Structure & role of Parliament Flashcards
What’s bicameral
Two chambers: House of Lords & House of Commons
what chamber holds all the power
The House of Commons
Who sits on the Commons
- The PM
- Govt ministers
What does the speaker of the House of Commons do
- Presides over the HoC and ensures the rules in the house are observed
- can discipline distruptive MPs that break rules leading to suspension
- calls on MPs before they can speak
Why is it important for speakers to remain impartial
They must severe all ties to their party. Due to the political parties,elections & referendums 2000 acts which prevented them from standing under a party
How is a speaker elected
Support from 12 MPs and 3 from different party to their own.
If one candidate gets more than 50% they are declared winner, if no one wins majority, candidates with fewest votes are eliminated and repeated until one wins majority.
Who’s on the speakers left and right
Right - governing party
Left - opposition party
What do whips do
In charge of keeping Parliament in order.
They are in charge of party discipline within party and ensuring MPs stay loyal and vote the way their leaders dictate
How do whips employ ‘carrots’ and ‘sticks’ to ensure backbench MPs act in line ?
- Persuade MPs with merits of party leaders views or tempt with future promotion for loyalty.
- Threaten MP with loss of promotion or withdrawal
What is the 1922 Committee?
Conservative backbench committee that puts pressure on the frontbenchers
Main functions of parliament
- Legislative: laws are introduced, debated and passed
- Representative: they represent the people through constituencies and parties
- Scrutiny: checking and scrutinising the govt by questioning its actions.
Developments in Parliament
- Balance of power: the balance of power between the lords and Commons shifted in the twentieth century to the extent political power now lies in the Commons. The Parliaments Acts of 1911 & 1949 brought this change
- Diversity: growth of democracy has made Commons diverse. First female MP, Nancy Astor, took her seat in 1919, DEC 2019 there were 220 female MPs. In 1987, 3 black MPs were elected, in 2019 there were 65 MPs from ethnic minority groups.
- Democracy: Parliaments membership was chosen by all of the ppl as UK moved towards parliamentary democracy, was achieved through a number of parliamentary reform Acts
What is a bill?
a proposal for a new law or to change an existing law
What is the difference between public and private bills
Public bills make changes that affect the whole population (govt bills & PMB)
Private bills only apply to specific organisations or individuals
What are the vast majority of laws passed called?
Public bills - bills that apply to everyone one its a law
What bill only apply to a specific individual or organisation
private bills
Govt bills
Created and promoted by the govt, often to fulfil manifesto promises. All members of governing party would be expected to support this bill.
What are hybrid bills
Elements of public and private bills.
General effects but significant impact on particular groups/ individuals
Eg: High speed rail bill 2017
How does a bill become a law
- Proposed bills pass through the Lords and Commons
- The bill goes through certain stages of scrutiny
- It is debated and amended
- Most govt -backed bill becomes law and bills proposed by backbench or peers do not
- Every bill must receive the royal assent to become law
What happens before a bill is presented to parliament
- Consultation process: where he invites outside groups to contribute
The govt releases a GREEN PAPER - as it is still open to influence and hasn’t settled on an action.
If the govt releases a WHITE PAPER, they are more assure of their plans and focused on new legislation and getting feedback so changes can be made. - then the legislative process begins once its been drafted
The legislative process
- First reading: the formal introduction of bill, a formality (no debate)
- Second reading: the main debates on the bill takes place in Commons chamber (most gov bills progress at this stage, the last one to be defeated was the 1986 shops bill)
- Committee stage: bills are sent to Public Bill committees (temporary, named after the bill they are scrutinising) and they consider the bill & scrutinise LINE BY LINE. Govt always has majority so major changes are unlikely.
- Report stage: during this stage any amendments agreed in the committee stage are considered by the commons. Can either be accepted, rejected or changed
- Third reading- final debate on amended version of the bill. No further changes are permitted
- Consideration of amendments : bills has gotten through Commons stages, the process is repeated in the Lords. Amendments made by upper house can only be bill if HoC accepted it. However might be parliamentary ping pong
- Royal Assent
What are some differences between the Commons and the Lords in the legislative process
- There are no Public Bill Committees in the Lords-they are scrutinised by committee of the whole house
- Lords spend more time debating bills than the Commons
Difference between speaker in the Commons and the Lords
speaker of the HoC can decide which amendments will be debated in the Commons, the Lord speaker has no such powers and all amendments are debated
What is parliamentary ping pong
A bill going back and forth between two houses due to disagreement over amendment.
If no agreement is reached, Commons can use the Parliament Act to bypass the Lords in certain cases
The HoC role in legitimising govt policy
Money bills must originate in the HoC and cannot be amended or delayed by the Lords.
