PARLIAMENT

Question 1

composition fo Parliament

Answer 1

1. House of Commons
2. House of Lords

Question 2

house of commons

Answer 2

1. MPs who belong to the same political party as the government sit with the government (that is, with MPs who are ministers sitting on the front benches).
2. The largest party not in government will form His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, with the leader of the party becoming the Leader of the Opposition.
3. The Leader of the Opposition is supported by the Shadow Cabinet, who will scrutinise their counterpart in the government. For example, the Shadow Foreign Secretary will debate and ask questions to the Foreign Secretary.

Question 3

Elections

Answer 3

General elections are elections to the House of Commons.
The House of Lords is unelected.

Question 4

Dissolution of Parliament

Answer 4

General elections are held 25 working days after Parliament is ‘dissolved’. Dissolution means that Parliament has, in essence, ended. No more legislation can be passed, all committee inquiries stop, and all seats in the House of Commons are vacated, meaning that there no longer any MPs.

Question 5

Process for Dissolution

Answer 5

1. The Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011 provided for fixed 5-year terms, meaning that the date of dissolution was fixed by law.
2. However, this was repealed by the Disso-lution and Calling of Parliaments Act 2022. Now, Parliament is dissolved 5 years after the date it ifrst meets, but it can be dissolved earlier by the Monarch exercising the royal prerogative.
3. By constitutional convention, this happens only after a request from the Prime Minister
4. Prime Minister will usually request a dissolution in the fourth or ffth year of a Parliament if their party have a large majority. The Prime Minister is also expected to immediately request that the Monarch dissolve Parliament if the government loses a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons.

Question 6

Qualifcations for Membership

Answer 6

*Persons under the age of 18;
*Citizens of non-Commonwealth countries (this ban does
not include citizens of the Republic of Ireland, who are
allowed to become an MP if elected); and
*Members of the House of Lords.
*Members of the Judiciary, including High Court, Court of
Appeal, and Supreme Court judges;
*Civil servants;
*Members of the armed forces (British Army, Royal Navy,
and Royal Air Force);
*Members of a police force; and
*Members of parliaments or legislatures outside of the
Commonwealth or Ireland, including the European Parlia-
ment.

Question 7

By-Elections

Answer 7

In between elections, seats can become vacant through the death or retirement of a member. This triggers a by-election
for that constituency to select a new member.

Question 8

Recall of MPs Act 2015

Answer 8

If an MP has been:
*Convicted of an offence and is sentenced to imprisonment;
*Suspended by the House of Commons for 10 days for misconduct; or
*Found guilty of providing false or misleading information in relation to their expenses,

The Speaker will notify the constituency. This triggers a
‘recall petition’ in the constituency. If more than 10% of the electorate in that constituency sign the petition, then a by-election is held.

Question 9

House of Lords
There are currently around 800 members, each belong-
ing to one of the following four categories.

Answer 9

a.Hereditary Peers
b.Life Peers
c.Lords Spiritual
d.Law Lords

Question 10

Hereditary Peers

Answer 10

Hereditary peers hold a title at the rank of a Duke, Earl, Vis-
count, or Baron.

Question 11

Life Peers

Answer 11

1. Life peers are appointed by the Monarch on the advice of the
   Prime Minister and are given the rank of Baron.
2. By convention,appointments are made in approximate proportion to the shareof the vote each political party achieved at the previous general election.

Question 12

Lords Spiritual

Answer 12

The most senior 26 bishops of the Church of England form
the Lords Spiritual.

