Parliament

Question 1

What is the representation of women, BAME backgrounds, and LGBTQ+ in Parliament?

Answer 1

1. Women: 41% of MPs in the House of Commons, 28% in the House of Lords.
2. BAME: 14% of MPs in the House of Commons, 6% in the House of Lords.
3. LGBTQ+: 11% of MPs in the House of Commons, compared to 3.2% of the general population.

• Underrepresented in both the HoC and HoL compared to the general population

Question 2

What is the age and education breakdown of MPs in the House of Commons?

Answer 2

• Age: 2% of MPs are under 30, 52% are over 50.
• Education: 23% went to Oxford or Cambridge, 23% were privately educated, 85% have a degree (compared to 33% of the general population).

Example:
- State schools—around 63% of MPs in the 2024 election, compared to just 54% in 2019​

Question 3

How are Parliament acts can be used by the House of Commons

Answer 3

To resolve disagreements between the houses and push legislation past the House of Lords. Blair used this 3 times during his premiership, with the most recent being a ban on hunting with dogs in 2004 (Hunting Act 2004)

Question 4

How did the “Safety of Rwanda” bill go through parliamentary ping-pong in 2024?

Answer 4

It was sent back and forth between the HOC and HOL. The Lords considered and rejected certain issues raised by the Commons, leading to multiple exchanges between the two houses. The House of Commons ultimately used its legislative supremacy to push the bill through, overriding the Lords’ amendments​

Question 5

What happens if MPs ignore a three-line whip?

Answer 5

• They can be removed from the parliamentary party as a sanction.
• (Boris Johnson did this to 21 Conservative MPs who opposed his EU withdrawal Bill in 2019). Included senior MPs like Ken Clarke, Rory Stewart, David Gauke and former Chancellor Phillip Hammond

Question 6

Examples of MPs rebelling against three-line whip and resigning bc of it?

Answer 6

For example, protracted debates on a third runway for Heathrow, led to resignations. In 2016 Zac Goldsmith resigned as a Conservative MP over the issue, and in 2018 Greg Hands resigned from the government.

• The Brexit debates resulted in eight MPs resigning from the Labour Party, and three from the Conservative Party. They formed a new party, the Independent Group for Change.

Question 7

What’s an example of a free vote?

Answer 7

Free vote allowed over the smoking ban. 225

Question 8

Examples of whip scandals

Answer 8

• Chris Pincher (Deputy Chief Whip) sexual misconduct (last straw of Johnson years).
• Gavin Williamson as Chief Whip found by independent inquiry to have been bullying (forced to apologised)

Question 9

How many government bills that were introduced managed to gain royal assent during 2016-17? (private members bills)

Answer 9

25 out of 28.
- However only 8 out of 163 PMBs succeeded in the same way.

Question 10

How long does discussing proposed government bills take compared to PMBS?
(private members bills)

Answer 10

• Discussing proposed government bills takes up over 1/3 of the commons time in any parliamentary session.
• The discussion of PMBs takes up less than 5% of the time.

Question 11

Two examples of Private Members Bills

Answer 11

1. Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat) = Carer’s Leave Act (2023): provides employment rights for those who juggle unpaid caring responsibilities with paid employment.
2. Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat) = Worker Protection Act (2023): prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and drive a culture change (substantially watered down by Lords to avoid exposing employers to costly lawsuits)

Question 12

When are PMBs introduced by backbenchers only likely to pass?

Answer 12

• If they come from the ruling party
• For example, during the coalition government, 41 out of 42 PMBs passed were from either the Conservatives or Lib Dems.

Question 13

What are examples of emergency legislation pushed by backbench MPS

Answer 13

Benn and Cooper-Letwin Acts, regarding Brexit, voted on against government wishes (emergency debate, not pmb)

Question 14

How many times did Theresa May lose during her premiership?

Answer 14

Theresa May lost 33 times during her premiership: reflects how issues like Brexit divided her backbenchers

Question 15

How many Tories rebelled against Covid passports under Johnson?