How can Backbencher MPs influence the legislation
through the use of Public Bill committees
- ballot bills (best success)
- 10 min rule bills
- presentation bills (worst success)
Ballot bill: At the beginning of the parliamentary yr, all MPs who want to introduce PMBs sign a book and enter their name and 20 names selected at random, only 13 Fridays in each session and first 7 are for second readings. The last 7 names drawn from ballot have bills debated first and guranteed it’ll be debated
Commons
- The elected most powerful chamber of Parliament - 650 MPs
- this happened due to the Parliament Acts 1949 & 1911
Lords
- Unelected chamber, no fixed membership
- lacks democratic mandate and has limited powers.
- Main powers are to amend & revise legislation, (Commons have final say) - describes as ‘think again’ chamber. But can only do for a yr and can’t block an legislation that was in party’s manifesto
- The last PM to sot in the Lords was Alec Douglas-Home in 1963, Labour, who resigned and won by elections to sit in the Commons
- LORDS SCRUTINISE SECONDARY LEGISLATION
Hereditary peers
members of the aristocracy who have inherited their titles and right to sit in HoL
House of Lords act 1999
Removed all but 92 of the hereditary peers
Life peers
Life peers Act 1958 - allowed peers to sit n the Lords for their whole life but can’t pass onto children
Who are Lord Spirituals?
26 archbishops that sit in the HoL, when they retire as bishops they lose their membership of the HoL
If theres parliamentary ping pong who usually backs down and why
the Lords, due to its lack of legitimacy
How does the Salisbury convention conflict with the Parliament Acts
Under the Salisbury convention the Lords aren’t meant to block any bills that are in the govt manifesto, however Parliament Act allow the Lords to delay a legislation for one year
How did the ‘English votes for English laws’ come about
An additional stage added to the legislative process in 2015 for select bills TO ADRESS THE WEST LOTHIAN QUESTION
what is the West Lothian Question
Posed by the Mp of a Scottish constituency of West Lothian, whether it was fair that English MPs can no longer vote on matters that had been devolved to the Scottish, Welsh and nothern Ireland legislature but they could all still vote on bills thta only affect England
What is ‘English Votes for English Laws’
Gave English or Welsh MPs two opportunities to veto all or particular clauses that only affected England or wales
What are private members bills
bills introduces by backbench MPs
- ballot bills
- 10 min rule bills
How are PMBs introduced
-Ballot bills
At the beginning of the parliamentary year, MPs that wish to introduce PMB enter a ballot and 20 MPs are randomly chosen. Only the top few MPs get opportunity to present bill.
- 13 Fridays in each session are reserved for PMB and the first seven are for second readings.
The Fixed Term Parliament Act 2011
states that if govt is defeated on the motion and no other govt wins another confidence within 14 days, the Parliament is dissolved and a GE is held
When was the last time a Govt lost a confidence motion
In 1979, the labour government James Callaghan lost a motion by a single vote, forcing the PM to call a GE in which the conservatives won a majority
What is a confidence and supply agreement ?
much less formal coalition agreement - a minority party agrees to support another party on confidence and budget votes
- conservatives and DUP in 2017
Royal Prerogative powers
powers that the common law recognises as belonging to the monarch alone - now used by the PM
Constitutional Reform Act 2010
Placed limits of the prerogative power to negotiate treaties
Fixed Term Parliament Act 2010
limited the prerogative power to dissolve parliament and trigger a GE
Theories of representation
- Burkean
- Delegate
- Mandate
Burkean theory
Originates from Edmund Burke, he felt as Bristol’s MP he owed his unbiased opinion,his mature judgment.
- where elected officials represents the best interest of constituents while also employing their personal judgement
- has been weakened through strong party ties and parliamentary whipping systems
- Nick Boles former Conservative MP voted against his party in Brexit votes as he was putting his constituencies interest before the party
Delegate theory
Elected officials are simply ‘mouthpieces’ for their constituencies
- In 2015, conservative MP Zac Goldmsith promised his voters he would resign if govt backed a third runway at Heathrow and he did.
Role of MPs & peers
- vote on legislation
- serve in govt as minister or shadow cabinet
- introduce bills (PMB)
- make media appearance
how well does parliament perform its representative function - WELL
- All the UK is represented geographically by constituencies that are roughly equal sizes
- There are wide range of parties in the Commons, so a range of political opinions are represented
- Commons are becoming more diverse (terms of gender, race & sexuality). 220 women were elected in 2019 & 6% identified as LGBTQ
How well does parliament perform its representative function - NOT WELL
- Not all constituencies are of equal population size, and certain MPs aren’t able to be representative as well as others
- FPTP favours the two largest parties, as well as region based parties (SNP)- leading to under representation of minor parties
- MPs usually come from backgrounds under representative of the wider population ( 29% of MPs were privately educated compared with 7% of the population as a whole)
How does parliament scrutinise the executive
- Debates
- Parliamentary questions
- Parliamentary committees
Parliamentary privilege
- In parliamentary debates, MPs, peers are protected by parliamentary privilege.
