parliaments functions Flashcards
what is parliamentary privilege?
grants certain legal immunities for members of both house which allows them to perform their duties without legal consequences - only when in the house
example of parliamentary privilege in use
Peter Hair used parliamentary privilege in 2018 to name Sir Philip Green as the businessman at the centre of the MeToo scandal including both sexual and racial harassment claims, but who has invoked a legal junction meaning his name would not enter public domain. Hair was criticised but he said he wouldn’t apologise for standing up for human rights.
what are the elements of representation in parliament?
- democratically representative (legitimacy)
- reflect the people
- who should it represent
Yes parliament is democratically representative
- every MP represents a single constituency and own the vote in their area by a plurality
- MPs redress grievances in parliament - constituents have access to their MP
No Parliament is not democratically representative
- FPTP means MPs can be elected without a majority of constituency votes
- low turnout lead to tyranny of minority (2019 GE Chorley 51.7%)
- unelected House of Lords inherently weakens the democracy of the UK
Yes parliament reflects the people it represents
- 2019 most diverse parl ever
- 34% women (Lab more women than men)
- 49 LGBT MPs
- 23% BAME MPs
- Truss cabinet 4 great offices not occupied by a white man
No parliament doesn’t reflect its people
- Parl still dominated by older, middle-class, white men
- lords not socially representative (29% women) could be easier to make this chamber more diverse as appointed roles
- several sex scandals added to concerns raised by mostly female PMs regarding the power dominance in Westminster - Angela Rayner Basic instinct. Neil Parish watching pornogrophy in the Commons.
Trustee Model
- MPs have the political knowledge/experience and decide what they think is best for their constituency.
- Burkean representation as they have increased education and knowledge to make appropriate decisions.
Delegate Model
- MPs act as a messenger for their constituents so will carry out what the majority wants
- social media enhances this model as more ways to access MP. 2020 Conservative backbench MPs experienced pressure from constituents over twitter to reduce increased housing planning targets by relaxing planning laws
- Backbench Business Committee
- Brexit : Nandy (remainer) voted to trigger article 50 as wigan voted to leave
Mandate (who should parl represent)
- winning parties have political mandates to carry out on behalf of electorate (weakened by FPTP)
- Parties - not individual MPs - fulfil parliaments representation function (again weekend by FPTP)
- GE focused on parties not the individuals, less aware of MP but more aware of party
Parliament scrutiny function - themes
- question time
- public bill committee
- rebellion
- vote of no confidence
scrutiny : question time
- PMQs ever Wednesday (often used for point scoring and soundbites (Sunak pledge NI brexit deal will ‘tick three boxes’))
- Oral questions
- topical questions
- urgent questions
scrutiny : public bill committee
- all backbencher sit on PBC
- scrutinise all bills in committee stage
- cannot reject the bill
- over 99% of amendment proposed by gov minister succeed, success rate for non gov amendments in 1%
scrutiny : rebellion
- 2016 27 tory rebels voted against Camerons extended Sunday Trading Hours
- threat can make government rethink bills ( Sunak pulled vote on housing promises in 2022
- 2019-19 May suffered 33 defeats
- Cameron 8 rebellions suffered across his premiership
scrutiny : vote of no confidence
- labour ousted by commons in 1979
- 2019 may narrowly survived vote of no confidence by 19 votes (ten of which were DUP)
