The Structure And Role Of Parliament: The Structure And Functions Of Parliament Flashcards
Who was the last member if the Lords to become prime minister?
Sir Alec Douglas-Home in 1963, who resigned his peerage, and fought and won a by-election so that he could sit in the Commons as an MP instead of remaining in the Lords
How many members of parliament (MPs), compromise Commons?
650
Why were there plans to reduce the number of MPs to 600 in 2010, though are yet to be implemented?
After the MPs expense scandal
What is the average amount of voters an MP represents?
68,000 voters
What is the most populated electorate seat?
Isle of Wight, 113,000 voters
What is the least populated electorate seat?
Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Western Isles)
What are some independent MPs, who did they represent and when were they elected to the Commons?
Martin Bell, who represented Tatton from 1997 to 2001, Dr Richard Taylor, who represented Wyre Forest from 2001 to 2010 for the Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern party and Lady Sylvia Hermon who sat as an Independent Unionist MP from 2010 until her retirement in 2019
What does the House of Lords consists of?
Unelected members and lacks any democratic mandate
What are life peers and when where they made possible?
They are peers in Lords who are appointed to a peerage for their lifetime, or retirement, and was made possible by the Life Peerage Act 1958
How many hereditary peers are there?
92
What are hereditary peers?
Peers in Lords, who get there position from their family, though when there is a vacant among this group, there is a ensuing ‘election’ has a very small and select electorate
How many sitting members are currently in Lords in 2023?
777
What are life and hereditary peers also known as?
Lords temporal
How many Church of England bishops sit in Lords?
26
How are bishops selected to sit in Lords?
Mostly based on seniority, although the bishops of five dioceses automatically get a seat
What are Church of England bishops who sit in Lords collectively known as?
Lords spiritual
What is the Prime Minister?
The leader of the largest single party, who is elected to commons
What is the speaker?
The chair, trying to keep order and ensuring as many MPs as possible from across the range of parties are allowed to speak in debates and administer rules of the House of Commons and can suspend MPs who break these rules for varying period of time
Who is the current speaker?
Sir Lindsay Hoyle
What is an example of the speaker suspending an MP for breaking the rules?
The, then-speaker, John Bercow suspended overran Labour MO Dennis Skinner for calling then prime minister David Cameron ‘Dodgy Dave’
How is the speaker elected to their position?
They are elected speaker by a series of ballots voted for their fellow MPs
Who is the current leader of the House of Commons?
Penny Mordaunt
What does the leader of the House of Commons do?
They are essentially that of the government’s business manager and seek from the executive’s view that Commons runs smoothly and schedules business in commons for the week and usually provisional business for the week after
What is the job of a whip?
They are in charge of party discipline, with them issuing a set of instructions n how their party’s MPs should vote, a ‘three-line whip’ indicates the party leadership expects all its MPs to turn up a vote a certain way
