parliament Flashcards
define legislature
the body that has the power to make, revoke and change laws (parliament)
define executive
the body that runs the country and proposes laws to the legislature (government)
define judiciary
body that interprets and applies the law (courts and justice system)
what makes up parliament
house of commons, house of lords, monarchy
who is the speaker
chair of the commons and runs the proceedings, who was previously an MP who was elected by fellow MPs and had to be impartial
what is a problem with the speaker
may show bias in choosing who speaks depending on their political views
what is the cabinet
governing party that have a main role
who are government ministers
junior ministers who work under the cabinet minister in a specific department
who are whips
an MP responsible for enforcing discipline on back benchers so they vote with their party
what is a whip
an email which shows the voting agenda for the week, with three line whips being the most important
define pairing whip
pair up with opposition when someone can’t attend so their votes get cancelled out
who are backbenchers
not part of government but are apart of governing party
who are cross benchers
lords with no party affiliation
who are Lord’s spiritual
church of england bishops in the HoL for moral and spiritual guidancr
who are life peers
appointed by PM and are lords for life
disadvantages of life peers
- might not like the job
- could only be involved when it suits them
- PM picks who they want to put in (based on loyalty)
define hereditary peers
lords who were born into the title so they can pass it down
disadvantages of hereditary peers
- come from wealthy background
- are unrepresentative
how many hereditary peers are there
the Lords act 1999 cur down to 91
what is the monarchy’s role
officially appoint a government by choosing a PM
what are the functions of parliament
passing legislation, scrutinising the executive, representing the electorate, providing ministers
features of passing legislation
- passing and amending laws
- both house review the laws the government wishes to pass
- commons are the only with “money” bills and can amend and veto legislation
- lords can only suggest amendments and delay them for a year
how is legislating effective
- allows MPs to vote and debate
- May government was defeated in Lords over 14 times in 2018 on EU bill
- May’s working majority was 13 so had to work hard to win over her MPs
- government doesn’t always get their way- like Cameron’s rules on referendum
- government were voted in so should have majority say
- still passed rwanda bill despite going directly against supreme court ruling
how is legislating not effective
- whips stop MPs expressing their honest opinions
- backbenchers can rarely defeat legislation
- mostly considers what the government wants to put forward
- government usually have majority and can pass what they want
features of scrutinising the executive
- holding the government to account
- minister have a duty to explain and defend their policies
- most departments are represented in Lords by junior ministers
- PMQs, select committees, legislative committee, no confidence vote
define select committee
backbenchers to scrutinise different departments
what are PMQs
direct questione towards PM
what are legislative committees
scrutinise bills and consider amendments
advantages of legislative committee
- public bill committee were strengthened in 2007
disadvantages of legislative committee
- les independent than select committee
- amendments rarely accepted
what are no confidence votes
with majority votes the minister has to resign
how is scrutiny effective
- different methods of scrutinising
- debates in Lords are high quality
- backbench business committee allow backbenchers to have more control over parliamentary agenda
- PMs are reluctant to imitate military action without Parliament
how is scrutiny not effective
- limited time for genuine debates
- questions can be avoided or off topic
- select committee are proportionate to HoC
- no action from Lords
- no action has to be done from criticism
features of providing ministers
- recruiting ground for future ministers
- whips help make recommendations
how is providing ministers effective
- choose people who are somewhat educated and experienced
- help to run the government more effectively
- MPs have democratic legitimacy
how is providing ministers not effective
- PMs can put in who they want, and may not be the best choice
- based on connections and loyalty
- do not need experience to lead a department
features of representing the electorate
- commons only as they are the elected house
- Lords not dominated by a single party
- Burkean idea of representation- MPs deciding what they think is best for their constituency
- delegate model- MPs being mouthpieces for their constituency
- doctrine of the mandate- MPs representing their party
how is representing the electorate effective
- approval of the people-
- social media increase pressure on MPs
- 44 MPs voted against HS2 in 2014 in the interest of their constituency
how is representing the electorate not effective
- MPs may be loyal to party
- not truly representative, only 4% are from minority ethnic and 22% are women in HoC
- parties are voted instead of the candidate
