Parliment Flashcards

1
Q

How many defeats during Blair’s govt?

A

4 (all in one year 2005/2006)

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2
Q

How many defeats during Brown?

A

3

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3
Q

How many defeats during May’s premiership?

A

33

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4
Q

In January 2019, how many Tories voted against Theresa May’s Brexit deal?

A

118 (incl. cabinet ministers)

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5
Q

How many times was the govt defeated in the HoL during the coalition?

A

99 times

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6
Q

How many times has Johnson’s govt been defeated in the house of Lords since 2019?

A

114

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7
Q

Why are public bill committees weak?

A

Votes are whipped in them, appointed by govt whips to get their way. Amendments are often voted against by whips in the report stage.

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8
Q

What is the danger around secondary legislation?

A

Acts give ministers power to define laws through regulation. Usually gets very little scrutiny and rarely blocked.

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9
Q

What happened in 2015 with Tax Credits?

A

Peers voted to delay the cut, against the will of the commons. Sparked outrage, breaking constitutional convention etc.

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10
Q

How many MPs rebelled over International aid?

A

24 (Incl. Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt)

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11
Q

What happened with Clause 11 in the Nationality and Borders bill?

A

Lords voted to remove
Would’ve created a two tier system for asylum seekers depending how they arrived
Amendment was rejected by the commons

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12
Q

How many Tories voted against Johnson’s COVID legislation?

A

99, fear of more rebellions led him to be more libertarian

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13
Q

Who opposed Rwanda plan in commons and what did they say?

A
Theresa May whether it met standards on "legality, practicality and efficacy"
Yvette Cooper (shadow Home Sec) "unworkable, unethical and extortionate"
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14
Q

What urgent question and when did Labour do over partygate?

A

25th Jan 2022 over the 20th May Downing street party, Johnson didn’t even attend.

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15
Q

What report did the Health and Social care select committee publish?

A

Coronavirus: lessons learned to date

Critiquing govt.s response to COVID and the main failings. Chaired by Jeremy Hunt.

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16
Q

What happened during Nadine Dorris’ appearence during the DCMS committee?

A

she didnt know channel 4 wasn’t publicly funded

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17
Q

Why are select committees weak? and e.g.

A

They aren’t compelled to attend, Johnson missed the Liason committee, too busy delivering Brexit

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18
Q

What opposition motion is starmer bringing over Partygate?

A

PM should face priveleges committee

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19
Q

What opposition motions successfully passed?

A

universal credit and working tax credit

free school meals

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20
Q

When was the last no confidence vote won?

A

1979 Jim Callaghan (311-310)

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21
Q

What were the Wright reforms?

A

Reforms to the way the house operated:
-Secret ballot to elect select committee chairs using AV (became more forceful, expert committees more challenging)
-Back Bench Business Committee can schedule own business in the house
-

22
Q

What happened with the environment bill committee?

A

Went through 12 sessions of evidence with Greenpeace, Unite and the Federation of Small Business. Lots of minor amendments.

23
Q

What are the stages of a bill?

A
1st reading
2nd reading
Committee Stage
Report Stage - bring any further amendments
3rd reading
HoL
Amendments ping pong
24
Q

How are Bill Committee chairs and members selected?

A

Chairs are chosen at random by the speaker from senior backbenchers
Members are selected by party whips, with expertise but toe party line

25
Q

Reasons select committees are weak

A

govt. majority

govt. does not have to accept reccomendations or attend (Johnson missed liason committe in 2019)

26
Q

Why are select committees effective?

A
  • Chairs elected by secret ballot, more justified
  • More seen as experts in their field (Hunt)
  • Cross party consensus means more likely to be accepted (privileges committee)
  • More media presence
27
Q

Which selected committee chair backed Marcus Rashford?

A

Robert Halfon, chair of education select committee publicly backed free school meals campaign, critical of exam results in 2020

28
Q

What committee chair criticized the gaps in furlough?

A

Treasury select Committee chair, Melvyn Stride, former leader of the commons. Criticized the gaps for self employed works.

29
Q

What happened with Julian Lewis?

A

He had the whip removed after standing and winning against Chris Grayling the Government’s choice for the Intelligence and Security Committee. Shows the weakness of govt.

30
Q

What did Johnson do with the Lords in 2020 that was controversial?

A

Appoint 36 new peers. Growing consensus that HoL should be shrunk. Appointed his brother Jo Johnson, and Evgeny Lebedev, Russian Oligarch, son of KGB agent. Very conservative appointments.

31
Q

How much does the HoL cost and expenses per peer?

A

£20.1 million

£26,000 per peer per year of expenses

32
Q

How many debates did the average peer take part in in a 10 month period?

A

12

33
Q

How many peers failed to take part in any debates?

A

140

34
Q

How many peers are there?

A

830

35
Q

How much are Lords paid for attending?

A

£323

36
Q

Whats special about the Irish senate?

A

60 members
11 appointed
6 elected by graduates
43 elected by MPs and councillors for panels on specific issues

37
Q

How many days a year can the BBBC bring debates to the Commons

A

35 (27 in the main chamber)

38
Q

What did the BBBC force a debate on in 2011?

A

Referendum on the membership of the EU. Govt. imposed a three line whip against (weakness of BBBC)

39
Q

What did the BBBC pass a motion on in 2013?

A

Reducing voting age to 16, despite govt. non support. 119-46. Non-binding not succesful

40
Q

How many amendments did the HoL make between 2017-2019? What % accepted

A

4,500 made, 97% accepted

41
Q

What do legislation committees allow?

A

evidence from companies/unions/pressure groups
eg. greenpeace for environment bill
NFU for Agriculture bill

42
Q

How many MPs voted for Boris’ brexit deal in 2020?

A

all tories

43
Q

How many days did it take to pass terrorist offenders bill, stopping parole of terrorists

A

8 sitting days

44
Q

What private members bill did Karen Buck?

A

Homes fitness for Human Habitation Bill in 2019

45
Q

What happened with the Letwin ammendment?

A

30 tories rebelled and voted for it
It would require EU withdrawal act to be passed before approval of the deal
20 were then later kicked out the party for not supporting the deal

46
Q

Who’s Lord Dannatt

A

A Crossbencher who was former chief of staff of the army, reccommends the UK uses troops to fight ISIS

47
Q

What did the Public Accounts committee recently complete a report on?

A

THe amount of money wasted on test and trace £37 billion

48
Q

What happened with mircobeads?

A

They were banned after Enviornmental audit committee put pressure on govt. 2018

49
Q

Who is obliged to appear before select committees and who isn’t?

A

Senior civil servants
Ministers don’t have to
Theresa May blocked head of MI5 being interviewed

50
Q

What went wrong with the Exiting the European Union Select Committee?

A

Issues so divisive, difficult to reach consensus. Chair Hilary benn. Members incl Jacob Rees mogg critiqued it