Scrunity U.K. (Learning) Flashcards
House of Lords Point
The House of Lords is the second chamber of Westminster and is made up of peers who are not elected by the general public who check and scrutinise bills passed in the Houses of Commons. Also they cannot veto bills.
HofLs K brackets ineffective
In 2018 the House of Lords’ amendment to the counter terrorise and border control bill (was rejected by Government.)
HofLs Point Balance
They may not be able to veto bills but peers can delay bills for up to a year which some would argue gives too much powers to these unelected peers.
HofLs Balance k
2018- Theresa May (PM and Conservative) added 13 new peers to increase Conservative influence in House of Lords.
HoL Eval
Not Effective
Votes in the Houses of Commons Point
The 650 MPs in the Houses of Commons get to vote on bills in Parliament. You need more Ayes than Nos for a bill to be passed and if there are the same amount of Ayes and Nos then the speaker votes with the Government.
Votes k
In January 2019 Theresa May failed to win the support of MP’s for her Brexit deal. MPs rejected her Brexit deal by a resounding majority of 230.
Votes Balance k
2019 21 Conservative MPs were removed by the party whip for rebelling against the Conservative party by supporting a bill to block a no deal Brexit
Votes Balance Point
However parties can use the party whip to pressure their MPs to vote in their favour and if they don’t they lose their party membership
Votes Eval
Still Effective
Committees Point
Select Committees are made up of many MPs or MSPs or members of the House of Lords from different parties who get the opportunity to investigate issues outside of government departments.
Committees K
In 2021 a Committee spent an entire day questioning the First Minister and her Government’s handling of the harassment investigation into Alex Salmond. After apparently wasting lots of taxpayer’s money,
Committees Boost point
Peers and MPs can work together in a committee and Peers have a lot of time to spend in committees so can be a valuable part of the team.
Committees boost k
The Human Rights Committee is made up of Peers and MPs who scrutinise every government bill passed to see if it affects human rights.
Committees eval
Most effective