Answer 15

99 Tories rebelled against Covid passports under Johnson; influenced by the Covid Recovery Group

The European Research Group (ERG) challenged Theresa May

Question 16

Who were responsible for triggering a leadership contest in 2022?

Answer 16

The 1922 Committee (led by Graham Brady), following 55 submitted letters. Just a scheduled meeting with the committee caused Truss to resign

Question 17

In January 2021, What did the Covid Recovery Group send to Johnson?

Answer 17

Wrote a letter to PM Boris Johnson. It stated his “leadership will be on the table” is he did not publish an exit strategy for lockdowns

Question 18

In March 2022, What did the liaison committee grill Johnson for?

Answer 18

Grilled Boris Johnson for misleading the Parliament in COVID lockdown and partygate scandal

Question 19

In December 2023, what did backbench rebellion defeat the government over?

Answer 19

On compensation for victims of the contaminated blood scandal (22 rebelled)

Question 20

How many backbench rebellions were there for the Rwanda scheme?

Answer 20

30 back bench rebellion of Rwanda

Question 21

In May of 2018 what did Conservative committee members publicly criticised the committee for being too pro-remain?

Answer 21

The Exiting the EU committee that is chaired by Labor’s Hilary Benn is testing cross-party cohesion. In May of 2018, Conservative committee members John Whittingdale, Andrea Jenkyns and Jacob Rees-Mogg publicly criticised the committee for being too pro-remain. According to Jenkyns only 7 of the 21 committee members voted leave.

Question 22

What’s an an example of the responsiveness of select committees to current issues?

Answer 22

Gracie was the editor for BBC China until 2018, where she resigned over gender pay equality. She said that the BBC was working under a “secretive and illegal pay culture.” She was interviewed by the committee that month and the inquiry into BBC pay is ongoing

Question 23

In June 2023, What did the Commons Privileges Committee found that PM Boris Johnson did?

Answer 23

PM Boris Johnson knowingly misled Parliament over Partygate; recommended his suspension. Johnson quickly resigned as MP rather than risk a recall petition. Police investigations and fines over Partygate are ongoing.

Question 24

In 2023, what did the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves stated that Jeremy Hunt the chancellor has failed with? (PMQs)

Answer 24

Failed with their costs due to Hunt raising taxes in his Autumn statement. Hunt reduced the rate for employees from 12% to 10%. Means that people will have to pay extra hundreds of pounds which will amount to £27 million.
- Shows how shadow ministers are able to scrutinise the government in the HOC and are allowed to challenge the government and hold them to account for the actions that they take..

Question 25

What did Speaker Lindsay Hoyle stated that the PMQs are? (PMQs)

Answer 25

“Pure theatre” that the “world watches” which supports the notion that PMQs are not taken seriously by PM/ministers which undermines influence of backbench MPs.

Question 26

In June 2022, Who was a vote of no confidence was held by Conservative MPs against?

Answer 26

Boris Johnson. Johnson won the vote with the support of 211 Conservative MP’s, 58.8% of the total. Out of 359 Conservative MP’s, 148 (41.2%) voted against him

Question 27

What was the Stephen Crabb parliamentary sex scandal?

Answer 27

• Former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was reported by The Daily Telegraph (28 October 2017) to have sent sexually suggestive text messages to a young woman he had interviewed for a position in his parliamentary office.

Question 28

What was the Chris Pincher parliamentary sex scandal?

Answer 28

After allegedly groping two men while he was drunk, he resigned as Deputy Chief Whip on 30 June 2022, and had the Conservative whip removed.

Question 29

Why was Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was even suspended from the party in October 2019?

Answer 29

For his failure to deal satisfactorily with the antisemitism issue.

Question 30

How many sitting MPs have accepted money from the Israel lobby?

Answer 30

• 41 of Labour’s 197 sitting MPs have accepted money from the Israel lobby.
• The value of the donations amounts to over £280,000, with Israel lobby groups paying for Labour MPs to visit Israel on over 50 occasions since 1999

Question 31

In 2021, What did the Conservative Health Secretary, Matt Hancock do?

Answer 31

Found to have broken Covid Restrictions - kissing someone outside of his bubble