UK: The Structure And Role Of Parliament

Question 1

Define referendums ?

Answer 1

A direct public vote on policy measure, the opposite of representative government

Question 2

What does it mean when parliament is bicameral ?

Answer 2

It’s comprises of two chambers, the House of Lords and the House of Commons

Question 3

By what means can people become MPs, prime minister ?

Answer 3

By convention

Question 4

Who was the last lord to sit in the commons and what did he have to do ?

Answer 4

The last members of the House of Lords to become PM was Sir Alec Douglas-Home in 1963, resigned his peerage and fought and won by election so that he could sit in the commons as an MP

Question 5

What’s the structure of the House of Lords ?

Answer 5

Consist almost entirely of unelected members and lacks any democratic mandate, which correspondingly reflected in its lack of power

Question 6

What did the Life Peerage Act 1958 do ?

Answer 6

Life peers where introduced, before this the lords comprised just hereditary peers, bishops and the law lords

Question 7

The House of Lords structure ?

Answer 7

92 hereditary peers, 26 bishops

Question 8

How has diversity developed in the parliament ?

Answer 8

The growth of democracy has made membership of the commons increasingly diverse, the first female MP, Nancy Astor took her seat in 1919, whereas the December 2019 election returned a record of 220 women MP

Question 9

Evidence of racial diversity in parliament ?

Answer 9

-in 1987, three black MPs were elected, there had been a growing number of elected representative from BAME communities, including the first Chinese MP in 2010 and the first south Asian woman MP also in 2010

Question 10

What’s the role of the speaker ?

Answer 10

-they keep order and ensure many MPs from across the range of parties are allowed to speak in debates
-they administrate the rule of the House of Commons and can suspend MPs who break theses rules for varying periods

Question 11

What example is there when speaker banned MP for breaking the rules ?

Answer 11

Speaker John Bercow suspended veteran labour MP Dennis Skinner for calling then prime minister David Cameron, ‘Dodgy Dave’ and subsequently refusing to retract or apologise for his comment

Question 12

By tradition why does the speaker renounces any party allegiance when taking the post ?

Answer 12

To ensure impartiality

Question 13

Give examples why the post has become more controversial ?

Answer 13

Michael Martin, speaker 2000-2009 was effectively forced to resign due to the expenses scandal and growing dissatisfaction over his performance in the post
-successor John Bercow also faced growing criticism especially from the government benches, over his alleged favouritism towards opposition MPs and his perceived lack of cooperation on progression of the Brexit bill following the 2016 referendum

Question 14

Where does the term whip derive from ?

Answer 14

Derive from fox hunting, where the whipper is in charge of keeping the pack of hounds in order

Question 15

What are whips ensure of ?

Answer 15

Whips are in charge of party discipline and ensuring as far as they can that MPs stay loyal and vote the way their leaders indicate

Question 16

How do whips ensure party discipline and how does it go against TV political drama perspectives ?

Answer 16

Whips spent their time using rather more gentle persuasive techniques and explaining the reasoning behind the prime minister stance, however tv political drama often portrays the whips as the equivalent of a playground bully issuing threats to weaving MPs

Question 17

Give an example when whips have suspended an MP from the party ?

Answer 17

In 2012 conservative MP Nadine Dorris appeared on the tv reality show i am celebrity… get me out of here! Without first informing the party leadership of the whips of her participation and thereby being absent from the commons for several weeks. The whips was later restored to Dorris and she later went to join the government benches

Question 18

Give an example when whips have been withdrawn for political disloyalty ?

Answer 18

In September 2019 Boris removed the whip from 21 Tory rebels who defied the whips instruction not to support a motion to take control of parliamentary business from the government during the Brexit bill saga

Question 19

What other example are there of when whips are withdrawn ?

Answer 19

In July 2020, conservative MP Julian Lewis had been elected as chair of the intelligence and security committee by securing the support of opposition MPs and defeated fellow Tory MP Chris grayling, the government preferred candidate. A government accused Lewis of working Labour and other opposition MPs for his own advantage, collaborating with the enemy and be a serious crime in politics.

