Structure & role of Parliament Flashcards
What does parliament comprise of
Two chambers: House of Lords & House of Commons. So its bicameral
what chamber holds all the power
The House of Commons
Who sits on the Commons
- The PM
- Govt ministers
What does the speaker do
Try’s to keep order and ensuring MPs from different parties are allowed to speak in debates. They administer the rules of the HoC and can suspend any MP who breaks it
What do whips do
In charge of keeping Parliament in order. They are in charge of party discipline and ensuring MPs stay loyal and vote the way their leaders dictate
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 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.
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 ( sets out specific issues the govt wants to address) this shows the govt is still open to influence and hasn’t settled.
If the govt releases a WHITE PAPER, they are more assure of their plans and focused on new legislation and getting feedback. - then the legislative process begings 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
What is parliamentary ping pong
A bill going back and forth between two houses.
Eg: the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 was considered 4 min by the HoC and 5 mins by the Lords over a 30-hr period of compromise
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
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
