parliament q1

Question 1

what is the House of Commons

Answer 1

the primary chamber of the UK legislature directly elected by voters

Question 2

what is the house of lords

Answer 2

second chamber of uk legislature, not elected by voters (undemocratic)

Question 3

who are backbenchers

Answer 3

• ## MPs who do not have a ministerial or shadow-ministerial position

Question 4

who are the opposition

Answer 4

• usually the party with the second most votes, eg if the conservatives are the government, typically labour will be the opposition

Question 5

how often are general elections meant to be held

Answer 5

• every 5 years

Question 6

how can a general election be called before the end of the term

Answer 6

• if there is a vote of no confidence and the pm cannot form another administrative within 14 days
• if 2/3 of MPs support the motion for n early general election, eg Theresa may called a snap election in 2017

Question 7

who are party whips

Answer 7

• responsible for making sure MPs attend parliamentary votes
• most important votes are underlined 3 times when sent in a letter to MPs by the whips

Question 8

what is parliamentary scrutiny

Answer 8

• the opposition seeks to hold the government to account for its errors
• this can be done by questions to ministers, leader of opposition gets 6 questions a week
• can also be done through debates

Question 9

who are select committees

Answer 9

• ## they investigate and report on activities of government departments. their counterparts in the House of Lords carry out topic based inquiries

Question 10

how effectively does parliament perform its representative function

Answer 10

• 29% of MP’s elected in 2015 were women
• 6% of MPs elected in 2015 make up ethnic minorities

Question 11

what is the exclusive power of the House of Commons

Answer 11

• can give consent to taxation and public expenditure
• can use its power in a situation known as ‘confidence and supply’ where a minority government makes an agreement with another party to make a majority
  eg conservatives agreement with democratic unionist party in 2017

Question 12

how are the House of Lords power limited

Answer 12

• definitely less powerful then the house of commons
• parliament act in 1911 sets out that the lord has no rights to delay money bills
• power to veto non financial bills was replaced by a power of delay lasting 2 years
• power is also constrained by salisbury convention in 1945 whereby the lords cannot oppose a bill that gave effect to a commitment contained ion the manifesto of a winning party

Question 13

what are the House of Lords distinctive powers

Answer 13

• can propose amendments to government legislation
• can delay non financial legislation for up to a year
• it can retain its veto in a ver unlikely situation to occur in which a government tries to not hold a election after 5 years

Question 14

what is an example of opposition to PMQ?

Answer 14

• nick clegg is against labelling it as overboystrous

Question 15

what is the Salisbury convention

Answer 15

a convention whereby the House of Lords does not block or delay any legislation that was included in a governments legislation

Question 16

what is an example of a clash between the House of Commons and the House of Lords

Answer 16

debate about the 2005 prevention of terrorism bill which lasted over 30 hours

Question 17

how many bills did Tony Blair force through

Answer 17

• changing the voting system for European Parliament elections
• equalising the age of consent for gay and heterosexual people
• banning hunting with dogs

Question 18

what is a legislative bill

Answer 18

proposed laws passing through parliament

Question 19

what is an act of parliament

Answer 19

a bill that has completed all its stages in parliament and has become law

Question 20

how many types of bills go through parliament

Answer 20

• 4
• government bill
• private bill
• hybrid bill
• private members bill

Question 21

what are the stages of a bill being passed

Answer 21

1- first reading: bill made available to MPs, not debated
2- second reading: MPs debate the bill
3- committee stage: scrutinised by public bill committee
4- report stage: whole house considers amendments made at the committee stage and accept or reject them
5- third reading: amended bill is debated and voted on by the whole house
6- House of Lords stage: same stages except the committee stage, lords can propose amendments
7- royal assent: monarch signs the bill making it law

Question 22

what is the backbench business committee?

Answer 22

created in 2010
- allowed to choose the topic for debate on 35 days in each parliamentary session
- some topics are chosen by the public in petitions which amass 100k signatures
eg: 2015, led to harvey law where pet owners are notified when their dogs are killed on the road

Question 23

how and why have backbench rebellions increased?

Answer 23

• coalition mps rebelled in 35% of divisions in 2010-2015 compared to 28% in the 205-2010 parliament
• there has been an increase in ‘urgent questions’

Question 24

how are the backbenchers limited?

Answer 24

• power of loyalty reinforced by party whips remain important factors in the commons
• public bill committees allow them to scrutinise however the government has a majority and will use its strength to introduce its own amendments rather then listening to criticism from opposition

Question 25

what is the liaison committee

Answer 25

questions the government twice a year

Question 26

why are select committees important

Answer 26

• evidence based, hearings are televised and recorded in the media, increasing their influence
• the scope of their work has stretched to scrutinise legislation

Question 27

how are select committees limited

Answer 27

• committees can only cover a limited range of topics
• high turnover rate for membership if committees and some MPs do not attend regularly

Question 28

how many days a year are the opposition allocated to propose subjects for debate

Answer 28

20