Parliament : DEBATE Is Parliament Fulfilling Its Functions?

Question 1

Key functions of parliament

Answer 1

1. Legislation
2. Representation
3. Recruiting and maintaining government
4. Legitimacy
5. Scrutiny

Question 2

private members bill

Answer 2

Bill proposed by an MP who is not a member of the government, usually though an annual ballot

Question 3

Who initiates private members bills ?

Answer 3

Backbenchers - only successful with government support

Question 4

Example of a successful private member’s bill

Answer 4

2009 - national sutistic society’s ‘I exist’ Campaign persuaded MP’s to back Cheryl Gillian’s Autism Act

Question 5

How do you examine Parliament’s effectiveness?

Answer 5

To see when it has hallenged gov legislation and when it has allowed leg to pass unchallenged

Question 6

Why is the threat of defeating a bill important?

Answer 6

Can force the government to commpromise and introduce amendments to win support from backbenchers

Question 7

Example of effectivene legislative function - Blair

Answer 7

2005 - backbench MP’s defeated Blair’s plans to extent the detention of terroist suspects to 90 days - his first commons defeat since 1997

Question 8

Example of effective legislative function - Cameron

Answer 8

2015 - Cameron’s gov defeated in commons on the rules surrounding the EU referendum. Also lost a vote to reform Sunday Trading Laws in England

Question 9

Example of effective legislative function - libdems

Answer 9

Under the coalition, the 2010-2015 parliament was the most rebellious of the post-war era. Coalition MPs rebelled against 35% of votes. The longest libdem rebellion was on tuition fees, with 21/57 libdem MPs voting against raising the fees

Question 10

Example of effective legislative function - may’s minority government

Answer 10

May’s minority gov had a ‘working majority’ of 13 which meant commons has lots of influence over legislation. There were 28 defeats in 2 years. Jan 2019, May suffered the heaviest parliamentary defeat of any british PM in the democratic era after MPs rejected her brexit deal with a majoirty of 230, with 118 tory mps voting against their party

Question 11

Example of effective legislative function - johnson’s first gov

Answer 11

When johnson took over from may in july 2019 his gov was defeated 12 times in commons, including on its first division - first time since 1894. His gov didn’t win a single vote until six weeks after its first sitting

Question 12

Example of effective legislative function - johnson’s second gov

Answer 12

After the 2019general election where johnson’s second goc had a majority of 80 there were less defeats. But gov forced into U-turns on air bridges for foreign travel during covid, and forced to exclude Huawei from involvement in the 5g network, throughout 2020. Forced to amend internal market bill and emergency covid leg, giving parliament a say in both cases. Late 2019, tory backbenchers forced gov to abandon planning reforms for new houses due to constituent complaints. All these came as a consequence of threatened rebellions by conservative backbenchers

Question 13

Example of effective legislative function - the lords’ defeats 2017-2019

Answer 13

69

Question 14

Example of effective legislative function - the lords’ defeats 2016 - 2017

Answer 14

38

Question 15

Example of effective legislative function - the lords’ defeats 2013 -2014

Answer 15

Considered 62 bills and made 1,686 amendments

Question 16

Example of effective legislative function - the lords and may

Answer 16

When may got leg through commons, it was often defeated by the lords. Eg, defeated the gov 15 times in a short period in 2018 over the EU Withdrawal Bill

Question 17

Example of effective legislative function - the lords and johnson

Answer 17

Lost 3 votes in lords over brexit leg in 2020. Biggest gov defeat since 1999 over Internal Market Bill in december 2020 - lords forced gov to ensure greater protection for devolved parliaments

Question 18

Minority government

Answer 18

Gov that does not have overall majority in the assembly or parliament - usually formed by single parties that are unable or unwilling to form coalitions

Question 19

Example of ineffective legislative function - blair

Answer 19

Blair did not lose a vote in the commons from 1997 to 2005

Question 20

Example of ineffective legislative function - coalition

Answer 20

Tory/libdem coalition only defeated 7 times in the commons in 5 years - low for a coalition

Question 21

Example of ineffective legislative function - brown

Answer 21

Brown gov (2007-2010) only defeated 3 times in commons

Question 22

Example of ineffective legislative function - the lords

Answer 22

Lords’ effectiveness restricetd by the Parliament Acts which eans they can only delay bills and their amendments can often be overturned. Made several amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (2012) but these were easily overturned because the Parliament Act (1911) gives the commoons ‘financial privilege’ and the lords cannot block money bills that authorise expenditure or taxation. Made 3 amendments to the Transparency of Lobbying Act 2014 but all overturned

Question 23

Example of ineffective legislative function - johnson

Answer 23

Johnson’s 2020ndefeats reversed when he held an 80 seat majority

Question 24

Parliamentary privilege

Answer 24

Right of MP’s of lords to make certain statements within parliament without being subject to outside influence including the law

Question 25

Example of parliamentary privilege

Answer 25

2018 - former cabinet member peter hain used it to name sir philip green as the businessman at the centre of the #metoo allegations after green obtained a legal injunction to stop his name enetering public domain

