Parliamentary Law making Flashcards
House of commons
How many
Who
Made up by 650 members of parliament (mps)
Each MP is elected to serve a constituency
House of Lords
How many?
Who?
About 800 peers
Unelected
What is the public bill?
And example
Affect the whole country put forward by government
Eg EU (withdrawal) bill
What is the Private members bill
Who does it affect
Why less likely to become law
Eg
Affects the whole country and put forward by individual MPs
Less likely to become law unless supported by government
Eg- voyeurism (offences) bill taking a photo of beneath someone without their consent
What is the private bill?
Eg
Change the law regarding Pacific individuals or organisations not the general public
Anyone ‘specially and directly’ affected can be petition against the bill
E.g. middle level bill – in charge of water waste in East Anglia
What is the hybrid bill?
E.g.
Mixed characteristics of public and private bills
Affect general population but impact Pacific groups or individuals
Often involve large infrastructure projects
E.g. channel tunnel, cross rail
follow a longer procedure to allow affected parties to ‘petition’
E.g. high-speed rail bill
What is the green paper
Is a consultation document set up the government proposal and outline and invite everyone affected by it to submit their views
Taken into an account before the proposal is firmed up
E.g. competition and markets green paper 2019
What is white paper
White paper, this is to confirm proposal of law
E.g. appeal bill white paper 2018
What is the first reading?
Bill is formally introduced to parliament then the short title of the bill is read out and an order made for the bill to be printed
There is no debate or vote at this stage, which is formality
What is the second reading?
The bill is introduced by the government minister or MP responsible for it
The main principles of the bill is debated as well as what might have been included and a vote is held to decide if it can proceed to the next stage
Two weekends after the first reading
What is the committee stage?
The bill is examined carefully and in detail by public committee made up by MPs the make-up of this committee reflects the amount Of seats the parties have in parliament the committee is able to take evidence from experts and interest groups from outside Parliament
Amendments for discussion are selected by the chairman of the committee and only members of the committee can vote on them at this point
Finance bills are dealt with by the committee of the whole house on the floor of the House of Commons
What is the report stage?
MPs consider amendments to a bill which has been examined in committee
All MPs they speak and suggest amendments or new clauses and vote on them
For long or complicated as the debates may be spread over several days
What is the third reading?
MP debate the contents of a bill and vote on whether they wish to proceed
No amendments are allowed at the third reading in commons
What is the House of Lords?
The whole process from the first reading through the third reading is repeated in the house of lords
If the Lords disagree with any common amendments or make alternative proposals, then the bill is sent back to the Commons
What must the both houses do to create a bill
Both houses must agree on the exact wording of the bill
The bill may go back-and-forth until both agree this is called the ping-pong stage
Once agreed on the bill, it can receive Royal assent and become an act of Parliament
What is the royal ascent?
This is the monarch agreement to make the bill into an act and is a formality the last time sent was refused was the Queen Anne refused to approve the Scottish Malitia bill in 1708
What happens when the two houses can’t agree?
In the circumstances, which are rare, the bill fails
However, if certain conditions are that the Commons can use the parliament act 1911 and 1949 to pass the bill without the consent of the Lords in the following session
This is very rare and the last example was the hunting at 2004 banning fox hunting
What is the commencement?
This is when the act comes into force this can be immediately after the set period a commencement order by a government minister
If the commencement order is required to but none is made the act does not come into force this happens with the east act 1920 which was intended to fix the date at Easter occurs
If there is no commencement order, the act will come into force from midnight at the start of the day after the Royal ascent
What is a statute
Law made by the uk parliament
An act of parliament
What is a monarch?
Head of state and as head of the nation
What is a constitutional monarchy?
System of government that is ruled by a king or queen whose power is limited by its countries constitution
What is the prime minister
Leader of his majesty government
What is the leader of the opposition?
The leader of the second largest party in the House of Commons
What is the cabinet?
Group of ministers chosen by Prime Minister to run various government departments
E.g. home office, health, education
Manifesto
List of promises
Political parties in the UK
Labour, liberal, Scottis, conservative
What is democracy?
Rule by people – people are let the government – voting in elections – mutual agreement
What is the UK government
All the people responsible for running the country – party that won the most seats
What is the general election?
When the voters of the country cast the votes to elect members of Parliament (mps) to the house of commons
What is the constituencies – seats?
Each of the electoral errors or divisions called constituencies elect one member to House of Commons there are 650 constituencies for the UK House of Commons
What is parliament?
It is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom. They also legislate for the crown dependencies and British overseas territories.
Advantages of parliamentary law making
It’s democratic with elected members of the House of Commons
As they are elected they are representing their constituent
MPs introduce legislation relevant to there constituents
The law can be changed if it’s popular when not being supported by the government
Abortion act 1967
Parliamentary law making is very thorough it involves debates and close examination of proposals in committee
Disadvantages of parliamentary law making
It’s undemocratic as members of the House of Lords are able to debate and suggest amendments and vote on legislation even when they are not elected
Unelected people are not accountable for the decisions they make and may lead to poor quality laws
Making law is very slow and takes many months - the royal assent can be argued to be pointless