- Lords are unelected and unrepresentative
which house is more powerful
Commons
powers of the Commons
- exclusive authority to taxation and public expenditure
- confidence and supply
- veto and amend legislation
- reject legislation, even manifesto pledges
- approves government budget
- no-confidence votes
define no confidence vote
when MPs vote to dismiss the government
define hung parliament
government is the biggest party but does not have majority
define confidence and supply
when minority government have an agreement with other parties to keep majority when there is a hung parliament
example of confidence and supply
May government in 2017 were 8 seats short and had an agreement with DUP to vote with them in return for small concessions
define full coalition
when parties govern together and some cabinet roles are given to the other party
powers of Lords
- revise and propose amendments to legislation
- veto government if they want to extend their term more than 5 years
- delay legislation for a year
what does the Parliament Act (1911 and 1949) stop the Lords from doing
- interfering with matters of taxation
- only delay legislation for a year
what event led to the Parliament Act
People’s budget in 1999 caused aristocratic outrage where the Lords had too much power to stop them being taxed, and thus led to limiting their powet
what happened after the 1945 Salisbury convention
stopped the Lords from opposing bills suggested in the manifesto of the winning party at a general election
example of Commons power over the Lords
use the parliament act to force important bills through like banning hunting dogs (2004) and equalising age of consent for all relationships (2000),
however only been used 3 times
examples of Lords power over Commons
- defeated Commons in April 2033 over the minimum service levels bill strikes that tried to take away people’s right to strike
- 2021-2022 128 government defeats under Johnson
-HoL turned down Rwanda bill amendments
define legislative bill
proposal for a new law or change to an existing one either introduced in the Commons or Lords
define act of parliament
bill that has completed all its stages in parliament and has become law
define government/public bill
brought forward by government ministers to change public policy
define private bill
sponsored by an organisation right the intention of changing the law as it affects the organisation
define hybrid bill
characteristics of public and private bill and proposes changed to the law which affects the general public
define private members bill
introduced by an individual backbencher or member of Lords, but often there isn’t enough time for these to be heard and complete all stages
legislative process
1) origin- bill originates as green paper (general policies) or white paper (specific policy)
2) first reading
3) second reading- full debate and vote
4) committee stage- bill is scrutinised by public bill committee and changes are proposed
5) report stage- whole house consider amendments and can accept or reject
6) third reading- amended bill is debated and voted on
7) second chamber- repeats in other chamber and goes back and forth
8) royal assent- monarch signs the bill and makes it law
how does parliament interact with the executive
- backbenchers
- select committees
- opposition
- questioning
define backbench business committee
gives backbenchers more power to propose topics for 35 days a year
define parliamentary privilege
MPs are free to speak without fear of prosecution for slander when within Parliament
features of the opposition
- biggest party opposing the government (Conservative)
- present themselves as suitable party in waiting
- 20 days per parliamentary year to propose topic
forms of questioning
- PMQs
- MQT
- MPs submitting questions to be answered by civil servants
how are select committees effective
- MPs have more independence to speak their mind
- works is respected and televised
- long serving members have more knowledge on a particular area
how are select committees ineffective
- majority come from governing party
- government accept 40% of select committee recommendations
- only cover a limited range of topics in detail
- MPs don’t attend regularly
- government do not have to act
how are backbenchers effective
- ten minute rule bills
- private members bills
- parliamentary privilege
- 70 conservatives against new covid restrictions in 2021
how are backbenchers ineffective
- private members bills rarely go through
- whips limit
how are the opposition effective
- constant scrutiny so government can improve
- highly televised
- 20 days to propose their own topic for debate
how are the opposition ineffective
- Conservative only have 17 days as they have to share with other parties
- government have majority
- lack of resources
how is questioning effective
- obliges PM to engage with opposition
- regular and significant
- MQT have more detailed questions and answered
- urgent questions allow ministers to be demanded to answer
how is questioning ineffective
- MPs will deliberately plant questions to make the PM look good
- ends up becoming theatrical
Starmers bill for HoL
remove the right for hereditary peers to sit and vote, increase the number of female Lords, and set a retirement age of 80
