Parliament Flashcards
Why is the UK’s system of government different?
The legislative and executive are fused, meaning the executive sits in the legislature - known as the parliamentary system
What is parliament made up of?
- the House of Commons
- the House of Lords
- the monarchy - head of state
What is confidence and supply?
In the event of a hung parliament, where no party can form a majority of 325, the government can rely on a limited agreement with another party that provide backing on a vote of no confidence and the government’s budget (supply) and allow it to form a minority government
What is the structure of the Commons?
- Speaker - chair of the Commons and runs its proceedings, impartial
- Prime minister - the leader of the largest party in the Commons
- Cabinet - 20 or so most senior ministers in government
- Government ministers - junior ministers who work under a Cabinet minister in a department
- Whips - both main parties have whips who ensure that backbenchers vote with the party
- Opposition benches - where the opposition parties sit
- LOTO and Shadow Cabinet - official opposition to Cabinet ministers
What is the structure of the Lords?
- Speaker - chair of the Lords, also impartial
- Government spokespersons - the Lords’ version of the cabinet
- Backbenchers - Lords that are not in the government but are part of the governing party
- Opposition benches - Lords not in the governing party, including the opposition spokespersons
- Crossbenchers - unique to the Lords, they are peers with no party affiliation
is the Lords descriptively representative?
5.8% ethnic minorities in the Lords compared to 19.5% UK
57% privately educated compared to 7% UK.
Lords are 24% women compared to 51%
54% live in London or South East compared to 33% of UK
Difference between crossbencher peer and unaffiliated peer?
Crossbencher - member of bipartisan crossbencher ‘party’
Unaffiliated - completely independent
Why do political parties have less influence in the Lords?
Lords Spiritual and non political Lords do not align wiht a party.
Don’t need to worry about election or pleasing the party. No whips
No party has a majority
How are Lords elected to the Lords?
Nominated by the PM or House of Lords Appointment Commission.
That commission approve their appointment (Stops corruption)
Finally appointed by the queen
Describe the House of Lords
- It’s makeup
- It’s reforms
791 Lords
676 Life Peers, appointed for their life only
92 Hereditary peers- title passed down generations
Lords Spiritual - 26 Bishops and Archbishops of the CoE.
Lords Temporal - secular Lords
House of Lords Act 1999 reduced Hereditary peers
House of Lords Act 2014 - they can retire
2 different types of legitimacy
Input legitimacy - How people get there? eg voted in
Output legitimacy - how good people are at their jobs
2 main conventions the Lords tend to respect
- The Salisbury Convention - Manifesto
- Reasonable time - Should Consider Gov buiness in reasonable time
What are the five functions of Parliament?
- Legislation
- Debate
- Representation
- Legitimation
- Scrutiny
How does Parliament legislate?
- Both Houses review laws the government wishes to pass, and is then generally expected to pass them
- The Commons can amend and veto
- The Lords can suggest ammendments and delay for up to a year
How does Parliament debate?
- Each bill is debated in its second reading
- Backbenchers and the opposition also debate the significant issues of the day
- Adjournment debates are hold at the end of the day, where MPs can raise a matter that affects their consitutiencies
- Emergency debates can be held, such as after the phone-hacking scandal
Give three examples of when Parliament’s function of scrutinising legislation was fufilled
2 May, 1 Blair
Theresa May was defeated 17 times on the EU withdrawal bill in the Lords, meaning the government had to make concessions
Theresa May had a working majority of only 13, meaning the power of backbenchers is very high - for example, an amendment tabled by Hilary Benn and Alistair Burt requiring the House of Commons to sit for five days following any fortnightly statement, even during a prorogation, was passed 315–274 which strengthed Parliament’s power to sit despite prorogation
Coalition MPs rebelled in 35% of votes, and in 2005 56 backbench MPs defeated Blair’s plans to extend the detention of terrorism suspects
Give two examples (with subexamples) of when Parliament’s function of legislating was not fufilled
- Majority control, especially large ones, lead to rare defeats in the Commons
- Blair did not lose a vote until 2005
- Johnson’s majority has only lost 3 votes in the Commons, 2 of which have been non-binding oppposition day motions
- The coalition was only defeated twice on legislation in the Commons
Give two examples of when Parliament’s function of debating was fufilled
- The implementation of the Wright Committee’s recommendations mean MPs have more control over the agenda, and parliament now engages in more debates over current events
- For example, wars in Syria and Iraq and the 2011 London riots
- PMs have become reluctant to initate military action without Parliament debating it first
- Cameron was defeated in 2013 by 7 votes over military action in Syria, and Parliament approved it against ISIS in 2014 and in Syria in 2015
- BUT, TM did not consult parliament in 2018 agaisnt Syria [EVALUATION]
Is Parliament substatinially representative?
