Parliament

Question 1

What is a division, from the call to the closing time, how long do MPs have?

Answer 1

8 mins, a vote in parliament

Question 2

Between 2010 and 2015, how many times did Peter bone vote against the government

Answer 2

Nearly 150 times

Question 3

Give an example of functional representation in parliament

Answer 3

Steve Rotherham - former bricklayer

Question 4

Who is referred to as the mp for the 18th century

Answer 4

Jacob Rees mogg

Question 5

What is a private members bill? Give an example.

Answer 5

A bill put forward by a backbencher, not by govt. Steve Rotherham and his bill on tyre safety

Question 6

What is a 10 min rule bill

Answer 6

10 mins to introduce it. Usually unsuccessful but raises the profile of the issue

Question 7

When did Cameron have a cabinet reshuffle? Why?

Answer 7

2014, included lots of women to overcome criticism of a lack of representation

Question 8

Give an example of how the government is accountable to the legislative branch

Answer 8

The lords defeated the govts levelling up and regeneration bill on 14th sept 2023.

Question 9

Rishi sunak is/was mp for which constituency?

Answer 9

Richmond (Yorkshire)

Question 10

Give an example of a time a vote of no confidence was successful in removing an entire govt

Answer 10

James Callaghans govt was removed in 1979

Question 11

Give an example of the monarchy’s involvement in politics

Answer 11

In 2014, the queen was asked to intervene on the Scottish independence referendum as the govt feared Scotland would vote to leave the union

Question 12

What is a public bill

Answer 12

Proposed by govt ministers, applies to general population, usually financial

Question 13

What is a private bill

Answer 13

Promoted by organisations, applies to specific people

Question 14

What is a hybrid bill

Answer 14

Mixture of public/private

Question 15

Describe the legislative process

Answer 15

1st reading - title read and date
2nd reading - debate principles of bill and division
Public bill committee - adhoc, named after bill, temporary, scrutinise, no time limit
Report stage
3rd reading - debate on bill as whole, vote
Ping pong
Royal assent

Question 16

What’s the difference between green paper and white papers

Answer 16

Green - idea for future govt policy
White - definite intentions for govt policy

Question 17

Give an example of effective use of PMQs

Answer 17

Keir starter challenged boris on party gate - amplified public pressure and scrutiny
However - theatrics - failed to extract meaningful answers

Question 18

Give an example of a successful opposition day

Answer 18

Jan 2024, labour forced a vote on their proposal for emergency legislation to fast track removal of unsafe cladding - pressure on govts building safety agenda
- however, largely symbolic as govt not bound to act on them

Question 19

What has been one of the most recent votes of no confidence

Answer 19

January 2023, in the conservative govt over Northern Ireland protocol highlighting serious concerns over the governments handling of brexit arrangements
- largely symbolic - difficult ti use effectively in recent years due to governments majority

Question 20

Give an example of how the House of Lords are able to scrutinise government

Answer 20

Lords amendments to levelling up bill 2023 improved provisions for local authority oversight and planning reforms

Question 21

Give an example of how the House of Lords are largely ineffective when it comes to scrutinising government

Answer 21

Attempted to modify illegal migration bill 2023, largely overturned when bill returned to the commons

Question 22

Give an example of effective use of select committees to scrutinise government

Answer 22

Treasury select committee’s investigation and report in 2023 into the collapse of Silicon Valley bank’s Uk arm led to improved oversight measures for banking regulation

Question 23

What did the privileges committee do in relation to party gate

Answer 23

Recommendation of sanctions for boris Johnson - highlighted limitations in enforcing consequences for misleading parliament

Question 24

Why do most private members bills fail? How many were there in 22-23? What happened to most of them

Answer 24

Lack of parliamentary time and support , 118, only a small fraction became law

Question 25

MPs handle on average how many constituency cases a month

Answer 25

1000+, increasing workload, difficult to give each proper attention

Question 26

What % of parliament is female? What % of the uk is female?

Answer 26

40%, 50.8%

Question 27

Give an example of a major bill that bypassed legislative scrutiny

Answer 27

Rwanda safety bill early 2024

Question 28

Give an example of a bill that did go through a lot of scrutiny

Answer 28

Online safety bill 2023

Question 29

Give an example of effective use of committee stage - what is the limitation of this

Answer 29

Public order bill 2023 saw meaningful amendments and cross party cooperation on things like definition of police powers - but govt majority means genuine scrutiny limited? +whip
Most likely 3 line whip

Question 30

What is a limitation of secondary legislation - how many statutory instruments in 2023 - what happened to them?

Answer 30

Over 1000, only a tiny fraction received detailed examinations despite their significant impact on citizens