influences on parliament

Question 1

advantages of political influences

Answer 1

• each political party has its own proposals for law reform ready and published in a manifesto during an election campaign so that, if they are elected as the government, the electorate knows what they wish to do in future parliamentary sessions to achieve their aims,
• if the government has a majority of seats in the House of Commons, virtually every one of their policy proposals will be passed, this can be said to make the law-making process popular with the majority of the population,
• by publishing manifestos, the public know before an election what the broad proposals of each political party are, and have a choice as to which set of proposals and law reforms they would wish to see put in place,
• proposed changes to laws will be debated in Parliament and improvements to initial proposals can be suggested and included,
• members of the House of Lords have expertise in a wide range of topics, Suggestions made by the Lords to alter government proposals carry considerable weight and authority, and are generally non-political,

Question 2

disadvantages of political influences

Answer 2

• if a different party is elected in a general election from the previous governing party, they may decide to repeal or alter some of the laws that the previous government passed. This is because their policies are likely to be different from the previous government. Such changes of policy can be costly, open to criticism and lead to piecemeal reform of laws,
• if the government has a large majority of seats in the House of Commons, they can force through their policy proposals, ignoring criticism from opposition,
• if the government only has a small majority, it may be difficult or impossible to achieve changes to the law or their manifesto commitments,

Question 3

advantages of media

Answer 3

• media can raise awareness of public concern of an issue with government - for example, damage to the environment. government may have greater willingness to act on a media campaign if they see it is popular,
• the public can use the media to raise concern about issues and individual incidents, such as the Dunblane massacre and, more recently, terrorist related attacks, individuals are much more prepared to use social media to raise concerns and voice opinions,
• the media can inform and raise public awareness, which is essential to encourage government to form policy, to act or legislate, government is ultimately responsible to the electorate and, especially before an election, they will fear losing public support if they are not seen to be responding to an issue of public concern,

Question 4

disadvantages of media

Answer 4

• while radio and television channels are required to remain politically neutral, this is not the case with newspapers, which may be willing to promote inaccurate individual views and campaigns, and may not have wide public support. some newspapers give support to a specific political party and regularly promote their views,
• newspapers are commercial businesses and may be prepared to sensationalise an issue to expand their readership, this can be seen as parts of the media ‘manipulating the news and creating public opinion’,
• there is no regulation on the expression of views on social media, any views expressed may be inaccurate or have limited public support,
• even if an issue appears to have wide public support, there is no guarantee that government will act on it,

Question 5

advantages of pressure groups

Answer 5

• pressure groups have experts in their membership, or can employ experts, to effectively argue their cause,
• there are many pressure groups with different aims and issues to promote. a wise range of issues can be drawn to the attention of the government,
• pressure groups often raise important issues, environmental groups have made the government much more aware of the damage being done to the environment from greenhouse gases and other pollutsnts,

Question 6

disadvantages of pressure groups

Answer 6

• may seek to impose their ideas on the public or on government, even when there is limited public support,
• e.g. when trade unions call strike action involving a public service, this can cause disruption for the general public who are unlikely to support the cause,
• sometimes two pressure groups may have conflicting interests and will campaign for opposing actions, for example, the ban against fox hunting was being considered, the League Against Cruel Sports wanted it banned, but the Countryside Alliance wanted it to continue,

Question 7

advantages of lobbying

Answer 7

• if successful, action may be taken by government, laws introduced or inquiries set up,
• pressure groups may be more successful as they have greater expertise and influence,

Question 8

disadvantages of lobbying

Answer 8

• government ministers may have requests made of them and be unable or unwilling to deal with all requests,
• even lobbying by pressure groups may be unsuccessful or have delayed response,

Question 9

advantages of the law commission

Answer 9

• use legally qualified commissioners to investigate, who are experts in their field, their reports are thoroughly researched and recommendations for reform are fully justified. draft bills accompany their reports so there is no need for delay in consideration of the recommendations by Parliament,
• it is politically independent and has the aim of improving their law - it does not get involved in matters of public policy. it reports to parliament, not the government, thereby maintaining its independence,
• if parliament accepts a recommendation to codify the area of law, it becomes easier for lawyers and the public to understand and apply,
• many old, unnecessary and irrelevant laws are removed from the statue book,

Question 10

disadvantages of the law commission

Answer 10

• governments are reluctant to find parliamentary time to consider and debate ‘pure’ law issues, as a result, parliament has to wait for government to accept a law commission report and act on it,
• parliament tends to concentrate on debating matters of broad policy, such as health and education, rather than on ‘purely’ legal issues where there is limited popular support,
• government is not bound to accept law commission reports or implement any recommendations, either fully or in part, for example, the law commission recommended in 1993 reforms to the non-fatal offences in criminal law, and in 1988, to the civil law of negligence but neither area of law has been changed,
• government is not bound to consult the law commission before bringing any changed in the law to parliament - e.g. the commission was not consulted on changes to sentencing practice and procedure before any of the four Acts were introduced on the issue,