Question 20

What are frontbenchers ?

Answer 20

Member of governing party who are also minister in the government and also to opposition MPs who are shadow minister

Question 21

What are backbenchers ?

Answer 21

This are ordinary MPs who are neither ministers nor shadow minister,s one are loyal followers of the party, especially those who are hoping for promotion to the backbenches

Question 22

What other type of backbencher can you find ?

Answer 22

More independent MP, which some spent years criticising and on occasion voting against their own party leadership from the backbenches. During this time as a backbencher former labour leader Jeremy Corbyn rebelled frequently against the Labour government and its Blair/Brown leadership, making him the most rebellious Labour backbencher between 1997/2010

Question 23

What are the main functions of parliament ?

Answer 23

-legislative: where laws are introduced, passed, debated
-representative
-scrutiny
-deliberative: important role as a forum for debate and discussion

Question 25

On average how many public bills are passed by parliament

Answer 25

30-40

Question 26

Define green paper ?

Answer 26

Government documents setting out the issues and options for legislation, discussion document

Question 27

Define white paper ?

Answer 27

Government document setting out the detailed plans and proposals for legislation

Question 28

What are the first two step before the legislative process begin ?

Answer 28

The government may first introduce a green paper and then go to produce a white paper

Question 29

Give an example where it shows how pre-legislative scrutiny has been increased in recent years ?

Answer 29

An inquiry was launched into the draft tenant fees bill in November 2017 by the communities and local government select committee in advance of its being debated in parliament

Question 30

What happens in the first reading ?

Answer 30

It’s the formal introduction or reading of the bill’s title by the relevant goverment minister, there in no vote or debate at this stage.

Question 31

What happens at the second stage ?

Answer 31

This is where the main debate on the principles of the bill takes place place in the commons chambers, government defeats are very rare but it did happen last time in 1986 when a Sunday trading bill was defeated 296-282

Question 32

What happens at the committee stage ?

Answer 32

Bills are sent on the public bills committees, where members consider the bill line by line, often suggesting amendments and sometimes calling expert witness to help inform debate

Question 33

What happens at the report stage ?

Answer 33

During this stage any amendments made by the committee stage are considered by the commons accepted, rejected or changed there is also the opportunity for further amendments to be put to the vote

Question 34

What happens at the third reading ?

Answer 34

This is the final debate on the amended version of the bill, no further changes are permitted at this stage

Question 35

What happens at the hours of lord stage ?

Answer 35

The process is repeated in the lords, any amendments made by the upper house only become part of the bill if they are accepted by the commons

Question 36

What does it mean by parliamentary ping pong ?

Answer 36

When a bill goes back and fourth between the two houses

Question 37

Give an example of parliamentary ping pong ?

Answer 37

Prevention of terrorism act 2005, was considered five time by the lords and four times by the commons over a 30 hour period until a compromise was reached

Question 38

What happens if no agreement is reached ?

Answer 38

The commons can invoke the parliament act which mean their version of the bill becomes law within a year, this was last used to pass the hunting act 2004 which banned the hunting of wild mammals with dogs

Question 39

Why was Brexit hard to get through between 2018-2020?

Answer 39

Due to both Theresa may and Boris Johnson having no overall commons majority and the deep division and high emotions over Brexit, especially within the Conservative Party, the path to legislative success was far from usual or straightforward by Westminster standards

Question 40

What triggered the government to get parliamentary approval for its Brexit legislation and triggering article 50 the formal process of leaving the EU ?

Answer 40

The problem started when hedged fund manager Gina Miller, dubbed ‘chief Brexit wrecker’ by the eurosceptic sun newspaper, won her Supreme Court case in January 2017

Question 41

When was the first act the European Union withdrawal act passed and by who ?

Answer 41

-introduced in 2017 and passed in 2018 by Theresa May

Question 43

What did the European Union withdrawal act repealed ?

Answer 43

Repealed the European communities act 1972

Question 44

What was the meaningful vote clause ?

