Parliament Flashcards
What is parliament?
the British legislature (law-making body), made up of
the House of commons.
House of Lords and monarch.
What are the HOC and HOL?
House of Commons-
the primary chamber of the UK legislature, directly
elected by voters
House of Lords-
the second chamber of the
UK legislature, not directly elected by voters.
What are backbenchers?
MPs who do not have a ministerial or shadow-ministerial position. They occupy the benches in the debating chamber behind their leaders. Their main tole is to represent their constituencies. They are also expected to support the leaders of their respective parties.
What is the opposition?
the official opposition is usually the party with the second-largest number
of seats in the Commons.
Its role is to criticise the
government and to oppose many of its legislative proposals. It also seeks to present itself as an alternative government
What type of parliamentary system does the UK have?
The UK has a ‘bicameral’ parliamentary system - a parliament with two chambers, an elected House of Commons and an unelected House of Lords.
How many MPs are there?
650
What were the two ways to call an early election under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act?
An early general election could be held in one of two possible situations: if a government lost a vote of no confidence and the prime
minister could form another administration within 14 days: or if two-thirds of MPs supported a motion calling for an early election. Theresa May called an early election for June 2017 with the support of the necessary proportion of MPs.
What happens if an MP dies?
If an MP dies or retires during a parliamentary term, the vacancy is filled by holding a by-election in
that constituency
Examples of independent MPs
Most MPs are elected as members of a political party. Only one independent, Lady Hermon - MP for North Down in Northern Ireland - was elected at the 2010 and 2015 general elections. Sometimes an MP may resign or be expelled from a party, and serve out the rest of the parliamentary term as an independent. For example, UKIP’s only MP, Douglas Carswell (member for (lacton, Essex), left the party to become an independent in March 2017.
Difference between backbenchers and frontbenchers
The majority of MPs - roughly three-quarters of the total membership of the Commons - are
known as backbenchers. The rest are the frontbenchers. who are sub-divided into members of
the government, and shadow ministers, who are members of the opposition, occupying the front bench that faces the government. the Shadow cabinet is headed by the leader of the opposition.
Types of peer
There are three main categories of peer: hereditary peers, life peers and 26 ‘Lords Spiritual (Anglican archbishops and bishops) who sit in the Lords for historic reasons, as the Church of England is the official church of the British state.
How many sitting members of the HOL?
785
How many lords spiritual?
26
How many hereditary peers?
92
Main functions the houses perform
• passing legislation
•scrutiny of the executive (including debating)
•providing ministers.
In addition the Commons has the function of representing the electorate. This section outlines each of these roles in turn, with some assessment of how well they are fulfilled.
Exclusive HOC power
The House of Commons has exclusive power to give consent to taxation - as the elected chamber it represents the public, and the Lords is not allowed to interfere with the passage of what are known as ‘money’ bills. The Lords has the right to amend non-financial legislation.
Why opposition is necessary for parliament to function?
Most legislation is initiated by the government and there is limited opportunity for backbench and opposition MPs to propose measures of their own. Parliament mostly reacts to measures put before it by the executive, rather than developing its own legislative proposals, and it is rarely able to defeat or significantly amend legislation. To succeed, this requires solid opposition from the opposition parties combined with rebels on the government side. An example is David Cameron’s defeat in March 2016 on plans to extend Sunday trading, when Labour and the SNP joined with Conservative dissidents.
Example of opposition and rebels defeating bill?
An example is David Cameron’s defeat in March 2016 on plans to extend Sunday trading, when Labour and the SNP joined with Conservative dissidents.
Job of whips and measures that take
The adversarial nature of the party system, in which the opposition constantly confronts and challenges the government, is reinforced by the work of the party whips. They are responsible for ensuring that MPs attend parliamentary votes (known as ‘divisions’) and for granting leave of absence if their vote is not essential. They issue MPs with a written instruction to attend - also known as a ‘whip’ - which indicates how important it is for an MP to be present. The most important votes are underlined three times and these occasions are therefore known as a
“three-line whip’. Less important requests for attendance may be underlined just once or twice.
Government whips may offer the prospect of ministerial posts in order to encourage and reward loyalty. Whips can also impose sanctions on those who do not accept the party line. Persistent rebels may have the whip withdrawn, meaning that they are effectively suspended from the party and have to sit as an independent. This can also happen in cases of misconduct where it is felt that an MP has damaged the party’s reputation. Smaller teams of whips operate in the Lords.
Example of whip being removed
After allegedly groping two men while he was drunk, Chris Pincher had whip removed in 2022.
How can governments push through legislation?