Question 13

The King’s Speech

Answer 13

1. As noted previously, Parliament can last for fve years. This
   fve-year period is split into sessions, usually lasting 12
   months, starting each May. Each session is marked with the
   State Opening of Parliament, the centrepiece of which is the King’s Speech. The King reads out a speech prepared by the government outlining the government’s legislative proposals for the following session.
2. A parliamentary session is signifcant because a bill must
   pass the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and
   receive the Royal Assent before the end of the session in
   which the bill is frst introduced into Parliament. Otherwise,
   the bill is lost, and the process will have to start again in the
   next session.
3. The exception to this is when either the House of Commons or the House of Lords agrees to ‘carry-over’
   a bill from one session to the next. This means that, in sub-
   stance, the bill can resume in the new session from the last
   stage it completed in the last session

Question 14

Prorogation

Answer 14

A session ends and the new one begins when the Monarch, on the advice of the Prime Minister, exercises the royalprerogative power of prorogation.

Question 15

Legislative Process

Answer 15

1. First Reading
2. Second Reading
3. Committe Stage
4. Report Stage
5. Third Reading
6. consideration of amendment
7. royal assent

Usually, government bills are introduced into the House of Commons frst, but uncontroversial bills are sometimes first introduced into the House of Lords.

Question 16

First Reading

Answer 16

The government publishes the text of the bill and explanatory notes that outline the government’s intentions behind the bill.

Question 17

Second Reading

Answer 17

The second reading is the first opportunity for the principles
of the bill to be debated.

Question 18

Committee Stage

Answer 18

The committee stage is when the bill is scrutinised line by line. MPs can table amendments to the bill. These are debated and, if approved, they will form part of the bill.
There are two main forms of committee:
1. Public Bill Committee
2. Committee of the Whole House

Question 19

Public Bill Committee

Answer 19

Between 16 and 30 MPs form a Public Bill Committee and consider the bill. The political parties are represented in proportion to their share of the seats in the main chamber.

Question 20

Committee of the Whole House

Answer 20

Entirely uncontroversial or urgent bills, or bills of first class constitutional importance are considered by all MPs meeting in a Committee of the Whole House.

Question 21

Report Stage

Answer 21

The bill is received from the committee and is reconsidered in the chamber. Further amendments can be made at this point, but in the House of Commons, the Speaker is unlikely to select for debate amendments that cover issues which have already been debated in an earlier stage of the process. Generally, this stage gives an opportunity for all MPs to raise concerns over matters of policy.

Question 22

Third Reading

Answer 22

The third reading is often quite brief and gives MPs or peers a final review of the bill before going to the other House to start at first reading.

Question 23

Consideration ofAmendments—‘Ping Pong’

Answer 23

1. During its process through either House, most bills are amended, sometimes quite heavily.
2. The amendments need to be considered in the House that first considered the bill.
3. If the amendments are accepted, then the bill can be sent to the Monarch for Royal Assent. If the amendments are not agreed, then they can be removed or counter amendments can be sent to the second House.
4. The second House then has to consider whether to insist on their amendment, accept the counter-amendment, propose a compromise, or back down entirely. This process can be repeated between the Houses until the final text of the bill is agreed.

Question 24

Royal Assent

Answer 24

Once the bill has been approved by the House of Commons and the House of Lords, in order for it to become law, the Monarch must grant the Royal Assent. This is seen as a formality, because by constitutional convention, Royal Assent is always granted.

Question 25

Powers of House of Lords

Answer 25

1. Generally, the House of Lords has the same powers as the
   House of Commons to pass legislation or to make amend-
   ments.
2. There is no majority of the party in HoL
3. the powers of HoL are restricted by a combination of political and legal rules, refecting the notion that the** unelected** House of Lords should not ultimately thwart the wishes of the elected House of Commons. This approach is refected in the follow-ing two rules, which limit the powers of the House of Lords.
   (1) The Salisbury Convention
   (2) Suspensory Veto Under Parliament Acts 1911-1949

Question 26

The Salisbury Convention

Answer 26

1. If a government bill is implementing a commitment that the party elected into government made in their **manifesto, **then the House of Lords will grant a second reading to
   the bill as a matter of course and will not otherwise block the legislation.
2. The House of Lords reserve the right to make amendments to the bill at later stages in the legislative process.

