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Politics A Level - UK Government > The Legislative > Flashcards

The Legislative Flashcards

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1
Q

What is Parliament

A

The UK’s legislative body composed of the House of Commons and House of Lords

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2
Q

What does the legislature do?

A

Create laws the govern the state

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3
Q

What type of system does the UK legislative use?

A

Bicameral

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4
Q

What is a bicameral system?

A

When the legislative has two chambers

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5
Q

Why at bicameral legislatures created?

A

To give greater representation to different classes, ethnicities and regions of the nation

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6
Q

Which countries besides the UK use bicameral systems?

A

America
Australia
Canada

60 countries across the world use bicameral systems

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7
Q

Give advantages of a bicameral legislature

A
  • one chamber can act as check on the first chamber (important in UK where there is one majority party)
  • typically elected this more representative
  • can more effectively check the executive
  • provides more time for scurrying if legislation, allowing careful examination of bills
  • broader representation
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8
Q

Give the disadvantages of a bicameral legislature

A
  • does not always represent the views of the electorate
  • can slow down the task of govt. and delaying much needed legislation
  • inability to pass legislation due to neither house willing to budges in its version of the bill
  • can be costly - peers paid £150-300 a day
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9
Q

What is the Queens’s involvement in Parliament?

A

It is mostly ceremonial but she does have to sign off on Acts for them to become law

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10
Q

Name the 7 functions of Parliament

A
  • Debating major issues
  • Making laws
  • Scrutinising the executive
  • Sustaining government
  • Representation
  • Financial scrutiny
  • Redress (remedy) of grievances
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11
Q

What are the 4 main function of Parliament?

A
  • Passing laws
  • Providing ministers
  • Challenging the executive
  • Representing the people (HOC only)
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12
Q

How does Parliament pass laws?

A
  • It is the supreme legislative body in the UK
  • MPs and peers come to vote on laws proposed (usually by the government but sometimes by back benchers)
  • The laws are scrutinised all the way through and must pass both chambers before reaching royal assent
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13
Q

How does Parliament scrutinise the executive?

A
  • Questions to ministers
  • Prime Minister’s Question time
  • Debates
  • Select Committees
  • Opposition days
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14
Q

Why is scrutiny of the executive important?

A

They hold a lot of power

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15
Q

Give examples of debates in which the executive have been scrutinised

A

August 2013 - David Cameron’s gov. was defeated in its proposal to take military action in Syria

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16
Q

How does Parliament provide ministers?

A
  • MPs are elected by the electorate
  • Peers are appointed - this can be done to secure a persons services if they aren’t an MP (eg Peter Madelson being made a peer in 2008 by Gordon Brown after financial crash)
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17
Q

Why does only the House of Commons have the role of representing the people?

A

MPs are elected and peers are not and thus can’t claim to represent the people

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18
Q

How do MPs represent the people?

A
  • Through who they are - background, gender, ethnicity, class, education
  • By representing a constituency and the majority of the time voting in their interest. However they can vote however they want but face scrutiny later on
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19
Q

Give examples of MPs voting in the interest of constituents

A

March 2016 - 44 MPs voted against HS2 as their constituents would be affected by the service from London to Birmingham

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20
Q

What regulates the relationship between the House of Commons and House of Lords?

A

The Parliament Acts (1911 and 1949)

The Salisbury Convention (1945)

21
Q

What do The Parliament Acts state?

A

1911 - Commons could overrule the Lords veto of it struck down a law in two successive sessions of Parliament. Made it illegal for the Lords to delay taxation and public legislation for over 1 month
1949 - made the overrule of the veto down to one parliamentary session

22
Q

Give examples of The Parliament Acts being used

A

Rarely used but used twice since 2000 both under Tony Blair’s government
• Equalising the age of consent for hetro and homosexual sex (2000)
• Banning hunting with foxes (2004)

23
Q

What does the Salisbury Convention state?

A
  • Arose our the massive Labour majority won in 1945 but a mainly Tory HOL
  • Says the Lords will not defeat any legislation that was proposed in the executives election manifesto
24
Q

Give an example where the Salisbury Convention has been overturned

A

2005 - HOL said that Tony Blair’s government didn’t have enough of the popular vote (35.2%) to introduce ID cards

25
Q

What type of peers are there in the House of Lords?

A
  • Hereditary Peers - those shoes families have been Lords before and they inherit their title. On 92 remain after Labour government got rid of majority of them in 1999
  • Spiritual Peers - religious representation in government that is required by law. There are 26 - 25 are COE
  • Life Peers - appointed and serve for life. Vetted by the Independent House of Lords Appointments Committee. Selected as they have an insight into a particular sector or group of people
26
Q

What are Crossbenchers?

A

Peers that are not affiliated with a political party

27
Q

Name two Lords, the party they affiliate with and what area they represent

A 
• Baroness Jane Campbell appoint. 2007
Crossbencher 
Advocates for disability rights as she suffers from spinal muscular atrophy  
• Lord Alan Sugar 
appoint. 2009
Crossbencher, previously Labour 
Represents business sector
28
Q

Why are the House of Lords accused of not being representative?