Governments can use the argument of overriding necessity to push through legislation. The
2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act, which introduced control orders for individuals suspected of terrorist offences, completed all its stages in just 18 days.
Example of gov using argument of overriding necessity?
The 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act, which introduced control orders for individuals suspected of terrorist offences, completed all its stages in just 18 days.
Example of poorly drafted bill
The usual example given is the
1991 Dangerous Dogs Act, which was passed in response to a series of tabloid stories about dog altacks. Critics argued that, instead of prohibiting certain breeds of dog, it should have targeted iresponsible owners. A review by the RSPCA, 25 years later, showed that of 30 deaths caused in that period by dogs, 21 involved breeds that were not specified in the act.
What are select committees?
consisting of backbench
MPs, the composition of Commons select committees reflects the make-up of the Commons.
Select committees in the Commons investigate and report on the activities of government departments.
Their counterparts in the Lords (such as the Constitution Committee and the Science and Technology Committee)
carry out topic-based inquiries.
Meaning of scrutiny role
Parliament has a responsibility to exercise oversight of the executive’s actions. The opposition seeks to hold the government to account and to expose its errors. Ministers have a duty to explain and defend their policies in parliament.
Why do most senior ministers sit in the Commons?
Most senior ministers sit in the Commons, where the main action of politics takes place. Theresa May’s first Cabinet, appointed in July 2016, contained only one member of the Lords (the Leader of the Lords, Baroness Evans), which is typical of recent practice. However, most government departments are represented in the Lords by a junior minister, whose role is to oversee the passage of business through the upper house.
The most important ways scrutiny is performed? (3)
• questions to ministers, which may call for oral or written answers. Prime Minister’s Questions, a weekly question-and-answer session in the chamber of the Commons, has been criticised for being unduly theatrical and largely a point-scoring exercise dominated by the prime minister and the leader of the opposition.
• select committees, which shadow individual government departments in the Commons.
• debates, which can be impressive set-piece events, such as the August 2013 House of Commons debate in which the Cameron government was defeated on its proposal to undertake military action in Syria. Since 2010 the creation of the Backbench Business Committee has given MPs more power to shape the agenda by allowing them to choose the topic for debate on one day per week. Debates in the Lords are often given credit for their high quality, with participants commonly including recently retired individuals with expertise in a particular field, but they rarely influence the course of events.
How has scrutiny through debates been enhanced in recent years?
Since 2010 the creation of the Backbench Business Committee has given MPs more power to shape the agenda by allowing them to choose the topic for debate on one day per week. Debates in the Lords are often given credit for their high quality, with participants commonly including recently retired individuals with expertise in a particular field, but they rarely influence the course of events.
Example of gov being defeated in a debate
In a August 2013 House of Commons debate the Cameron government was defeated on its proposal to undertake military action in Syria.
Where are ministers chosen from?
In a parliamentary system of government, the convention is that ministers must sit in one of the two houses. Parliament acts as a recruiting ground for future ministers, with the whips making recommendations to the prime minister on suitable candidates for promotion. The prime minister possesses wide powers of patronage.
The award of a peerage can on occasion be used to secure the services of a particular individual as a minister, if that person is not an MP.
Example of someone being put in parliament so they could be a minister
For example, following the 2008 financial crisis, Gordon Brown recalled Peter Mandelson from the European Commission, appointing him to the Lords so that he could serve as business secretary.
Plus Cameron
Is the Lords representative?
The Commons has a representative function since it is the elected house. The Lords is representative only in the sense that it contains people with a wide range of professional backgrounds, although this aspect is not organised systematically. The Lords is not dominated by a single party in the way that the Commons often is, as a consequence of the distorting effects o the first-past-the-post voting system. However, the Lords does not reflect the composition of wide UK society. More than half of its members are over the age of 70, three quarters are male and on around five per cent come from ethnic minorities.
Are MPs simply delegates?
The Commons has a representative function as the elected house. By long-standing tradition, MPs are not delegates of their constituencies - they use their judgement on how to vote, rather than taking instructions from those who elect them. The first-past-the-post system means that there is a strong link between an MP and their constituency. MPs are expected to respond to issues raised by individual constituents and to stand up for local interests at Westminster. If an MP does not fulfil the expectations of the local electorate, the voters have a right to choose a different representative at the next general election.
Example of MPs standing up for their constituencies in parliament
For example, a number of the 44 MPs who voted against plans for the London to Birmingham High Speed Rail link (H52) in March 2016 represented constituencies that would be affected by the planned route.
Two concerns about how effectively parliament performs its representative function?
