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Politics Component 2 > Parliament > Flashcards

Parliament Flashcards

1
Q

What is legislature?

A

Parliament

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2
Q

What is government?

A

The ruling party

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3
Q

What is the executive?

A

The cabinet of the ruling party

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4
Q

What is a backbencher?

A

Anyone in Parliament who is not either in cabinet or shadow cabinet

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5
Q

What is the official opposition?

A

The 2nd largest party has the title ‘her majesty’s official opposition’. This party has a cabinet of its own, called the shadow cabinet.

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6
Q

What are the functions of parliament?

A

Both the Commons and the Lords perform 3 main functions:
- passing legislation
- scrutiny of the executive (including debating)
- providing ministers

The Commons also has the role of representing the electorate

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7
Q

Passing legislation

A
  • The House of Commons has the exclusive power to give consent to taxation, because the commons are an elected chamber that represents the public
  • Most legislation is initiated by the government, and there is an limited opportunity for backbench and opposition MPs to propose their own measures - they mostly react to measures put forward by the executive - sometimes this rule is broken e.g. Cameron’s defeat in 2016 on his plans to extend sunday trading
  • A party whip is a person responsible for ensuring that MPs attend parliamentary votes, and for granting a leave of absence when their vote is not required. They issue MPs with a written instruction to attend, known as a ‘whip’
  • The most important votes are underlined 3 times, and are known as a 3 line whip
  • Governments can use the argument of overriding necessity to push through legislation e.g. the 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act, completed all stages in 18 days, as well as covid lockdowns
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8
Q

Make up and appointment of the lords

A
  • 809 members
  • 92 hereditary peers
  • Appointed (life) peers
  • 26 lords spiritual (Bishops of the church of england, representing the official state religion.
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9
Q

What are the main functions of parliament?

A
  • Scrutiny
  • Passing legislation
  • Providing ministers
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10
Q

What is a bill?

A

A bill is a proposed law

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11
Q

What is a government bill?

A
  • The most important type of proposal that can be debated in parliament
  • Brought forward by government ministers to change public policy
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12
Q

What is a private bill?

A
  • Less common
  • Sponsored by an organisation with the intention of changing the law as it affects that organisation
  • A group affected by the bill has the right to petition parliament against it
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13
Q

What is a hybrid bill?

A
  • Has characteristics of a public and private bill - government sponsored, but companies are also interested
  • Proposes to change the law, which would affect the general public, but certain groups or areas in particular
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14
Q

What is a Private Member’s Bill?

A
  • Affects the whole population
  • Introduced by an individual backbench MP, or a member of the Lords
  • Less likely than a government bill to become law as they depend in time being found for them to complete all their stages in parliament
  • In the Commons, at the start of each session, the names of MPs applying to introduce a private member’s bill are drawn in a ballot
  • An alternative is for a member to make a proposal using the ‘10 minute rule’, but this allows for little more than the airing of an issue in a speech which must last no longer than 10 minutes
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15
Q

What is the process of a bill being passed?

A

First Reading
Second Reading
Committee stage
Report stage
Third reading

Same process in Lords
Royal assent

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16
Q

What is the first reading?

A

The bill is made available to MPs, but not debated or voted on

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17
Q

What is the second reading?

A

The principle of the bill is debated and a vote may be taken if it is contested

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18
Q

What is the committee stage?

A

The bill is scrutinised in detail by a public bill committee, and amendments may be made

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19
Q

What is the report stage?

A

The whole house considers amendments made, and may accept or reject them

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20
Q

What is the third reading?

A

The amended bill is debated and voted on by the whole house

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21
Q

What is royal assent?

A

The monarch signs the bill, making it law. This stage is a formality, as the sovereign is a constitutional monarch who wouldn’t get involved with politics by refusing to sign a bill

22
Q

What does a bill originate as?

A

A bill may originate as a Green Paper (a document setting out options for legislation and inviting consultation) and/or a White Paper (a more detailed statement of the government’s intentions) - but this whole stage is not compulsory

23
Q

What are the exclusive powers of the Commons?

A
  • Representative of the electorate
  • Financial legislation
24
Q

What are the problems with the representation in Parliament?

