parliamentary law making Flashcards
What does Parliament consist of?
House of Commons
House of Lords
Monarchy
who sits in the house of commons and how many?
how are they chosen?
Members of Parliament who represent a political party and are elected by the public. 650 members.
who sits in the House of Lords and how many?
how are they chosen?
unelected members of approx. 800
elected through hierarchy or appointed life peers.
who is the government?
the party that won the general election
identify all the types of bill and explain each
Private Bill- become laws which only apply to particular individuals or businesses
Private Members’ Bill- introduced by individual MPs
Government Bill- introduced by the government to carry out their manifestos
Public Bill- become laws which apply to the whole country
explain the pre-legislative stage
green paper and white paper of proposals are introduced. allows consultation to interested parties before the bill can be drafted.
how are white papers and green papers different?
White paper takes into account the views and opinions received from the interested parties to publish the firm proposal
green paper is just an initial proposal that raises attention of the interested parties- consultation paper
what is a bill
Proposed law introduced into Parliament
what’s the way of remembering the legislative process!
Green
White
Fat
Snails
Can’t
Reach
The
Hand
Rails
list the stages of the legislative process
Green Paper
White Paper (Draft Bill)
First Reading
Second Reading
Committee Stage
Report Stage
Third Reading
House of Lords
Royal Assent
Describe the First reading
Title of the new bill and date of second reading is read out by the appropriate MP.
No discussion.
Describe the Second Reading
Main debate on the main principles of the bill. opinions can be expressed and afterwards there is a vote, either verbal or formal.
what’s the difference between a ‘verbal’ and a ‘formal’ vote
verbal- members indicate their support or opposition by saying “content” or “not content”
formal- members physically divide into two groups, those in favour and those not in favour.
Describe the Committee stage
How are the Standing Committee chosen?
Group of MPs suggest amendments to the currently examined bill.
Standing Committee consists of 12-50 MPs. chosen through special interest or knowledge of the bill at hand or for finance bills the whole house sits in committee
describe the report stage
Amendments are written up into a report and given to MPs
Describe the Third Reading
Final vote on the bill and majority must pass to progress
What is the “Ping-Pong” stage
If lords continues to reject the bill and the bill keeps going under the legislative process
what are the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949?
Give an example of law that has been passed in this way (without consent of HoL)
these acts allow a bill to become law even if the House of Lords rejects it, provided that it passed the stages under the House of Commons again.
Hunting Act 2004
What is the Royal Assent? How much of the Bill will the monarch actually see?
Monarch provides formal consent under Royal Assent Act 1967, merely symbolic.
Only a short title is shown
advantages of the Legislative process
Democratic
Consultation
Broad policy
Full Reform
disadvantages of the legislative process
Government control
Lack of time
complexity
long process
