Parliament
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| 🇬🇧 | 🇬🇧 |
| What is the Salisbury Convention? | Lords cannot obstruct proposed legislation that was in the government's last election campaign |
| What is the 1911 Parliament Act? | House Of lords has no legislative control of financial matters |
| What is the 1949 Parliament Act? | Bills can only be delayed by the House Of Lords for a year |
| What powers do the commons have? | The Commons has supreme legislative power and ‘confidence and supply’ powers |
| What are ‘confidence’ powers? | The government only exists as long as it has the confidence of the Commons, and if defeated on a motion of confidence the government would step down, prompting a general election. |
| What is supreme legislative power? | The chamber proposes and passes laws, and can stop bills from being passed into law |
| What are ‘supply’ powers? | ‘Supply’ refers to the Commons granting the government money through supporting legislation involving the supply of taxation |
| What powers do the Lords have? | The Lords can delay bills passed by the Commons by up to one year and the Lords also has some veto powers |
| What limitations do the Lords have? | They cannot delay ‘money bills’ (bills with a significant financial aspect) or bills which were specifically outlined in the governing party’s manifesto |
| Why can the Commons be argued to be more powerful than the Lords? | Lords can only delay bills, and suggest amendments, which can then be overturned by the Commons, Commons can actually vote down legislation, unlike the Lords, Commons can actually vote down legislation, unlike the Lords |
| Why can the Lords be argued to be powerful at challenging the government | Party control is much weaker as Lords don’t need to be re-elected, so the government can’t rely even on their own party peers backing them, the More political balance in the Lords- no one party dominates, |
| Democratically, why can the Commons be argued to be more powerful than the Lords? | Commons is democratically legitimate- they have more of a right to challenge government |
| Why are the Lords more effective at scrutiny than the commons? | More expertise/specialist knowledge- this means bills are potentially more carefully and effectively scrutinised, Peers are from a range of backgrounds, so represent different groups and interests in society- this gives them some legitimacy |
| What is a bill? | A proposal for a new law which is being discussed by the legislature |
| What are the four types of bills? | Private bills, public bills, Member’s bills and hybrid bills |
| What is a public bill? | Affects the whole country and is introduced by the government |
| What is a private bill? | Only affects a specific area or group of people |
| What is a Member’s bill? | Introduced by a specific group in the House of Commons |
| What is a hybrid bill? | Public bills which affect a particular person or organisation |
| What is a private members bill? | These are normally brought by an individual MP or peers (abortion act 1967) |
| How does a Private members bill become law? | Introduced by MP or peer after winning a place in the top 20 ballot or a ten minute bill were an MP speaks about the bill for 10 minutes then it is opposed, then few bills actually become law |
| What is the usual nature of PMB? | Socio-moral issues |
| What does the 10 minute outline bill do for the issue? | Creates publicity about it |
| Why is it introduced by MPs/peers and not ministers? | A way of giving backbenchers power |
| What is the problem with PMBs? | Time consuming with no help as civil service don’t help draft the bill + not a lot of opportunity for their introduction |
| Which PMB’s are the most successful? | Bills with cross party support |
| What is an example of a successful PMB? | The upskirting bill |
| How does most legislation begin? | In the party’s manifesto as the elected government has a mandate to implement their proposals |
| What types of papers may they introduce? | A green paper or a white paper |
| What is a green paper? | A problem with some solutions to debate |
| What is a white paper? | A policy that has already been written |
| How does a bill get turned into law? | First reading (intro of the bill), second reading (general debate of the bill), committee stage (bill is examined, debated and amendments considered), report stage ( the bill with amendments is reported back to the house), third reading (whole bill is considered for final approval with final opportunity for debate), the bill is returned to the chamber from which it originated |
| How is the PM held to account by the Liaison committee? | The PM must appear twice a year before the Liaison Committee, which is made up of the chairs of select committees, and must justify government actions |
| How is the PM held to account by the Liaison committee? | The PM must appear twice a year before the Liaison Committee, which is made up of the chairs of select committees, and must justify government actions |
| Why is the opposition important? | They ask most of the questions at PMQ’s, have some control over the parliamentary agenda and there are 20 opposition days devoted to debates on issues chosen by the opposition |
| What does the importance of the opposition depend on? | The leader of the opposition and the size of it |
| What are questions to ministers days? | Every minister must take their turn to appear on the floor of the HoC to face questions |
| What questions do ministers have to respond to? | Written questions |
| What can each questioner ask? | One supplementary |
| What may the speakers allow? | Other supplementaries from other MPs |
| What are question to ministers days good for? | Publicity, not scrutiny |
| What do questio; to ministers days secure? | Some ministerial accountability |
| What are PMQ’s? | Prime ministers question times which are for half an hour on a Wednesday |
| What did Cameron refer to PMQ’s as? | Punch and Judy politics |
| What are PMQ’s more about? | Publicity and personality more than democracy and scrutiny |
| What are examples of the PMQ’s being more for publicity | In one of the PMQ’s Johnson blames Starmer for failing to prosecute the Jimmy Saville case |
