the structure and roll parliament Flashcards
forms of scrutiny
PMQs
select committees
debating legislation
vote of no confidence
positive of PMQs
provides opportunity to question the government
negative of PMQs
controversial questions or planned questions
example : Boris Johnson questioned over lockdown parties
negative of parliamentary debate
MPs will usually vote along party lines so hard to influence
positive of select committeee
many political ideologies are represented as chaired by MPs of different parties. the govt also only has 60 days to respond
negative of select committees
governing party will always have the majority and so never properly held accountable
Burkean/trustee theory of representation
-vote in the best interests of their constituents using their expertise
-duty to vote in line with their best judgement
Delegate theory of representation
MPs vote exactly how their constituency wishes acting as a mouthpeice
May vote against their own best judgement
Mandate theory of representation
-MPs have a mandate from their constituency to implement their party’s manifesto from the last election
-must vote in support of its party lines
Roles of BOTH MPs and Peers
Vote on legislation
Debate
Scrutinise the executive
Roles of just MPs
Democratically elected to represent constituents
Help constituents with redress of grievances
Select candidates for party leadership
Decide which legislation is passed
provide ministers o cabinet
Roles of peers
Unelected and do not represent the electorate
Provide and independent voice in Parliament (25% are cross benchers)
Provide specialised expertise
Why is the HOC superior to HOL
Financial policy privilege (taken away from HoL with acts of 1911 and 1949)
Primacy over legislation
Power to dismiss the executive
Laws and conventions upholding HOC supremacy over HOL
Parliament Act 1911 and 1949
Convention that HoL cannot vote against money bills
The Salisbury convention prevent HoL voting against a winning party’s manifesto
Strengths of select committees
Detailed scrutiny of govt policy and decisions
Power to call witness and access govt documents
Increasing independence since 2010
Weaknesses of select committees
Usually a government majority of committees
Evasion of difficult questions
No power of enforcement
Roles of the opposition
Form a government in waiting
Has the right of first response to the government
Scrutinises specific departments
Receives and opposition fund
scrutinise executive
3 ways the government may try to limit the power of Parliament
-Maintain tight party discipline, use three line whip system, allowing it to win votes
-Pressure civil servants to be evasive in their answers to select committees
-Choose loyal MPs to allocate to committees
Redress of grievances
The right to complain or seek the assistance of one’s government without the fear of punishment
three stages of legislative process
second reading
committee stage
HoL stage
second reading
main debate on the bills principles in the commons
a defeat is rare
less significant
last defeat in second reading 1986 Sunday Trading Bill
committee stage
bill is sent to public bill committee
suggest amendments + call witnesses and expertise
govt always have a majority in committee
members are appointed by party whipe
HOL stage
consider committee amendments (may reject accept or amend)
but any amendments must be accepted by commons
e.g. Prevention of terrorism 2005 was considered 5 times by HoL and 4 by Hoc OVER 30 HOURS UNTIL a compromised was reahced
three ways of initiating bill
govt bills
PMB
e-petitions
govt bills
majority start in govt can make and unmake without any restriction from parliament
2015-2017 55 govt bills made and 48 were passed
PMB
backbenchers have the freedom to respond to public policy concern
allows individual MPs to influence parliament
e.g. abortion act 1967
ballot bills, ten minute bills
often fail (only 2 in 2017 passed)
e-petitions
direct democracy and impact of media and technology
require 100,000 signatures to be considered by parliament
not reliable or effective
only 130 have been debated in commons
three works of comittees
cross party cooperation
scrutinise govt
scrutinise legislation
committee work - scrutinise govt
check doing job properly and spending tax revenue well
launch investigations and call witnesses and examine documents under court like interrogations
e.g. Public Accounts Committee oversees how efficiently the government spends money e.g. HS2 rail project
committee work - cross party cooperation
encouraging parties to work together to form new ideas for more balanced views
large amounts of influence from shadow cabinets
committee work - scrutinise legislation
shadowing the work of major govt departments
scrutinise draft bills before they are fully debated in parliament
whips control individual appointments to committees, meaning loyal MPs can be placed in them
trustee theory example
Labour backbench MP Ben Bradshaw defied the whip of supporting Article 50 following the Brexit referendum result and he was not prepared to vote for a process that would impoverish his constituents
vote of no confidence
if successful -14 day period to form new govt
if no new govt forms and wins confidence, a general election will occur
removed Callaghan in 1979
committees scrutinising exec
examine govt policy
select comms oversee govt departments and can call witnesses etc
around 40% of com recommendations are accepted
why is it difficult for committees to scrutinise govt
select comms usually chaired by majority party in government
govt under no obligation to accept their recs
public bill coms are proportionally chaired by party in govt so will always be dominated by majority party
PMQs scrutinising exec
in the parliamentary year 2017-2018 55k PMQs were asked
one of the most direct methods
PMQs not good at scrutiny
planted questions
often used for political point scoring
boris johnson often accused of this during covid 19 and party gate scandals
questions may be designed to make the exec look better and deliberately catch out the opp
