Parliament Flashcards
How many MP’s are there
> 650 MP’s
elected from a constituency usually consisting of 60,000-80,000 voters
What is the difference between front bench MP’s and back bench MP’s?
> Frontbench MP’s are the more senior MP’s, they are ministers or shadow ministers appointed by the leader of their political party, there’s usually 90 frontbench MP’s for the governing party and 50 for the opposition party.
Backbench MP’s are very much the majority, they’re more independent than front bench MP’s but are still expected to show party loyalty.
Where do MP’s do most of their work?
In committees, the main types of committees are select committees and legislative committees.
What are party whips?
All main parties appoint a party whips who work under a chief whip, the whips are mainly concerned with ensuring that MP’s in their parties are informed about parliamentary buisness and follow party lines.
What is the house speaker?
They control parliamentary business and debates, this must be an MP who is elected by all other MP’s they are expected to be neutral in parliamentary proceedings. The current speaker of the house is Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
How many hereditary peers are there in the House of Lords?
There are 92
How many Lord spirituals are there?
26, including archbishops and bishops of the Church of England.
What are life peers?
These are peers appointed by the PM who inherited the power from the monarch, they are appointed usually based off merit.
How is the political makeup of the House of Lords different to the commons?
The governing party doesn’t necessarily have a majority in the lords. There are also many crossbenchers who aren’t part of a political party.
What impact do committees have in the House of Lords?
As in the commons much of the work of peers takes place in committees. There are legislative committees to consider proposed legislation and select committees to scrutinise.
How does the commons fulfil its function of legislation?
> Proposing private bills, private members bills and public bills in parliament, they vote and debate the bills in the commons in order to maintain democratic legitimacy.
the chancellor of the Exchequer proposes a budget which concerns public finances. It is rarely obstructed.
private members bills are presented to the commons through a ten minute speech if picked out of a ballot or through a presentation where the bill is presented but no discussed. Private members bills are rarely passed.
How does the House of Lords legislate?
> the HOL doesn’t really legitimise legislation
it gets the chance to scrutinise legislation by sending it back to parliament with potential ammendments
however the lords can only block and amend bills for a year.
the House of Lords has been by passed by the commons on numerous occasions such as the war powers act 1991.
How does the common scrutinise the government!
> PMQ’s
Select committees
generally forcing the government to explain their actions.
How does the Lords scrutinise the government
> there are many members of the House of Lords who are experts in their fields who have a great deal to offer when scrutinising legislation.
apart from general debates the lords can scrutinise in the committee stage of the bill, many peers take part in debating the detailed proposals of bills and may propose amendments.
How does the commons represent
> each MP represents a constituency in which it was elected by the role of an MP is to take care of all of its constituents needs.
there are also representation groups such as friends of the earth and Age uk which represent the wider needs of society.
How do the Lords represent the people?
> the lords are not elected so do not represent constituents.
representation groups are more effective in the lords as since the removal of hereditary peers no one party has a majority
as lords aren’t focused on getting re elected they can spend more of their time focusing on a broader church of individuals to represent.
Whah was the 1911 and 1949 parliament acts?
> 1911-ensured that the Lords could only delay primary legislation for 2 years
1949- reduced this to 1 year
What is financial privilege?
As a result of the parliament acts the lords lost its power to delay money bills that deal with raising taxation.
What is the Salisbury convention?
The convention that the lords shouldn’t block a piece of legislation included in the government’s manifesto.
What are the 3 types of legislation?
> private bills- if an organisation wishes to take some action that the law currently forbids it can apply for a private bill to be passed by parliament to allow it to go ahead.
private members bill- bills presented by an individual MP or a group
Public bills- most bills fall into this category and are presented by the government with little obstruction.
What is the legislative process?
> first reading
second reading
committee stage
report stage
third reading
House of Lords stage
royal assent
Examples of significant back bench MP’s?
> Mhairi Black entered the commons aged 20, made an instant impact with a widely praised maiden speech, made a member of the work and pensions select comitee, advocated for LGBTQ rights
Yvette Cooper, a cabinet minister before 2010 she returned to the back benches and was elected chair of the home affairs select committee and was vital in her role in the on going scrutiny of Amber Rudd.
What is a select committee?
Committee responsible for scrutinising the work of the government particularly individual government departments
What is the role of the public accounts committee?
> the oldest select committee, its role is to examine the public finances.
its chair is always a member of the main opposition party
the chair is elected by MP’s not party leaders
it’s reports are often unanimous in their decisions
has a high media profile.