Question 27

SuspensoryVeto Under Parliament Acts 1911-1949

Answer 27

1. If the House of Lords block a piece of legislation already passed by the House of Commons, which is then rein-troduced and passed by the House of Commons in the next session of Parliament, only for the House of Lords to block it again, the bill is sent to the Monarch for Royal Assent.
2. This means that the House of Lords does not have an absolute veto over legislation but, rather, merely a ‘suspensory veto’, in that they can only delay rather than block legislation completely.

Question 28

Commencement

Answer 28

1. Once legislation has received Royal Assent, it will usually not come into force (meaning that it takes legal efect) immediately. Usually, the legislation will include a commencement provision giving power to the government to bring the legislation into force at a later date. These are known as commencement orders or commencement regulations and are a type of** secondary legislation**
2. If there is no commencement provision, then the legislation will immediately take efect on being granted the Royal Assent. Under modern practice, this will be expressly stated in such legislation.

Question 29

Amendment, Repeal, and Sunset
primary legislation

Answer 29

1. Legislation usually takes effect for as long as it is on the statute book. Parliament may amend the legislation at any time, or if it so chooses, it can repeal the legislation, meaning that it is no longer the law.
2. Sometimes, legislation may include a ‘sunset clause’, meaning that some provisions or all of an Act expires on a certain date.

Question 30

Secondary Legislation

Answer 30

Secondary legislation is legislation made by the government under the authority of an Act of Parliament. Secondary legislation is usually used to implement policies or provide the detailed regulations necessary for a government scheme to operate.

EXAMPLE
The government has decided to change the system of welfare payments to unemployed people. Parliament has passed an Act of Parliament giving the necessary legal basis for these changes. The Act of Parliament has given the gov-ernment power to make regulations setting out the criteria to establish who is eligible for the beneft and the amount of the beneft.

Question 31

Enactment of Secondary Legislation
There are two main procedures by which secondary legisla-
tion is made.

Answer 31

a.Negative Resolution Procedure
b.Affrmative Resolution Procedure

Question 32

Negative Resolution Procedure

Answer 32

A draft of the secondary legislation is laid (meaning published) before the House of Commons and House of Lords. It will take efect on the date stated on the draft unless, within 40 days of being laid, either House
votes in favour of rejecting the secondary legislation. If no motion is passed, it becomes law. No amendments to the draft can be made.

Question 33

Affrmative Resolution Procedure

Answer 33

1. A draft of the secondary legislation is laid before both the House of Commons and the House of Lords and both Houses must expressly vote in
   favour of the secondary legislation for it to become effective.
2. In the House of Commons, the secondary legislation can be debated in the chamber or by the Delegated Legislation Committee. No amendments to the draft legislation can be made by either House.
   Note: The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 do not apply to secondary legislation, which means that the House of Lords are free to block the legislation.

Question 34

‘Henry VIII Powers’

Answer 34

Henry VIII powers refer to powers granted to the government to amend primary legislation. In practice, these powers are used to give the government power to make minor amendments to legislation.

Question 35

Challenging Secondary Legislation in the
Courts

Answer 35

In substance, secondary legislation is made by the government and not Parliament. This means that secondary legislation can be struck down by the courts if the secondary legislation goes beyond the power granted to the government.

Question 36

PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE

Answer 36

1. parliamentary privilege includes a rule that ensures the freedom of speech in Parliament
2. In return for parliamentary privilege, Parliament exercises
   its freedom of speech with respect for the courts and the
   legal process. This is shown with the sub judicie rule, which
   requires that MPs and peers do not refer to cases which are
   currently before the courts during debates

1

Question 37

Exception to Parliament privilge—Use of Parliamentary Debates
to Aid Interpretation

Answer 37

1. It has been established that parliamentary privilege does not prevent the courts from referring to the ofcial record of debates in Parliament to help interpret legislation as intended by Parliament.
2. However, courts should refer to debates only when the legislation is unclear,there is a statement from the minister which assists the court, and that statement is sufciently clear.