THE ROLES OF PARLIAMENT AND ITS REAL POWER

Question 1

Parliament as a legislature?

Answer 1

• Parliament scrutinises primary legislation
• Secondary legislation - parliament either vote them as negative/positive resolutions.

(note: parliamentary process)

“legislation is in fact a function of the executive rather than the legislature, subject to the duty of the latter to consider, criticise and defend; and its right to approve or reject”

• Most bills are government bills put forward by the government for consideration by parliament. only 20 bills each year are ‘private members bills’ (almost all fail for lack of time)
• Better to think of the role of Parliament as one of ‘scrutiny’

Tomkins - “we should abandon the notion that Parliament is a legislator, and conceive of it instead as a scrutineer”.

Pre-legislative scrutiny:

• The examination by select committee of draft bills ahead of their introduction to parliament
• Experiments with pre-legislative scrutiny in 1980s
• Became a regular feature of parliamentary procedure under the labour government 1997-2010.

Question 2

Parliament as a forum of redress?

Answer 2

• “re-dress of grievances - one of its essential tasks - a ‘grievance’ may relate to any matter whatsoever e.g refusal of a passport/visa, the overloading of a british ship - these and thousands of other matters can be ventilated in parliament and redress demanded” - W.A Robson

^ if something is occurring that is upsetting us and needs political resolution - it is parliament’s opportunity to redress it.

Question 3

Parliament as a body sustaining government?

Answer 3

• “Parliament has 2 contradictory roles;
  1) Sustain the executive, which it would appear to do well
  2) to hold the government to account between elections, which it does less well” - Fingers, Matthew.

^objective must be to keep power running, keep a body of us running the state. Must make sure they behave, which can be problematic e.g Brexit.

“the essence of effective parliamentary control over governments is not simply that the HOC should stop government from doing things - but that the HOC should support and sustain the government from position in which majority of MPS have been elected by the people” - R Butt.

^ Parliament should not stop the government from doing things they want to do, but rather they should support and sustain them.

Question 4

BILL OF RIGHTS 1689 ARTICLE IV

Answer 4

• That levying money for, or to the use of the crown by pretence of prerogative without grant of parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same, is or shall be granted illegal.
  ^ Funding is part of power of parliament.

If parliament declines to supply funds to the government….

• The government would fall - failure by a government to get its budget approved by parliament would cause the government to fall.
• Position since the fixed term parliament act 2011.

Question 5

Parliament as the body holding government to account?

Answer 5

(Testing that it is doing what it should be - testing effectiveness)

Several mechanisms to do this:

Opposition day debates:
scheduled time, give the opposition days where they get to timetable debates they wish to discuss.

Parliamentary Questions:
The other facility asks questions

Select committees:
Can do an investigation into a particular part of government work, to see what is going on.

HoL as a constitutional watchdog:
Independent body to watch them at work.

Question 6

Parliamentary Questions?

Answer 6

“Everyone with an experience of administration ‘knows what nervousness is engendered in PQs and how often administrative action and practice are modified as a result of PQ’s” - CWB Rankin

Oral questions = put them on the spot and ask questions

Written questions = can write to the minister asking questions

Planting questions = Directory of civil service guidelines refers to the long standing procedure of using inspired PQs as a means of informing parliament on matters which the government wishes to make unknown.

Question 7

Select Committees?

Answer 7

• They shadow a department e.g select committees on education, justice, health etc.
• Departmental select committees
• Other select committees: deregulation, european legislation, public administration, SI’s, special role of the public accounts committee.

Question 8

Osmotherly rules?

Answer 8

Parliament has the power to ‘send for papers, persons and records’ relevant to their terms of reference.

• Osmotherly rules now formalised in giving evidence to select committees: guidance for civil servants, cabinet office 2014.
• Select committees have power to get info from people outside of parliament, by virtue of these rules.

MPs expenses scandal:

• misused their power, built a duckhouse
• The Wright Report

Question 9

HOL of a constitutional watchdog?

Answer 9

• Most members are there forever - either appointed or hereditary - mostly all professionals and successful, some expertise.
• We change our constitution easily through a simple bill - simple majority of HOC.

Question 10

The HOL - problem child of the constitution?

Answer 10

1. Primacy of HOC
2. Salisbury convention
3. Parliament Acts 1911 + 1949
4. Reform of HOL
5. Primacy of HOC:
   - House of commons has primacy over HOL; they are democratically elected.
   - HOC = financial privilege and operation of salisbury addison convention.
6. The Salisbury convention:
   - An understanding that a ‘manifesto bill’ should not be opposed by the second chamber on 2nd or 3rd reading - this convention has sometimes been extended to cover ‘wrecking amendments’ which destroy or alter beyond recognition such a bill.
   ^ HOC will only accept an amendment that improves, not wrecks the bill.
7. Parliament Act 1911:
   - Parliament bill introduced limiting powers of HOL
   - Threatended to create hundreds of liberal peers to pass bill
   - Edward VIII hesitant, died in 1910
   - New King, George V agreed to create new peers, asked lords to debate bill.

Key provisions of 1911 act:

• Lords veto on finance bills be abolished
• other bills passed by commons in 3 successive sessions of parliament should become law even if rejected by the Lords
• the maximum duration of a parliament should be 5 years instead of 7.

Parliament Act 1949:
- 1947 Kings speech proposed reducing Lords’ delaying power to 1 year.
- Clement atlee “a wise precautionary measure”
- Churchill “a deliberate act of a social aggression”
- Twice rejected by HOL, so re-introduced in 1949, under the procedure of PA 1911 i.e without consent of lords.
^ they did not approve limitations of its power, twice.

KEY CASE = Jackson v AG 2005

• Hunting Act 2004 passed under parliament act 1949
• But parliament act 1949 passed under PA 1911
• In other words, 1949 act sought further restriction on the powers of the lords, without consent of the HOL.
• Jackson argued there was an implied limitation on Parliament Act power.
• Jackson was challenging the validity of an act of parliament in a court - he said 1949 was not an act, legislation empowered by 1911 - said not acts of parliament.

Question 11

Example of HOL declining bill

Answer 11

The Lords possess equal powers on matters concerning Private Members Bills. In plain terms, like the Commons, they too can reject them outright. In 2005, Lord Joffe proposed a bill that legalised assisted suicide in the case of terminally ill individuals. This involved doctors having the discretion to prescribe patients with a fatal dose of medication. However, the bill was fervently opposed on moral grounds and subsequently overcome.