| What are debates a chance for? | MPs to express their views and try to influence policy in debates |
| What are the 1/2 an hour adjournment debates at the end of the day? | Where MP’s can raise a particular issue |
| What has John Bercow required more frequently? | For ministers to answer ‘urgent questions’ |
| What is a negative of debates? | They are poorly attended |
| What did the backbench business committee do? | Gave MP’s greater opportunity to shape the agenda. They’d decide the topic for one day in a week; recent debates have been on release of documents on hillsborough disaster |
| What are written questions? | MPs can put written questions (not just the opposition) |
| How many questions are written a year? | Over 50,000 |
| What are written questions effective at? | Getting information through |
| What criteria do the questions have to meet? | The criteria laid down by ‘The Table Office’ |
| What phrase did Lord Hailsham coin? | Elective dictatorship |
| What does elective dictatorship mean? | That the only real check on government power is a general election every five years or so. |
| What can governments with any majority do? | Pass whatever legislation they wish without any amendments |
| What is an example of this? | Major constitutional change has occurred without any opposition to it, for example, the introduction of fixed-term parliaments in 2011, |
| What are some factors that suggest parliament does hold the executive to account? | Parliament can defeat the government by voting against the legislation, opposition to government policy may mean that a free vote is offered (free from whip involvement), the commons can remove the government through a vote of no confidence. |
| What is an example of a vote free from whip involvement? | Same sex marriage vote in 2013 |
| What are some factors that suggest the Lords does hold the executive to account? | Increased willingness of the lords to challenge government bills due to the lack of single-party control and removal of most hereditary peers (so increasing legitimacy) |
| What is an example of the Lords holding the executive to account? | The defeat of proposed tax credit cuts in 2015 |
| How do select committees help hold the executive to account? | Select committees have increased in significance following the decision to elect their chairs, who potentially serve over a number of years and are independent from government. Committees can call witnesses and scrutinise government policy in depth. |
| What is an example of the select committees holding the executive to account? | The Public Accounts Committee, which is responsible for overseeing government expenditures, and to ensure they are effective and honest. The committee is seen as a crucial mechanism for ensuring transparency and accountability in government financial operations and is one of the most important select committees |
| How is the PM held to account by the Liaison committee? | The PM must appear twice a year before the Liaison Committee, which is made up of the chairs of select committees, and must justify government actions |
| What is an example of an effective debate? | In 2013, the government was defeated in its attempt to action military intervention in Syria |
| What else the Syria example an indicator of? | Parliament now has the authority to authorise military action |
| How do backbench rebellions help hold the executive to account? | The last decade has seen more backbench rebellions in Parliament, where MPs defy the governmen |
| What is an example of backbench rebellions holding the executive to account? | The conservative party back bench rebellion on Chinese company Huawei being involved in the 5G roll out in the UK led to a u turn on the legislation pulling them out of the deal |
| What is a more recent back bench rebellion case study? | A total of 99 Conservatives voted against the government on the introduction of covid passports |
| What factors show that the executive still has the power to dominate parliament? | Defeats in the Commons on government legislation is very rare, Party discipline and the influence of the whips ensures that the majority of government bills are passed without difficulty,The government often has an extensive ‘payroll vote’ made up of ministers, junior ministers and parliamentary private secretaries, |
| How does legislation show that the executive still has the power to dominate parliament? | The Parliament Act allows the government to push through legislation that has been blocked by the Lords |
| How are ministers absolved from their accountability? | Ministers can block the appearance of witnesses at select committees, and the government does not have to act on select committee recommendations |
| What makes the backbench business committee weak? | The work of the Backbench Business Committee receives little publicity, and the government sets the time allowed to debate issues- this is also the case for time allowed to discuss Private Member’s Bills |
| What is a counter argument to the use of votes of no confidence? | A vote of no confidence has not happened since 1979. MPs are reluctant to use this, as their own seats are put at risk by a general election |
| Has the balance of power between Parliament and the executive leaned towards parliament in recent years? | The main factors to suggest that Parliament has become more significant and powerful are that it must be consulted over measures such as military action, the increasing right of Parliament to independently select its own officers (for example the speaker and select committee chairs), the ability of the Backbench Business Committee in setting part of the parliamentary agenda, and the increasing assertiveness of the Lords. |
| Has the balance of power between Parliament and the executive leaned towards the executive in recent years? | It has been argued that the executive is still dominant- it has responded to the above by increasing the size of the ‘payroll vote’ of ministers and PPSs, and party control through the whips remains strong. Also, by gaining a large majority virtually anything the executive wants can be passed through parliament |