A
  • Not elected by the people therefore not accountable and vote in own interest
  • Gender representation is poor 591 men to 208 women (women peers only allowed in 1958)
  • Religious representation - Uk is majority atheist nation, also not all religions are equally represented
29
Q

What three parts of Parliament must agree for a bill to become an act?

A
  • House of Commons
  • House of Lords
  • The monarchy (but she never disagrees due to having no authority/legitimacy to)
30
Q

What are a few reasons for new laws to be made?

A
  • New inventions (e.g social media, drones)
  • Changing lifestyles
  • Old laws may be out of date
31
Q

What is a bill?

A

An idea for a new law

Once it is agreed on by the three parts of Parliament it becomes and Act of Parliament and is now Law

32
Q

Name the 4 types of bills

A
  • Government bill or public bill
  • Private bill
  • Hybrid bill
  • Private members bill
33
Q

What is a government of public bill?

A

The most common type of bill. Proposed by government ministers to change public policy

34
Q

What is a private bill?

A

A bill sponsored by a company or authority who want to change a law that affects them. Groups affected by the bill can petition parliament against it

35
Q

What is a hybrid bill?

A

Has traits of both public and private bills. The bill can affect the public but particular groups may be more so

36
Q

What is a private members bill?

A

A bill that will affect the whole population. It is proposed by a backbencher or a peer who may or may not get a choice to talk about their bill for 10 minutes. They often don’t get heard

37
Q

What are the stages that a bill must pass through to become an act?

A 
It exists as a
Green paper
White paper
Then goes into the HOC for
First reading 
Second reading
Committee stage
Report stage
Third reading 
It then passes from the HOC to the HOC to undergo the same stages it does in the HOC
It then may undergo ping pong between the houses before reaching royal assent
38
Q

What happens at each stage of a bill in the House of Commons?

A

First reading - the bills sponsor reads it’s title to the Commons
Second reading - the Commons debates the bill then votes on it. If it fails at this point the bill will not continue
Committee stage - the bill is examined by 16 - 30 MPs in greater detail
Report stage - the committee reports back to the House with any amendments they have made
Third reading - final reading of bill, a small debate and vote. If it gains enough support it will move to the HOL for the same process

39
Q

Why might Parliamentary ping pong occur?

A

The Lords may add amendments that the MPs may not agree with and it will bounce between the two houses until agreements can be reached

40
Q

What is Royal Assent?

A

When the queen signs off on a bill making it an act

41
Q

Give examples of two bills tag have recently passed through Parliament

A

Welfare Reform Act 2012
Introduces universal credit, stronger penalties for benefit fraud, phases out Disability Living Allowance, reform housing benefits (bedroom tax)

Marriage (same sex couples) Act 2013
Allowed for same sex marriage to be legal but made sure it was not a legal requirement for religious ministers to have to officiate same sex marriages

42
Q

What are Select Committees?

A

Groups made up of MPs to deal with particular areas or issues in Westminster

43
Q

What areas can select committees scrutinise?

A
  • There is one to scrutinise each government department

* They can look at policy, administration and spending

44
Q

How are the members of a select committee chosen?

A
  • A minimum of 11 backbenchers are chosen to make a select committee
  • They must reflect the make up of government (eg with Tory majority in 2015 the Educational Select Committee had 6 conservative MPs, 4 labour and 1 SNP)
45
Q

How do select committees conduct investigations?

A
  • Gather written and oral evidence
  • Summon witnesses including ministers, civil servant and members of the public
  • Appoint specialist advisors to assist them with the work
46
Q

What do select committees do with the findings of their investigations?

A

The produce a report which the government has to respond to within 2 months

47
Q

How do select committees have influence?

A
  • Work is respected as it is evidence based
  • They can scrutinise legislation through
  • Interview people applying for public roles
  • MPs can accumulate a lot of knowledge about issue if they sit in the same Committee for a long period of time and apply it within the Commons
48
Q

Why should the influence of select committees not be exaggerated?

A
  • As the make up represents that of Parliament, committees are less likely to be impartial and side with the government
  • Only cover a limited range of topics
  • High turnover rate of MPs and some don’t attend
  • Government accepts 40% of recommendations but these rarely involve change in public policy
  • Their powers to summon people are limited (eg Theresa May as H.S stopped the Home Affairs Committee from interviewing the head of MI5 Andrew Parker)
49
Q

Give an example of a select committee and
• What it does
• What powers it has
• Examples of cases its involved in
• If they have been able to hold the government to account

A
  • Undertakes inquires on human rights issues and report to both houses, scrutinise bills to see if they violate human rights, looks atgov action to deal with judgement of UK courts and EU courts of Human Rights
  • Has power of inquiry and to report remedial order to government and thus end up fixing andy contradiction in law and Humans Right Act of 1988
  • Has key involvement over decisions regarding if UK keeps Human rights post Brexit
  • Looked into issues regarding asylum seekers, key power over Brexit, (so far) stopped Tories removing the human rights act but had not influence over sales to weapons to Saudi Arabia

Politics A Level - UK Government (5 decks)

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