- gives MPs freedom of speech when speaking in Parliament, they are exempt from the laws of slander.
However, it does not grant MPs/peers immunity from prosecution for criminal offences
Parliamentary debates
Offer MPs opportunity to raise concerns and opinions or change their minds.
Emergency debates- can be granetd to MPs at speakers discretion. Must be specific and important matters, MP has 3 mins to put their request to the House
EG: Contaminated blood scandal, patients were given contaminated blood samples during transfusion and got serious conditions including hepatitis C and HIV, MP Diana Johnson thank PGs for raising awareness of issue
exmaple of significant parliamentary debate
- Syrian air strikes
President of Syrian was using chemical weapons against civilians during the Syrian civil war, PM David Cameron proposed air strikes against him & Cameron was defeated as 30 Conservative and 9 Lib Dem’s voted against it. The parliamentary debate was highly charged due to the memories of the Iraq war.
Showed that parliament can affectively take the lead and scrutinise govt as
What did Cameron say after getting defeated during parliamentary debate
‘it is clear to me that the British Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want military action. I get that and the govt will act accordingly’
- This shows parliament effectively took the lead in determining foreign policy as there is usually no requirement for PM to seek parliaments approval for military action as it is part of their prerogative power.
PMQs
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- They can give positive publicity to the opposition. When Blair accused John major in 1997 of being ‘weak,weak,weak’
- Allow unwelcome questions, can expose weaknesses (when G.Brown said ‘we not only saved the world’ but he meant ‘saved the banks’ during PMQ
- Keep PMs ‘on their toes’. Tony Blair recalled PMQs as ‘most nerve racking,nailbitting..experience of a PMs life
- Members of thier own party have criticised the PM during PMQs- Conservative MP David Davis said ‘In the name of God,go’ during party gate in 2022
PMQs
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- Can covey rowdiness and theatricals ‘an exchange of pointless and useless declamations’ - former MP Gerald Kaufman
- Punch and Judy politics
- Most questions are designed to catch out the opposition or praise ones own party rather than change opinions or policies
What are planted questions in PMQs
When party whips ask backbenchers to ask certain questions that allows the govt present itself in a favourable light and celebrated successes
- 13th Nov 2024 - Southport MP asked if the budget would support public services unlike the previous govt - Keir stanmer said yes and his ‘1.3 billion local investment budget’
- UNDERMINES PARLIAMENTARY SCRUTINY
Select committees
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- Less partisan and confrontation
- al than debates & questions
- Can call witnesses from govt and outside Westminster to give evidence (inaccurate evidence by minister can lead to resignation)
- Govt must respond to report within 60 days
Select committees
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- Governing party always has majority
- Witnesses can be evasive (equivocate) and elusive
How can justice select committees be used as parliamentary scrutiny
Appointed in Nov 2024
- Dominated by experienced MPs. 7 out of 9 are lawyers, and chaired by a barrister (Labour MP Andy Slaughter)
- A member Lindsay Farsnswo
Vote of no confidence
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- ‘The nuclear option’, can bring down a govt . Happened to Callaghan’s labour govt in 1979
Vote of no confidence
—
- Very unlikely to succeed. Only unstable minority govt would be vulnerable
Public Bill Committee
- Go through bill clause by clause
- Temporary, only meets while bill is in committee stage
Lords select committees
Investigate specialist subjects and takes advantage of Lords’ expertise
Public Accounts committee
COMMONS ONLY
- Chaired by experienced opposition
- Scrutinises value of money in public spending & how efficiently govt delivers public services
Party discipline in Commons
- Both parties use a whipping system to enforce party discipline and minimise dissent
- Most govt have large majorities to defeat rebellious backbenchers
- Most important votes are termed three-line whips
- Votes on matter such as assisted dying or abortion aren’t whipped, allowing MPs to free vote
What Is the three-line whip
When MPs must turn up and vote how their leaders wish.
Failure to so do can lead to resignation or dismissal. Backbencher who usually rebel are unlikely to be offered posts in govt
what is a free vote in the commons
a vote when MPs are free to vote how they wish
EG: assisted dying bill OR abortion
How Parliament influences govt decisions
- Committee system and reports
- Debates & questions
- Lobbying by MPS and peers
- Amending legislation ( esp in Lords)
Limits on parliaments influences on govt
- Govt can choose to ignore
- Party whips empire party discipline
- Govt is in control of most of parliaments timetable
- Govt can use its commons to override the lords amendments os rejection of a bill sing parliaments act.