A
  • 50% (the Lords) are unelected and thus unrepresentative
  • 40% of MPs are women, whereas 51% of the population are women
  • 14% of MPs are ethnic minorities, whereas 18% of the population are
  • The is not accurate representation of the lower class - Guardian says 7% of MPs are from the lower class
  • 25% of MPs are from a background in politics
  • 22% of MPs from business backgrounds, and 15% from finance backgrounds
  • Very few MPs from manual labour - 25.7% of population
25
Q

What is parliamentary ping pong?

A

The process where a bill goes back and forth between the two houses

26
Q

What can the Commons do if the Lords maintain their opposition to the bill?

A
  • If clashes occur, the government can use its majority to overturn critical Lords amendments
  • If the Lords maintains its opposition, as a last resort, the government can use the Parliament Act to force a bill through
27
Q

On what 3 occasions did the Blair government use the Parliament Act to force a bill through?

A
  • Changing the voting system for European parliament elections (1999)
  • Equalising the age of consent for gay and heterosexual people (2000)
  • Banning hunting with dogs
28
Q

Why will the Lords usually drop its opposition after making its point?

A

It recognises that it lacks the democratic legitimacy needed to push its case further

29
Q

What are the ways the opposition parties can hold the government to account?

A
  • Exclusive powers of the opposition
  • Prime Ministers Questions
  • Questions to ministers
30
Q

What are the exclusive powers of the opposition?

A
  • Allocated 20 days a year to propose subjects for debate
  • 17 of these days are chosen by ‘official opposition’
  • Such days rarely result in legislation being passed due to government majority
31
Q

How will the opposition criticise the government?

A
  • The opposition will usually use the media to criticise government policy
  • They have to tread a fine line between criticism and projecting themselves as statesman like as they have to present themselves as a government in waiting
  • Angela Rayner called the Tories ‘scum’ and David Lammy called Trump names, and now both are in office and embarrassed
32
Q

What is PMQs?

A
  • Every Wednesday at 12pm
  • Lasts for one hour
  • Leader of the opposition gets the first 6 questions
  • Supportive questions are asked from the government benches - 1/2 the questions
  • Has been criticised for its theatrical, point scoring nature
  • The government plants supportive questions for balance
33
Q

Is PMQs effective scrutiny?

A
  • PM doesn’t know the questions in advance, so can’t prepare, meaning he needs to know his brief
  • Cries of support or anger could be offputting and not allow for a proper response
  • Gives opposite parties the chance to voice their concern
  • Very short - doesn’t allow for detailed scrutiny
  • PM puts himself out there - not comparable with other democracies
  • Scrutinises how good the opposition is
  • Can make relatively low profile things more high profile
  • Doesn’t give a good image of those running the country - shouting and name calling
  • Point scoring - making jabs at each other, good entertainment, not necessarily good scrutiny, no real debate
  • Theatrical - more high profile in the media, so more people will watch it, it is engaging
  • Politics is meant to be serious, not theatrical; however it can be argued that if someone is proposing something against your views you will be passionate about it
34
Q

What is questions to ministers?

A
  • Regular opportunities for ministers of individual departments to be questioned. They are advertised in advance, and anyone can attend and question them
  • MP’s can also submit written questions to ministers
  • Ministers are given notice of oral questions, so they can prepare with the assistance of civil servants
35
Q

How did Tony Blair describe Prime Minister’s questions?

A

‘the most nerve racking, discombobulating, nail-biting, bowel-moving, terror-inspiring, courage-draining experience’ - it has a ‘gladiatorial nature’

36
Q

What is parliamentary privilege?

A

The right of MPs or Lords to make certain statements within parliament without being subject to outside influence, including the law

37
Q

What is a backbencher?

A

MPs who do not have a ministerial or shadow-ministerial position. They occupy the benches in the debating chamber behind their leaders. Their main role is to represent their constituencies. They are also expected to support the leaders of their respective parties

38
Q

What is CMR?

A

Collective Ministerial Responsibility
- The concept that every minister must support the party line
- Backbenchers are not bound by CMR as they are not minsters, but most will follow it as they want promotions in the future.
- As backbenchers aren’t bound by CMR, they are more effective at scrutiny

39
Q

Why are backbenchers effective at scrutiny?