• One concern is that an MP’s loyalty to their party, reinforced by the desire to win promotion to the government, may come into conflict with the need to represent a constituency. However, skilful MPs are good at reconciling the two roles. The ministerial code, which regulates the conduct of ministers, advises them to take care to avoid conflicts of interest. But they are allowed to make representations to colleagues in government, as long as they make it clear that they are acting as their constituents’ representative and not as a minister. For example in 2006 Hazel Blears, a member of Tony Blair’s Cabinet, supported protests against a planned closure of part of a hospital in her Salford constituency.
•Another issue is that, although there has been considerable improvement since the 1980s, the Commons is still not truly representative of society as a whole. 29 per cent of MPs elected in May 2015 were female - an increase on the 2010 figure, which was 22 per cent - compared to 51 per cent of the UK population. Similarly ethnic minority MPs make up 6 per cent of the Commons, compared to 13 per cent of the population. A pattern has also been developing in recent decades in terms of the class and occupational background of MPs.
Example of balancing loyalty to party and constituents
For example in 2006 Hazel Blears, a member of Tony Blair’s Cabinet, supported protests against a planned closure of part of a hospital in her Salford constituency.
Exclusive power of the HOC
There is one important area, however, where the Commons has exclusive authority - to give consent to taxation and public expenditure. Since the Commons represents the taxpayer, there is a tradition that although the Lords debates money bills, it cannot interfere with them. For this reason the chancellor of the exchequer is obliged to sit in the Commons, where the annual budget is always presented.
What is confidence and supply?
A type of informal coalition agreement sometimes used in the event of a hung parliament where the minority partner agrees to vote with the government on key issues, usually in exchange for policy
concessions.
How does confidence and supply work and when is it needed?
Another area where the Commons can exercise power is the situation known as confidence and supply. This can occur in the event of a minority government, where the governing party does no! join a formal coalition, but relies on a limited agreement with another party (or parties) to keep itself in office. This means that the supporting party will provide backing on a vote of no confidence, and will vote through the government’s budget (the ‘supply part of the arrangement). In return the smaller party will receive certain concessions. It is an agreement thats more flexible (and thus less stable) than a full coalition.
Examples of confidence and supply
The Conservative Party’s arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party following the general election in June 2017, when the Conservatives were eight seats short of a majority, was a confidence and supply agreement.
Another relatively recent occurrence in the UK was in 1977-78, when James Callaghan’s minority Labour government concluded the Lib-Lab Pact’ with the smaller Liberal Party. There was talk of the SN supporting a minority Labour government on these terms, had the 2015 election resulted
in a hung parliament
Is the HOL less powerful than the HOC?
The Lords is definitely less powerful than the Commons, as suggested by one of its informal alternative names, the ‘second chamber Since the early 20th century, when the UK started to become more democratic, its powers have been limited by both law and convention. It is widely accepted that this is appropriate, since it lacks the democratic legitimacy of an elected chamber.
Background of 1911 Parliament Act
It came about when the Lords broke with the convention, established since the late 17th century, that they should not interfere with matters of taxation.
Aristocratic outrage at new taxes on land and wealth, proposed in the Liberal government’s
‘People’s budget of 1909, led the Lords to break with this tradition. By rejecting the budget they brought about a prolonged constitutional crisis, which was resolved by the passing of the Parliament Act two years later.
What did the 1911 Parliament Act do?
This set out in law that:
.the Lords had no right to delay money bills
. its power to veto non-financial bills was to be replaced by a power of delay lasting two
parliamentary sessions (equivalent to two years).
How was the 1911 Parliament Act modified?
Clement Attlee’s Labour government, faced with opposition from the Lords to its iron and steel nationalisation bill, used the 1911 act to push through a modification, halving the length of time that the upper house could use its delaying power. This was embodied in the 1949 Parliament Act.
What is the Salisbury Convention?
The power of the Lords is also constrained by the 1945 Salisbury convention, a convention agreed shortly after the election of the Attlee government. Named after the Conservative opposition leader in the upper house, Lord Salisbury, the convention stated that the Lords would not oppose a bill that gave effect to a commitment contained in the manifesto of the winning party at a general election. The convention was a response to the election of Britain’s first majority Labour government, which was committed to a radical reforming programme.
(the convention whereby the
House of ords does not delay or block legislation that was included in a government’s manifesto.)
Distinctive powers of the HOL
• It acts mainly as a revising chamber, proposing amendments to government legislation, which it is up to the government to decide whether to accept or reject.
• It can delay non-financial legislation for one year.
•The only scenario in which the Lords retains its veto is an extremely unlikely one: if a government were to attempt to prolong the life of parliament beyond its legal maximum term of five years, the Lords is legally empowered to force it to hold a general election.
