shiny deck

Question 1

Parliament- The make up

Answer 1

Although treated as single institution, Parliament has three parts:

The house of commons
The house of Lords
The Monarchy- the queen or royal family.

Question 2

The House of Commons

Composition

Answer 2

House consists of 65o MP’s that represent constituencies across England.

They win seats through The first past the post system, if they win they are elected into Parliament

They are always representatives of their party and are subject to party disciplinary.

Question 3

The house of Commons

Powers

Answer 3

Is the politically and legally dominant chamber.
Has two key powers:

Supreme legislative power- can make, unmake and amend any law it sees fit- practising legal sovereignty.

Removing government of the day- as a government that is defeated on a major issue or matter of confidence(vote of no confidence) has to resign or call a general election.

Question 4

House Of Lords

Composition

Answer 4

Life Peers- appointed by Prime minister through the Life Peerages Act can be a member for their own lifetime, and are recommended by both opposition and leader.

Hereditary peers- hold inherited titles which carry right to sit in the house of lords, only 92 permitted since 1999.

Lords spiritual- bishops and archbishops of the Church of England. 26 reside in Parliament now.

Question 5

House of Lords

Powers

Answer 5

Can delay bills for up to one year(but can’t delay money bills) and due to the Salisbury convention they cannot defeat any bills that are part of government manifesto

Have SOME veto power- delays to general elections and prolonging life of the government
sacking of senior judges with operation from Lords and Commmons

Question 6

The monarchy

4 key roles in Parliament

Answer 6

Queen is a non executive head of state meaning she symbolises the authority of the crown.

Appoint a government, chooses the prime minster who chooses other members of gov, has to chose side with majority.

Opening and dismissing parliament- open through state opening at the start of parliamentary year

The queens speech delivered at the beginning to state governments legislative programme.

Royal ascent- signs bill to make it an act, but monarchs never refuse to give royal ascent.

Question 7

Functions of Parliament-

5

Answer 7

Legislation
Represent
Scrutiny
Recruitment and training of minsters
Legitimacy

Question 8

Legislation-

Answer 8

supreme legislature in the UK, can make, unmake any law
not restricted by codified constitution and other devolved assemblies, bit subject to EU law making bodies.

Bulk of time spent considering the governments programmes and private member bills are rarely passed.

Government bills are rarely defeated as they have control over the house of common.

Scrutinised again by House of Lords to ensure decision is right, seen as a revising chamber.

Question 9

Representation-

Answer 9

Representative democracy- MP’s act on behalf of their constituents and represent them in Parliament.

Burkbean view- MP’s use their constituents to act on their on behalf and use their own judgement

Criticised because:

House of Lords are unelected, don’t represent society and yet they get to edit bills formed by government if they please

First past the post undermines representation as if a political party came second in every constituency, they would be widely supported but have no seats in Parliament.

MP’S are peers are socially unrepresentative of a wider society.

Question 10

Scrutiny and oversight-

Answer 10

Opposition hold government of the day to account and scrutinise their actions, which ensures there is no backdoor deals and funny business in the going ons of Parliament and Government.

Acts as a watchdog that calls out any mistakes made by the government of the day.
Despite this it can be questioned as;

Most MP’s belong to a majority and will not try to embarrass themselves

Question time and Pm questions are often rehearsed and can some generate more beef than insight.

Question 11

Recruitment and training of Ministers

Answer 11

All ministers must be MP’s or peers to be involved in Politics, and must have “cut their teeth” on the back benches before working on the front benches

Criticised by;
limited pool of talent, mainly MP’S from the majority party in parliament.

Few ministers have experience outside of Politics.

Question 12

Legitimacy-

Answer 12

If government actions have been passed through Parliament, they become legitimate and become easier for the public to accept

Criticised:

HoL is unelected, undemocratic to let them affect decision made by HoC.

Question 13

How are laws passed-(7)

Answer 13

Prep stages- provisions outlined on white or green papers

First reading- read out to parliament and date is prepared for second reading.

Second reading- full debate that considers principles- can be defeated.

Committee stage- looked at line by line by select committees

Report stage- report back to commons what changed have been made

Third reading-another full debate,wihtout changes being made and usually not defeated at this stage.

The other place-sent to HoL then if accepted to the queen for her Royal Ascent.

Question 14

Social background of MP’s-

Answer 14

Gender-197 women in 2015- 29%

Ethnicity- 2015- 42 non white- 6%

Age- average age in 2015 was 51- middle aged

Question 15

Parliamentary Government-

Answer 15

A parliamentary system when there is a fusion between the executive and legislative branches of government or a fusion of powers.

