Parliament Flashcards
What are the five key functions of Parliament?
- Holding the government to account
- A debating chamber for key issues
- Granting formal approval for legislation
- Scrutiny of legislation & Proposing amendments
- recruitment pool to cabinet
How is commons limited in its capacity as a debating chamber?
Increasingly there is little time in the parliamentary schedule for debates to be scheduled in and when they are partisan divides remain and its style is still distinctly adversary.
Which form of committee is most independently minded?
Departmental
What other element of independence is there in the parliament other than departmental committees?
Peers, although there are no departmental committees in the Lords.
How do MPs question ministers?
In regular question time lessons
How many times a year does the PM get questioned by the liaison committee?
twice
What has PMQs become?
Irrelevant form of holding the government to account and increasingly media-centric
What term can be used to describe the parliament’s job regarding passing legislation?
Rubber stamping
Is parliament effective at passing legislation?
Yes, but not as much scrutiny
Why are Lords committees far better than commons ones?
The committees are split far less along party lines and peers may have significant specialist knowledge, however commons still retains the power to overturn this.
What two things are departmental committees very good at?
Scrutiny and holding the government to account
What do departmental committees publicise?
Shortcomings
What are there four exclusive functions of the commons?
- Vetoing legislation in extreme circumstances
- Represents constituents and constituencies
- Redress the grievances of citizens and groups
- Removing a government from power if it has lost legitimacy
What does the government in practice rarely loose?
A major vote in government due to a party needing a majority to become a government
What represents a discipline amongst governments?
The commons retains the power to retain the power to vote legislation
What hampers efforts to represent constituents?
Party Loyalty and social misrepresentation
What are the three exclusive functions of the Lords?
- Proposing amendments to legislation in order to improve ti and protect minority interests
- Representing various interests and causes in society
- Delaying legislation for up to a year in order to force government to reconsider it
As an unelected body what is not added, even eroded, by the house of Lords to pieces of legislation?
Legitimacy
What is a convention that allows the government to bypass the Lords?
Lords should not interfere with the economic policies of the government
What does the Lords being unelected mean?
Whilst they are independent they are not accountable
What are the three functions of the whips system?
1) Maintain discipline
2) Provide Information
3) Act as a communication channel
What is significant about the speaker of the house?
Neutral
Roughly how many elected MPs are there?
650
Who are MPs supposed to represent?
The views and interests of their constituents
Who forms the government?
The majority in the commons
What group of people controls most of the agenda in commons?
The front bench, the cabinet
What are MPs who do not sit on the front bench know as?
Back benchers
What do legislative committees do?
Look at legislation and improve it through amendments
What do departmental and select committees do?
Evaluate the work of the government
In a presidential system does the president sit in the legislature?
No
In a presidential system what does the constitution do?
Impose limitation son the president’s power
In a presidential system to whom is the president accountable to?
The people not the legislature
In a presidential system what is significant about the executive?
Separate from the legislative government
In a parliamentary system what is there no separation between?
Powers between the government
In a parliamentary system, where does government draw its authority from?
The parliament not the people
In a parliamentary system, what is the government not separately elected from?
Parliament
In a parliamentary system to whom is government directly accountable?
Parliament
In a parliamentary system, who must sit in parliament?
Members of government
What is a Bicameral system?
A situation where parliament is made up of two chambers such as in the UK
Which party has a majority in the Lords?
No one party has a majority
What is good about cross benchers?
Highly independent
Who presides of proceedings in the Lords?
A neutral “Lords Speaker”
What type of committees do the Lords have?
Legislative
Which two types of committees do the Lords not have?
Select and Departmental
How many archbishops and bishops sit in the lords?
26
How many hereditary peers sit in the Lords?
92
When was the last significant Lords reform?
1999
When was the backbench business committee set up?
June 2010
On how many days a year can the back bench business committee control debates in the main chamber?
27
On how many days a year can the back bench business committee control debates in westminster hall?
8
What topics were promoted for debate by the BBBC?
Big Soc and Afganistan
When did backbench committee chairs become elected by backbenchers?
2010
What did backbench committee chairs becoming elected by backbenchers do to the balance of power int he commons?
removes power from the party leaders and whips
What are three proposed reforms?
1) Constituents to be given power to recall MPs- effectively forcing a by-election by petition
2) Size of HOC to be reduced by 10% to reduce cost and streamline commons
3) Constituency boundaries to be redrawn to make them all of equal size.
What is good about constituency boundaries being redrawn?
Voting power becomes more equal
Why were reforms designed to restore respect?
There was widespread disillusionment with politics
What would parliamentary reform do?
Make HOP and ministers more accountable
What kind of forum can parliament be for the government?
The official forum where it can introduce proposals into the public arena.
On a recruitment level why does government need parliament?
Needs it to recruit new ministers
What does the parliamentary opposition and scrutiny do to the government?
Justify publicly its actions and decisions, whilst improving the quality of legislation by identifying problems and lack of clarity.