A
  • The Backbench Business Committee (2010) is allowed to choose the topic of debate on 35 days each parliamentary session, this led to the introduction of Harvey’s law in 2015
  • There as been a rise in the number of rebellions by backbench MPs; in the coalition, MPs rebelled in 35% of divisions, but the significance of this depends on the extent of the majority
  • There has been an increase in the use of urgent questions - they allow an MP to raise an important matter, requiring an immediate answer; there were 3546 urgent questions 2009-13
40
Q

Why are backbenchers not as effective at scrutiny?

A
  • They can draw attention to issues, but action may not be taken
  • 10 minute rule; MPs can talk for 10 minutes before the beginning of official business
  • Public Bill Committees give MPs the opportunity to propose amendments to legislation, but the gov. has a majority on these committees; 40% of recs are taken
  • The power of patronage and party loyalty, reinforced by party whips, remain important in the Commons - some MPs believe they were elected as a representative of a party, not as an individual
41
Q

How did backbenchers hold Theresa May to account?

A
  • They organised MPs to sign a letter to May
  • They also held her to account in a meeting in the Commons
42
Q

Backbenchers power

A
  • Ministerial resignations gave backbench MPs increasingly more power
  • Cooper’s amendment to restrict spending on a no-deal Brexit won the support of 20 Conservative MPs
  • More independent backbenchers can join together
43
Q

What is a select committee?

A
  • There is a select committee for every government department
  • It is made up of a minimum of 11 backbenchers
  • Each committee is proportionate to party strength in Commons; could be said to not be good scrutiny, as the majority of the committee will support the gov; however may not be the case as backbenchers aren’t bound by CMR
  • Run by an elected chair, and members are chosen by a secret ballot of party members
44
Q

Select committees

A
  • Holds ministers to account
  • Not as vague as PMQs
  • Can bring up specifics
  • Backbenchers can be independently minded
  • Ministers have to know their brief - can’t avoid questions
  • Opposition will use it to be party political
45
Q

Why are select committees effective scrutiny?

A
  • Work is respected because it is evidence based, making it better scrutiny than PMQs,; hearings are televised and reported in the media, which increases their influence; they air issues of public interest
  • The scope of committees’ work has widened to include scrutiny of legislation. They also hold pre-appointment hearings, where they interview candidates for key public roles
  • Long serving members can accumulate more knowledge of a particular policy area than a minister
  • They can have a direct influence on government policy - 40% of recommendations are acted upon
46
Q

Why are select committees not effective at scrutiny?

A
  • The majority of members are from the governing party - there is a tradition that MPs from the government side chair the Treasury, foreign affairs, and defence committees
  • They can only cover a limited range of topics in depth - there is a tendency to avoid investigation into more long term, strategic issues
  • There is a high turnover rate for members, and some do not attend regularly
  • The government accepts roughly 40% of committee recommendations, but these rarely involve major changes of policy
  • Committees’ power to summon witnesses is considerable, but not unlimited
47
Q

What is the House of Lords?

A
  • The second chamber of British legislature, not elected
  • There is no upper limit on membership
  • Undemocratic
  • Members are known as peers
48
Q

What are the 3 checks on the HoL’s power?

A

1911 Parliament Act:
- Lords cannot delay financial bills
- Lords cannot veto other bills for more than 2 years if the Government wish to pass it through

1945 Salisbury convention:
- Lords cannot oppose a bill that was in the manifesto of a winning party

49
Q

What are the main purposes of the HoL?

A
  • Acts mainly as a revising chamber, proposing amendments to government legislation, which is up to the government to accept or reject
  • It can delay non-financial legislation for 2 years
  • The only scenario in which the Lords retains its veto is extremely unlikely; If the government were to attempt to prolong the life of parliament beyond its legal maximum term of 5 years, the Lords is legally empowered to force it to hold a general election
50
Q

What are the reasons that the HoL is becoming more important?

A
  • No longer dominated by the Conservatives, giving a more even and representational response
  • Some peers are demonstrating a growing independence, seen during the New Labour government
  • Neutral figures are more likely to assess a bill on its merits and decide accordingly whether to support or oppose the government, there is less party patronage, and it is more objective

Politics Component 2 (3 decks)

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