Question 16

key features of Parliamentary system-

Answer 16

Govs formed through results in parliamentary elections

personnel of government chosen from majority party.

gov is responsible to Parliament,ccan be removed through vote of confidence.

Question 17

The effectiveness of Parliament-

Theories of power(3)

Answer 17

Westminster model- parliament delivers both as a voice of the people, and holds those to account - has significant influence

Whitehall model- power has shifted from parliament to the executive and is no more than a rubber stamp on government policy- widely accepted until 1980’s

Transformative model- parliament is no longer decision making body but neither a simple inconvenience- can only change policy by reacting to executive initiative

Question 18

How party unity is maintained-

example of party DISunity-

Answer 18

The whipping system- parties tell MP’s to vote a certain way.
party whips advise leadership of party morale- rewards loyalty and punishes disloyalty and give promotional prospects to backbenchers

Labour under Brown and Blair- 2001-10
backbenchers rebelled against major votes, such as 139 Mp’s revolting against the involvement in Iraq .

Question 19

Advantages of Coalition government-

Answer 19

Advantages-

Effective Government- stable and cohesive across Europe, adjust to compromise and partnership.

Broad popular Gov- two parties cover wide range of views, more than a single party can also claim popular mandate as electoral support exceeds 50%.

End of Adversarialism- coalitions allow for new politics as the two party war has ended, can work together on matters of importance.

Wider pool of talent- ministers can now be selected from both parties, leading to more talent being recruited, closer to ideal of government of all talents.

Question 20

Disadvantages-

Answer 20

Weak Government- Internal disagreement can lead to paralysis, making it impossible to excessive leadership and struggle to pass policies through Parliament.

Unstable Government- they are fragile because the defection of one partner will bring down the coalition, and having an increase in elections and more change in government will bring about a time period of unrest and instability.

Democracy undermined- promises made by parties during campaign cannot be made due to coalition therefore the voters may feel betrayed and have no choice when it comes to the coalitions programmer for government.

Confused ideological direction- coalition programmes are often unclear and inconsistent and they try to merge ideologies that may not necessarily match.

Question 21

Reformation of Parliament-

Answer 21

debate due to growth of executive power and parliaments declining ability to check the government

HoC under Blair-1997-2007
onece a week PM questions

Liaison committee scrutiny- 2 times a year pm must face , face experienced back benches

Freedom of information Act 2000-widens publics ability to access information to ensure a open government.Helped start the expense scandal of 2009

Question 22

House of Commons reform under Brown

Answer 22

tried to strengthen parliament by improving the needs of consultation from commons
they had to be consulted on:

declaring war
dissolving parliament 
recalling of parliament 
ratifying treaties
choosing bishops and appointing judges

none really took off apart from declaring war, but more focus was given to select committee power.

Question 23

Commons reform under Clegg and Cameron

Answer 23

Coalition government of 2010 due to Lib Dem wishes
they introduced:

Fixed term parliaments- prevent PM from calling elections that suit them, should in theory reduce majority size and governmental change.

Public reading stage- after a bill has been proposed, the public can examine said bill and comment on it and here their views on certain parts however this was only a limited sample

Question 24

Reforming Lords-

Answer 24

Due to-
Majority of peers sat in Lords due to heredity
Showed a bias to the conservatory party that was consistent.

Blair 1999-
due to disagreements he staged the change in two stages

stage 1 removal of hereditary peers without any further changes

stage 2-replacement of Lords by revised second chamber

Question 25

For a second chamber(Lords)

Answer 25

For-

democratic legitimacy-all members would be elected fairly giving them legitimacy, rather than those who are appointed

Better legislation- as they would be elected they can do more than just revise and polish bills passed to them, they could scrutinise and have greater oversight, boosting legislation

Checking the commons- only can an elected chamber which could ensure better and more well debated policies. eg US congress

Ending executive Tyranny- Government rules over parliament with its majority, the only way to properly check them is to have a powerful second chamber

Question 26

Against a second chamber

Answer 26

Specialist knowledge- life peers are appointed on merit and knowledge and experience in politics, elected peers may just be good campaigners and public speakers.

Complimentary chambers- two dif chambers can carry out two dif roles, if reformed there would be two houses of commons.Only one chamber needs popular authority.

Gridlocked government- two equal chambers would create political paralysis through its rivalry, hard to get anything done.