Answer 44

When during the bill passage in the common an amendment, one of 470 proposed was introduced in order to give parliament a legal guarantee of a vote on the final Brexit deal struck with Brussels

Question 45

By what margin was the first vote of Brexit lost by in January 2019 ?

Answer 45

432-202 votes

Question 46

By what margin was the first vote of Brexit lost by in March 2019 ?

Answer 46

391-242

Question 47

On the third vote held on 29th march what was the end result ?

Answer 47

Defeated by 344-286 votes

Question 48

Define an indicative vote ?

Answer 48

Means ‘testing the water’ on different options relating to an issue as opposed to instigating a vote that is legally binding

Question 49

What other options did the government use but still defeated ?

Answer 49

-commons held four indicative votes on 1st April on possible options to progress Brexit which a majority of MPs could potentially support - these included holding a second referendum -or remaining part of the custom union

Question 50

What did these suggest ?

Answer 50

This suggested that while MPs could agree on what they didn’t want e.g mays deal and no deal Brexit, they were not able to agree on what they did want

Question 51

Why did the sage continue after all this defeats ?

Answer 51

Countinued due to the European Union withdrawal act 2019 begin passed although strongly opposed by the government and passed in its third reading by just one vote -led to PM ask for an extension to the deadline, now set on 31st October ?

Question 52

What led to the prime minister requiring to seek yet another extension to Brexit ?

Answer 52

The path was blocked by the rapid passing in early September of another backbench sponsored act, the European Union withdrawal act No.2 2019 by MP Benn Hilary

Question 53

What did the act proposed ?

Answer 53

A new withdrawal date of 31 January 2020 which the prime minister was obliged to accept if the European council offered an extension of the deadline

Question 54

What was Johnson response ?

Answer 54

He announced in a speech that he would rather be ‘dead in a ditch’ than request an extension as required by the Act

Question 55

Why was this significant for the hisotry of Brexit ?

Answer 55

Since Johnson refused to prolong the deadline, there were speculation the government would ignore the act, leading to impeachment an ancient move last taken in 1806, the traditional method of solving such a statement was calling a general election that was thwarted as Parliament refused to agree one

Question 56

What did Johnson do ?

Answer 56

He attempted to suspend parliament for longer than usual, a ploy many suspected he initiated to avoid scrutniy of his revised withdrawal deal, however on 24th September the Supreme Court ruled that prorogation was illegal

Question 57

What happened on the 19th October 2019 ?

Answer 57

A special Saturday sitting of parliament was held to debate the revised withdrawal agreement which ended in 322-306 vote

Question 58

What did this result of vote (which invoked the Benn Act) forced Boris Johnson to do ?

Answer 58

Required the prime minister to write immediately to the European council with a request for an extension of withdrawal until 31st January 2020 against his own wishes.

Question 59

What happened on the 23rd January 2020

Answer 59

The European Union withdrawal act was easily passed by a majority of 99 and no single Tory MP voting against it

Question 61

What is secondary legislation ?

Answer 61

This refers to provisions within primary legislation for the relevant ministers to introduce new clauses or changes

Question 62

Give me an example of secondary legislation ?

Answer 62

The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, allows the government to more easily add new drugs to the list of banned substances as information about their harm becomes apparent

Question 63

How many SI are passed annually

Answer 63

3,500

Question 64

How are SI scrutinised ?

Answer 64

Scrutinised by the joint committees on statutory instruments

Question 65

What is the joint committee on statutory instruments ?

Answer 65

It’s a joint committee of both MPs and pers, and is one of the few committees in which the government does not enjoy a majority, its role is purely to scrutinise the SI to ensure it is legal and does not go beyond the powers specific in the parent act

Question 66

How can MPs and peers draft and present their own bills some of which make into law ?

Answer 66

Through the use of private member bills (PMB)

Question 67

Why are PMB significant ?

Answer 67

They allow individual MPs to influence parliament and indeed the nation and allow some freedom to respond to public concerns or to reflect their own policy concern

Question 68

What examples are there of PMB ?

