structure and role of parliment

Question 1

House of commons

Answer 1

650 members- democratically elected via first past the post to represent their constituency
MPs selected for cabinet or shadow cabinet roles are “front benchers” the rest are “back benchers

Question 2

House of lords

Answer 2

appointed not elected with no upper limit on its membership

life peers and hereditary peers

Question 3

Three lined whip

Answer 3

strict instruction to attend and vote according to the party’s position, breach of which would normally have serious consequences. eg Boris Johnson suspending the whip of multiple conservative MPs over voting again the government on Brexit bills

Question 4

scrutiny of the executive

Answer 4

select committees- committees of MPs that look closely at the work of departments and hold them to account eg defence committee, education committee
prime minister’s question time occurring every Wednesday, doesn’t look like proper scrutiny more points scoring
debate- back bench business committee control topic of debate 1 day a week since 2010 played a major role in Brexit taking unprecedented levels of control