords in representation

Answer 34

for:
her diary peers mostly removed in 1999 -92 left
functional representation from various economic and social groups
sometimes happens to be more promotional to general election votes

against:
entirely unelected
28% of peers are female and 7% are ethnic minorities
in built failure of religious representation through lords spiritual