Question 11

the 5 influences

Answer 11

• political influences
• world events
• media
• pressure groups
• lobbying

Question 12

political influences

Answer 12

• during general election, parties publish a manifesto which will identify laws they wish to tackle if they win the election,
• individual MPs are able to bring ideas before parliament in private members bills, e.g. the Abortion Act 1967 which was introduced by David Steel,

Question 13

how did the conservative party use political influences?

Answer 13

• in December 2019 the main policy was to ‘get Brexit done’. they achieved this by implementing numerous new laws once they were in power,

Question 14

world events

Answer 14

• major events that changed our law,
• e.g. 9/11, Dunblane (school shooting which changed laws on guns)
• a way of influencing the government into protection measure,

Question 15

the media and public opinion

Answer 15

• anything which provides information to the public,
• plays a large role in bringing public opinion to the government’s attention,

Question 16

high profile media cases

Answer 16

• where an issue is given a high profile on tv and in newspapers, it brings it to the attention of other members of the public and this may add to public opinion,

Question 17

how can media represent public opinion

Answer 17

• public can make their opinions known by posting material online,
• government follows online sources to judge public opinion on issues,

Question 18

media campaigns

Answer 18

• XL bully ban,
• Lucy Lebty - changes to the rules on defendants attending hearings,

Question 19

pressure groups

Answer 19

• groups who campaign as they have a special interest in the area,
• aim to bring their cause to the attention of the public and government and make the government reconsider certain areas of law, e.g. passing the Hunting Act 2004, which banned hunting with dogs after long campaigns from the League Against Cruel Sports,

Question 20

two types of pressure groups

Answer 20

• sectional ; represent the interests of a particular group of people or professionals such as the Law society,
• Cause ; these groups exist to promote a particular cause for example the environment,

Question 21

tactics of pressure groups

Answer 21

• lobbying MP’s,
• petitions,
• leaflets and door canvassing,
• protests and interviews with the media,

Question 22

lobbying

Answer 22

• try to persuade ministers to support your cause,
• often carried out by pressure groups to convince an MP to support them,
• can take months or be triggered by an event e.g. Dunblane,

Question 23

what can lobbying be?

Answer 23

• individual meetings, written messages or producing data to show public support,

Question 24

what can successful lobbying lead too

Answer 24

• the MP asking question of the government to introduce the law or set up an inquiry,

Question 25

law reform by the law commission

Answer 25

- full time body set up by Law Commission Act 1965, - Law commission Act 2009 made changes,

Question 26

law commission consists off

Answer 26

- a chair person, - high court judge, - 4 commissioners who are experts in areas of law, - researchers and draftsmen,

Question 27

law commissions role

Answer 27

- review the law, - where possible codify and consolidate, - repeal old and unnecessary laws, - simplify and modernise,

Question 28

how does the law commission work?

Answer 28

- topics can be referred to by the government, or select areas itself, - process: . research the area of law, . publish a consultation paper seeking views and suggesting the options for change, . draw up proposals based on the response from the consultation, often including a draft bill to be considering by Parliament,

Question 29

law commission - repealing existing laws

Answer 29

- there are many old and irrelevant statutes still in a place, - law commission will see if they are still needed and remove them if they can, - tidy up the statute books to make the law more accessible,

Question 30

law commission - consolidation

Answer 30

- aim is to combine the law from several Acts of Parliament into one Act of Parliament, not always successful, law changes rapidly: . happened with sentencing, . law was consolidated in the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 2000, . within few months, law was changed again by criminal justice and courts services Act 2000, . within few months, law was changed again by criminal justice and courts services Act 2000 and in 2003, CJA changed much of the law on sentencing again,

Question 31

law commission - codification

Answer 31

- bringing the law on one topic, all together in same place, - law commission worked on producing a sentencing code so that the law all on sentencing for all adult and young offenders is in one document, - was achieved with the sentencing Act 2020 and the code applies to all offenders after October 2020,

Question 32

success of Law Commission

Answer 32

- in recent times only about 50% of proposals have become law due to lack of Parliamentary time and lack of interest by parliament, - have been some recent important changes: . fraud Act 2006 --> simplified law, . corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide Act 2007, . CJA and courts Acts 2015 --> creates new laws regarding misconduct by jurors,