Answer 68

Abortion Act 1967 Abolition of Capital Punishment 1965

Question 69

How are PMB distinguished ?

Answer 69

Ballot bills Ten minute rule bills Presentation bills

Question 70

Why are ballot bills the best known form of PMB ?

Answer 70

They have the best chance of becoming law, or of at least being properly debated in the chamber

Question 71

How does the ballot bills work ?

Answer 71

There are 13 Fridays set aside in the house of common each year for the considerations of the bills and 20 names (backbenchers) are drawn out to introduce a bill proposal

Question 72

What happens if MPs don’t have anything to propose in mind ?

Answer 72

They usually approached my pressure groups and other eager to offer suggestions, or some would instead choose to adapt a government handout bill

Question 73

What are government handout bill ?

Answer 73

These generally make technical change or discrete additions to existing laws, bills that the government may have been unable to find time for in its own legislative programme

Question 74

What’s the only way ballot bills get the chance to become a law ?

Answer 74

Only stand a chance of getting passed if they are uncontroversial and the government doesn’t oppose them, otherwise they are easy to block via MPs speaking on them until time runs out

Question 75

Give me an example when a bill was blocked via MPs speaking on them until time runs out ?

Answer 75

In the turning bill 2016 which would have pardoned all men living with UK convictions for same sex offence committed before the law was unchanged in 1967. The government withdrew its initial support for the bill for several reasons and a government minister spoke on the bill for 25 minutes reaching the time limit allotted for the debate, meaning the bill failed to progress.

Question 76

What example is there when one MP can interrupt a ballot bill ?

Answer 76

In 2018 a single objection from conservative MP Christopher Chope was sufficient to block a bill that would have outlawed upskiriting, his move was widely critiqued by MPs from all parties and a government backed bill on the same topic was subsequently introduced and passed.

Question 77

How many ballot bill have been passed in 2017-19 parliamentary session ?

Answer 77

4

Question 78

Name one of this four bills

Answer 78

Assaults of emergency worker (offence) act 2018 introduced by Chris Bryant which increased penalties for those attacking emergency workers such as nurses, pandemics and firefighters

Question 79

What are ten minute rule bills ?

Answer 79

Are essentially policy aspiration put into legislative language in order to secure a 10 minute speaking slot during prime time in the house of commons chamber after question time on Tuesday and Wednesday

Question 80

To whom are these bill more important ?

Answer 80

Mostly important as an opportunity for backbenchers to raise issues of concerns often relating to their constituencies as opposed to passing actual legislation

Question 81

Who decides the slots and how is does this undermine the process ?

Answer 81

Whips which somewhat undermines the independence of individual MPs in the process

Question 82

What examples are there of ten minute bills ?

Answer 82

Guardianships (missing persons) act 2017 which created a new legal statute of guardians of the affairs of a missing person, allowing someone to act in the missing persons best interest after they have been gone for 90 days or more, introduced my conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake

Question 83

What are presentation bills ?

Answer 83

Bills that formally presented during a Friday, does not give a speech and there is no debate on the proposals

Question 84

How are they less useful ?

Answer 84

With no speech or debate attached to them, they are less useful to MPs than ballot or ten minute rule bills

Question 85

How did the Brexit saga break the rule of presentation bills ?

Answer 85

Both the cooper-let win and benn acts were implemented by this device essentially because MPs took control of parliament agenda from the government in order to prevent a no-deal Brexit

Question 86

What’s one lesser known way for backbencher from the governing party to influence government legislation ?

Answer 86

Is by applying pressure before a bill ever reachers the floor of the house of commons chamber

Question 87

Name an example of this ?

Answer 87

In 2011 with the plans to privatise some English forest, major cross bench opposition forced the government to abandon its plan entirely

Question 88

What examples are there when the government introduced legislation specifically as a result of pressure from its own backbenchers ?

Answer 88

In2006 Labour backbencher successfully persuaded Tony Blair government to bring in the corporate manslaughter bill.