Question 26

Parliament is democratically representative

Answer 26

1. Each mp represents an area in the uk as they are elected by geographical constituency
2. Mps raise the grievances of their constituents so the people’s dissatisfaction with gov can be expressed peacefully and democratically

Question 27

Parliament isn’t democratically representative

Answer 27

1. FPTP undermines effectiveness of represention by distorting representation of parties so MPs are often elected by less than half their constituents
2. Lords is unelected so had a limited representative role and weakens the democratic responsiveness of parliament

Question 28

Parliament reflects the people it represents

Answer 28

2019 - most diverse parliament ever elected - 220 women, 65 ethnic minorities, and 45 LGBT MPs elected

Question 29

Parliament doesn’t reflect the people it represents

Answer 29

1. White, middle-class men dominate parliament - 430/650 MPs are male
2. Only 6% of lords come gfrom an ethnic minority background

Question 30

MPs and social class

Answer 30

Predominantly middle-class, 4/5+ have a professional or business background with the main professions being poltics, business, and finance. The working class is under-represented even in the labour party (10%)

Question 31

Mps and gender

Answer 31

Women are under-represented but progress since the 1980s when they were only 3%. 2019 election most every women mps, 34%

Question 32

Mps and ethnicity

Answer 32

Ethnic minorities are under represented, but 2019 saw tge highest number of non-white mps at 65, up from 52 in 2017

Question 33

Mps and age

Answer 33

Predominantly middle-aged, 60% aged between 40 and 59, average age in 2019 51

Question 34

Mps and education

Answer 34

Better educated than most UK citizens - 2/3+ are graduates with 21% being oxbridge educated and a furhter 1/3 went to a russell group. 27% of Mps attended private school, 4x more than population as a whole. 4/5 of these are tory mps

Question 35

Mps and sexuality

Answer 35

46 lgbt mps - 7% - higher than uk - 2%

Question 36

Models of representation

Answer 36

1. Trustee model
2. Delegate model
3. Doctrine of the mandate

Question 37

Trustee model of representation

Answer 37

Mps decide what they think is best for constituents and constituents trust them to do so

Question 38

Delegate model of representation

Answer 38

Mps are the messenger of the constituents, without expressing their own views or opinions. Rarely applied historically

Question 39

Doctrine of the mandate

Answer 39

In winning an election the party gains a mandate to carry out the policies in its manifesto. Political parties, not just individual mps, fulfill parliament’s representative function. Most influential thoery in uk politics

Question 40

Evidence for doctrine of the mandate

Answer 40

1. General elections focus on parties - people vote for a party not candidate

Question 41

Example of social media to express constituent concerns

Answer 41

Can contact MPs on twitter encouraging them to act as delegates. Eg gay marriage legislation in 2013, air strikes in syria in 2016 whena twitter campaign led to many mps reconsidering their vote. December 2020 gov changed decision on increasing housing targets by relaxing planning laws - reversed when tory backbenchers felt pressure from their constituents

Question 42

Example against the doctrine of the mandate

Answer 42

Under the coalition, tory and libdem mps supported policies that weren’t in their manifesto or went against their manifesto

Question 43

Example for the trustee model

Answer 43

Free votes on issues allow mps to have more ability to listen to the views of constituents. 2013 - the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Bill passed, but 136 tory mps voted against it and 40 abstained

Question 44

Did conservatives support brexit?

Answer 44

Many voted to remain but felt unable to support oeither boris johnson or theresa may’s approach

Question 45

Did labour mps support brexit?

Answer 45

Many labour mps supported remaining but represented constituencies that voted to leave

Question 46

Lisa nandy and brexit

Answer 46

Third in the labour leadership election in 2020, campaigned and voted to remain. Her Wigan constituency voted 63-37% to leave. After the referendum she supported the wishes of her constituents and supported leg to leave and rejected the call for a second referendum which many in labour supported. She lost 15% of her vote in 2019 (brexit party gained 13%), but was reelected with a 47% vote share

Question 47

Laura pidcock and brexit

Answer 47

MP for north west durham in 2017, rising star in the labobur party. Consistently voted against brexit against the wishes of her constituency, which voted 55-45% to leave, and lost her seat in 2019 to conservative richard holden

Question 48

Dominic grieve and brexit

Answer 48

2019, former attorney-general and key anti-brexit player, lost his beaconsfield seat which voted 5000-49.01% to remain which he had represented for 22 years. Grieve was one of the 21 conservative mps who in september 2019 had the party whip withdrawn over their opposition to a no deal brexit. Lost to offical conservative candidate joy morrissey, elected with 56% of the vote to grieve’s 29%

Question 49

Anna soubry and brexit

Answer 49

Remain mp who struggled to come to terms with the referndum result. Voted to trigger article 50 in feb 2017, becme a key supporter of the people’s vote movement, which campagined for a second referendum. 2019, resigned the conservative whip and joined the Independent Group for Change. Lost her Broxtowe seat (52.5-47.5 leave) to the offical conservative candidate