YES:
- Each MP represents an area in the UK that has voted for them
- Represent 70,000 compared to US 717,819
NO
- FPTP distorts representation, so MPs are often elected by a minority of constitutients
- The Lords is unelected
Is Parliament descriptively representative?
NO:
White middle class men dominate Parliament, only 34% women and 10% non-white MPS, no BAME in Scotland, Wales and NI, 7% LGBT
YES:
It is improving - non-white population 14% of UK and 13 more BAME MPs than last Parliament, half of Labour MPs are women and 20% are BAME
What are the 3 ways MPs can represent their constituents?
Burkean representation - MPs vote what they think is best for constituents
Delegate model - MPs are the ‘mouthpiece’ of their constiuents
‘Doctrine of mandate’ - MPs represent their party, which was elected with a mandate to carry out their manifesto
Is MP representation effective?
not in like how man they represent or diversity terms
YES:
- Social media improves the relationship between MPs and constituents, e.g. on Twitter - this pressured MPs to vote for gay marriage in 2013
- Parliament sometimes holds free votes that allow MPs to follow the views of consituents or their conscience - e.g. the Marriage (Same Sex Couples Act)
NO:
- Under the coalition, Con and LD MPs supported policies their constituents voted against - there was uproar when Lib Dems backtracked their promise not to raise tuition fees
- UK elections are focused on parties, not candidates - polls have found 75% cannot name their local MP
Outline the main powers of the House of Lords
- Delay legislation for a year
- Can still veto statutory instruments, as Parliament Acts do not extend to them - e.g. tax credits cuts 2015
- Can also veto bills prolonging the length of a Parliament beyond five years
What are the exclusive powers of the House of Commons?
- They can veto legislation - the Lords can only delay for a year
- They approve government’s budget - the Lords has no jurisdiction over financial matters and should not block money bills
- They can dismiss a government with a vote of no confidence
- They have the role of legitimation of the government and its laws - the Lords cannot legitimise as it lacks democratic authority
What is the Salisbury Convention? Does it ever not apply?
The Lord’s won’t vote against manifesto pledges, as the government can be seen as having a mandate for them.
However, under the coalition government, the Coalition Agreement 2010 (a policy document published after the formation of the LibDem-Con coalition) was not seen as a manfiesto, so the Lords were obstuctive - defeated them 100 times in 5 years
The Lords also defeated the government on a financial matter in their manifesto in 2015, when Cameron tried to change tax credits, this defies convention but the Lords were able to vote against it as the government had used the statutory instrument of secondary legislation to put the bill forward, avoiding the traditional route of a Finance Bill, which the Lords do not historically have the power to oppose.
Why could you argue that the Lords is more effective than the Commons?[4]
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Party discipline is weaker in the Lords, so there is more freedom for peers to debate their own views
- Between 2010 and 2012, the Lords defeated the coalition 48 times whilst the Commons did not defeat it once
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Scrutiny - Lords spent most of the time scrutinising legislation, unlike the Commonds, as their debate is less time limited
- In 2011, they spent a record 21 hours straight debating voting systems in the UK ahead of the then-proposed AV referendum
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Legislation - the Lords have defeated the government many times, and it can also force the government to amend bills
- Any member can put forward amendments to legislation
- 2012 defeat on the Welfare Reform Act, 2013 defeat on cutting of legal aid
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Expertise - many Lords are appointed due to their experience and wisdom
- Lord Walton, former president of the BMA
- Lord Hogan-Howe, ex-police chief