UK Parliament Flashcards
How many MPs are there?
650
What is the average constituency size?
68,000
Example of an independent MP
Jeremy Corbyn (kicked out of Labour)
How many Conservative MPs were elected in 2019?
365
How many Labour MPs were elected in 2019?
200
How many SNP MPs were elected in 2019?
47
How big should the House of Lords be?
No fixed size
How many Lords are there currently?
~800
3 types of peers
- Life peers
- Hereditary peers
- Lords spiritual
What are life peers?
Appointed to the Lords for their lifetime only
Often nominated by leaders of political parties
How many hereditary peers are there?
92
How are hereditary peers chosen?
If a peer dies or resigns, the other 91 hereditary peers elect who should fill their seat
How many Lords Spiritual are there?
26 - all Church of England bishops
What are crossbenchers?
Peers in the HoL that do not have a party affiliation
How many crossbench peers are there?
184
How many female MPs were elected in 2019?
220
What is the role of the speaker?
- Keeping order in the HoC
- Ensuring as many MPs as possible can speak during parliamentary debates
- Can suspend MPs who break the rules
Who is the current speaker?
Lindsay Hoyle
What is the role of the Leader of the House of Commons?
Ensure the commons runs smoothly and bills are properly timetabled
What is the role of a government whip?
Maintaining party discipline and ensuring MPs stay loyal
What is a three line whip?
A strict instruction to all MPs that they must support the government’s legislation or they face having the whip removed
What is having the whip removed?
When an MP is kicked out their party and therefore remains in the Commons as an independent
Example of an MP having the whip removed
Matt Hancock after he decided to go on I’m A Celeb
What is a frontbench MP?
Members of the government who are also ministers
4 main functions of parliament
- Legislation
- Representation
- Scrutiny
- Debate
What are public bills?
Bills that come from the government and apply to everyone once it becomes law
How many public bills were passed in 2019?
31
What is a Green Paper?
Government document setting out an issue and the options for legislation to resolve said issue
What is a White Paper?
Government document setting out detailed plans and proposals for legislation
6 stages of the legislative process?
- First reading
- Second reading
- Committee stage
- Report stage
- Third reading
- Continues to the Lords
What happens in the first reading?
Formal introduction of a bill
No vote or debate
What happens in the second reading?
Main debate on the principles of the bill takes place
Vote to continue (nearly always passes)
Example of a bill which failed at the second reading?
1986 Sunday Trading Bill
(this was the last time this happened)
What happens in the committee stage?
Bill sent to a public bill committee
Suggest amendments and review the bill in detail
Why are public bill committees weak?
- Temporary
- Members appointed by party whips
- Membership reflects HoC proportions
What happens in the report stage?
Any amendments from the committee stage are considered by the HoC
What happens in the third reading?
Final debate and vote on the amended version of the bill
What happens when the legislative process is successful in the House of Commons?
The process is then repeated in the Lords
What is secondary legislation?
The relevant minister of a department can introduce new clauses or changes without it passing through Parliament
Why is secondary legislation useful?
- Allows legislation to be passed quickly
- Scrutinised by Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments
Example of a committee where the government does not enjoy a majority
Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments
Why can secondary legislation be controversial?
Important decisions ‘swept under the rug’ and do not receive democratic scrutiny
What act allows drugs to be criminalised through secondary legislation?
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
What are Private Members Bills?
Bills drafted and presented by backbench MPs
Example of a Private Members Bill
Abortion Act 1967 - outlawed abortion
Is Parliament good at representation? - YES
- 650 constituencies which are all roughly even
- Wide range of parties
- Commons is increasingly diverse
Is Parliament good at representation? - NO
- FPTP favours the two largest parties and regionally concentrated parties (ie SNP)
- Women significantly underrepresented
- MPs largely from privileged backgrounds
What percentage of MPs are women?
34%
What percentage of MPs are LGBTQ+?
6% (compared to 2% nationally)
What percentage of MPs were privately educated?
29% (compared to 7% nationally)
What percentage of MPs have declared second jobs?
