Structure of the House of Commons and the House of Lords

Question 1

What is the House of Commons?

Answer 1

Known as the lower house and is the elected half of Parliament.

Question 2

MPs

Answer 2

• 650 MPs - each represent a constituency and nearly all are part of a political party or independent.
• MPs enjoy parliamentary privilege - free from outside interference and cannot be prosecuted or sued for anything they saw in HOC.
• MPs who aren’t govt members or the leadership of the party are backbenchers.

Question 3

The function of backbench MPs

Answer 3

• Initiate legislation through private members’ bills - doesn’t have the backing of govt.
• Represent constituency’s interest.
• Threaten a BB rebellion by voting against the wishes of their party leadership.
• Can scrutinise government policy and decisions.
• Take positions of leadership in the HOC by becoming select committee chairs.
• Can ask parliamentary questions and participate in debates.

Question 4

Backbenchers are influential

Party whips

Answer 4

• Increasingly willing to ‘defy the whip’ and vote against the government, helping the Commons to hold the govt accountable.
• For example, in 2020 38 Tory BB voted against government plans to allow Huwaei to be used in the UK’s 5G mobile network - while the govt won the vote, it changed its policy shortly afterwards.

Question 5

Backbenchers are not influential

Party whips

Answer 5

Still controls the vast majority of voting outcomes and backbench MPs are loath to risk a future promotion by voting against their party leadership - rare for a backbench rebellion to lead to a defeat of a majority government.

Question 6

Backbenchers are influential

Backbench Business Committee

Answer 6

Allowed backbenchers to have a greater say on which issues are raised and discussed in the House of Commons. For example: in Dec 2020, the BBC secured a debate on raising awareness about teenage cancer.

Question 7

Backbenchers aren’t influential

Backbench Business Committee

Answer 7

Many of the debates the BBC wins time for are held in Westminister Hall, not the HOC. These debates don’t enjoy the same status and there is often no vote after these debates, so their influence is limited.

Question 8

Select Committees

Answer 8

Permanent committees of backbench MPs, elected by all the MPs - main role is to scrutinise the govt departments’ work.

Question 9

Legislative Committees

Answer 9

Temporary committees that scrutinises proposed legislation, suggesting amendments - mostly has 20-40 members who were chosen by party whips.

Question 10

What are party whips?

Answer 10

Senior MPs who seek to persuade backbenchers in their own party to vote the way the party leadership wants them to, ensuring party unity.

Question 11

Who is the Speaker?

Answer 11

Presides over disputes in the House of Commons and takes decisions on parliamentary procedure

Question 12

The Structure of the House of Lords:

What is the House of Lords?

Answer 12

Known as the upper house and is the unelected half of Parliament.

Question 13

Peers

Answer 13

• 800, including:
• Hereditary peers = inherited their title and often carries onto their children (only 92).
• Life peers = appointed by the party leaders an an Appointments Commission - not hereditary - is a mixture of former politicians and experts) who often have a party allegiance.
• Crossbench MPs = doesn’t have a party allegiance.
• Includes archbishops and bishops of the Church of England (26) - no other religion is represented.

Question 14

The functions of Peers

Answer 14

• Represents different sections of society in Parliament, including ethnic minorities, the elderly, hospital patients and various professions.
• Advocates in favour of important political causes, ensuring they’re given publicity - includes environment, human rights and animal warfare.
• Peers with special expertise play a valuable role in examining proposed legislation.
• Every government department has a frontbench representative in the Lords, giving the opportunity to hold the govt accountable - although this function receives less publicity than its equivalent in the Commons.

Question 15

Dubb and Baroness

Examples of the Lords standing up to minorities

Answer 15

• Lord Dubs helped to ammend the 2016 Immigration Act to allow child refugees arriving from Calais the right to remain in the UK.
• Baronesss Oona King played a leading role in attempts to increase funding for post-adoption services and except patients who have adopted children from cuts to benefits.

Question 16

The Lord Speaker

Answer 16

Presides over debates in the House of Lords and maintains discipline.