Parliament is the most powerful

Question 1

Question

Answer 1

Evaluate the view that Parliament is the most powerful of all the branches.

Question 2

Factors

Answer 2

• Parliament: legislative.
• Government: executive.
• Supreme Court: judicial.

Question 3

Judgement

Answer 3

Parliament is not the most powerful - the Executive is the most powerful.

Question 4

Weaker argument - Parliament/Legislative

Answer 4

→ PMBs: controversial legislation are passed using PMB; e.g. abortion law, homosexual marriage and abolition of the death penalty.
→ The individual expertise of the Lords means that the unelected House is powerful as it can provide insight that the Executive cannot; e.g. Baroness Grey-Thompson expert in sport and disability.

Question 5

Stronger argument - Parliament/Legislative

Answer 5

→ Out of the more than 2,500 PMBs raised since 2010 only 110 have received royal assent.
→ The Salisbury Convention means that laws under a manifesto are not vetoed or questioned by the Lords, meaning they cannot hold the Executive to account.
→ The Lords cannot amend ‘money bills’ made by the Executive .
→ Changes made to legislation in the Lords is often overturned in the Commons – e.g. the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Question 6

Weaker argument - judicial

Answer 6

→ The Supreme Court rejected the Rwanda Bill - saying that it the Bill didn’t protect the human rights of the asylum seekers.
→ After 9/11 the Executive tried to pass legislation so that the government could get more information about UK citizen - the Supreme Court stop it saying that it was in violation of Human Rights.

Question 7

Stronger argument - judicial

Answer 7

→ The ECHR ruling demanding that prisoners should get the vote due to Protocol 1, Article 3 was ignored by the government.
→ Parliament holds the power to pass any legislation and override judicial decisions through enactment of new laws - meaning common law can be overridden by statute law.
→ Supreme Court ruled against Johnson proroguing Parliament - Johnson has never accepted responsibility for his actions.

Question 8

Weaker argument - Executive

Answer 8

→ Miller v. Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (2017): The court ruled that Parliament must authorize the triggering of Article 50 to begin Brexit negotiations, reinforcing parliamentary authority over government actions.
→ Parliament is powerful as select committees can scrutinise the Executive holding it to account - e.g. Yvette Cooper’s questioning leading to the resignation of Amber Heard.

Question 9

Stronger argument - Executive

Answer 9

→ The executive has royal prerogative powers, which include: Deploying the armed forces and conducting foreign policy and negotiating and signing treaties.
→ Blair’s large parliamentary majorities enabled him to push through controversial decisions; the Iraq War.
→ Lords cannot delay ‘money bills’. Means the Executive has the final say on fiscal matters.