18%
Example of an MP with a second job
Conservative MP Martha Caulfield works part time as a nurse, as this is necessary for her to keep her nursing registration
Burkean/trustee theory of representation
Elected officials are trusted by their constituents to make decisions in their best interests
Delegate theory of representation
Elected officials should act as a mouthpiece for their constituents
Example of an MP following the trustee theory of representation
Conservative MP Nick Boles represented a Leave constituency (Grantham) but personally supported the remain campaign and voted against the government’s Brexit plans
Example of an MP following the delegate theory of representation
Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith promised his constituents that he would resign if the government backed building a 3rd runway at Heathrow (he did)
Mandate theory of representation
MPs are elected to carry out the policies stated in the party manifesto
Example of an MPs following the mandate theory of representation
When 139 MPs rebelled against the Blair government over the invasion of Iraq - not a manifesto promise so they did not have to follow
Example of parliamentary debate causing effective scrutiny
After a heated and emotional debate on the Syrian military intervention in 2013, the Cameron government was defeated by 13 votes
What is parliamentary privilege?
MPs and peers cannot be convicted for anything they say in Parliament, allowing for true freedom of speech in debate
How many signatures must a petition get to be debated in the Commons?
100,000
Examples of successful petitions which have been debated in the Commons
A 2020 petition asking for NHS staff to receive free parking received 450,000 signatures and was successful
Why are parliamentary debates weak?
- Poorly attended
- No direct power over government
- Many MPs of the governing party may be reluctant to publicly criticise the government
- Opposition MPs can be seen as playing politics instead of providing effective scrutiny
What are ‘patsy questions’?
Questions asked by governing party MPs during PMQs which praise the government
Is PMQs effective? - YES
- High profile
- Forces the PM to face direct questioning publicly (no US equivalent)
- Builds up profile of opposition
- Parliamentary accountability of executive
Is PMQs effective? - NO
- Mostly seen as ‘Punch and Judy’ politics, trying to score political points instead of effective scrutiny
- PM rarely directly answers questions
- Patsy questions
Three types of committee
- Public bill committees
- Select committees
- Lords committees
What are public bill committees?
Temporary committees created to scrutinise bills going through the legislative process
Advantages of public bill committees
- Backbench MPs play a key role
- Chaired by both governing party and opposition
- Provide opportunities for pressure groups to scrutinise legislation
Example of a public bill committee providing effective scrutiny
Investigatory Powers Act 2016
Additional safeguards put in place to protect journalists
Disadvantages of public bill committees
- Membership is proportional to party strength in Commons
- Major amendments unlikely (just 0.5%)
- Temporary membership, MPs aren’t experts
- Select committees choose membership
Role of select committees
To hold ministers and departments to account for their policies and decision making
What is the most important select committee?
Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
Reviews how government spends money
Chair is Labour MP Meg Hillier
Example of a select committee chaired by an expert
Until 2019, the Health Select Committee was chaired by former GP Sarah Wollaston
How many select committees are there?
28
What is the standard number of members in a select committee?
11
How are select committee chairs chosen?
Secret ballot of MPs
Example of a select committee chaired by Labour
Work and Pensions Committee chaired by Stephen Timms (as of 2019 election)
Powers of select committees
- Summon witnesses
- Analyse restricted documents
Example of select committees scrutinising a government appointment
In 2013, the Education Select Committee rejected the proposed head of Ofsted
However, she was still appointed to the post
Are select committees effective? - YES
- Less partisan than Parliament
- Chaired by opposition MPs
- Power to call witnesses
- Members are often specialists
Are select committees effective? - NO
- Often committees vote along party lines
- Governing party has majority of committee seats
- Government under no obligation to accept suggestions
What are Lords committees?
Specialist committees which analyse niche areas
Example of a Lords committee
COVID-19 committee to analyse the long-term affects of the pandemic
How can the opposition provide scrutiny of the governing party?
- PMQs
- 20 opposition days a year
- Shadow cabinet questioning ministers
- Work in select committees
What are opposition days?
The opposition party, for 20 days a year, are allowed to choose what is debated in Parliament
Examples of opposition day topics
In 2018, Labour raised the issue of the Grenfell Tower fire
Purposes of the opposition in Parliament
- Receive short money to help them effectively scrutinise
- Present an alternative government to the public
- Can check government policy
Weaknesses of the opposition in Parliament
- Government has more funding and media coverage, can be hard to opposition to make big statements
- Successes are rare
Example of a shadow cabinet appearing weak
In 2017, Diane Abbott, shadow home secretary, was interviewed on LBC and was criticised for her lacklustre understanding of the police force
Does the executive dominate parliament? - YES
- Whipping ensures that government-backed bills pass easily
- The executive proposes majority of legislation
- Committees are also dominated by governing party
Does the executive dominate parliament? - NO
- Govs in minority or small majority can be easily defeated by small groups of rebels
- Opposition days and private members bills
- Select committees reasonably independent
