law making: parliamentry law making, paper 2 sec a

Question 1

acts of parliament: parliament consists of…

Answer 1

1. house of commons
2. house of lords
3. the crown

Question 2

house of commons

Answer 2

• members elected by public
• country is divided into constituencies (groups of voters in specific areas who elect a representative)
• there are 650 in the uk
• each have 1 MP
• general election after 5 years
• may be individual by: election in constituencies

Question 3

role of the house of commons

Answer 3

• MP’s: directly challenge government ministers
• make policies and decide how to run the country
• new policies require new laws: it is the role of the house of commons to debate, scrutinize and vote on whether to approve the laws proposed by the government
• during debates: MP’s put forward views on their constitutes

Question 4

house of lords

Answer 4

• non-elected body
• 92 hereditary peers
• 640 life peers
• 26 church of england bishops
• compliment the work on the house of commons
• scrutinize and ament proposed legislation
• lords pose questions to the government, debate policy issues and matters of current concern
• many peers also sit on specialist committees eg. eu committee

Question 5

role of the crown

Answer 5

• the crown is the title given to the monarch, head of state
• little power remains with the monarchy
• the crown has 3 main functions in relation to parliamentary law making:
  1. open parliamentary sessions: traditional ceremony
  2. give royal assent to all legislation
  3.

Question 6

legislative process: manifesto

Answer 6

• list of reforms published by political parties
• reforms that they would carry out should be elected as the next government
• most reforms will gradually be put to parliament to pass an Act Of parliament
• manifesto is one influence on what new laws are intact

Question 7

pre-legislative process: green paper

Answer 7

a consultative document on a topic in which the governments view is put forward with proposals for law reform

Question 8

pre-legislative process: white paper

Answer 8

following green paper, publish a white paper with firm proposals
consultation is valuable

Question 9

bill

Answer 9

• a document that is drafted
• when the proposed act has been drafted is it published

Question 10

who can put forward bills

Answer 10

1. government - government bills
2. individual MP’s - private members bills
3. house of lords

Question 11

government bills + example

Answer 11

• most bills introduced into parliament
• most proceed to become acts of parliament
• supported by the government
• eg. human rights act 1998

Question 12

private members bills + examples

Answer 12

• bills can be sponsored by individual MP’s: backbenchers
• there is a ballot each friday: get your idea, piece of paper goes in box. speaker will pick out bills and ask MP to speak about their new proposal
• time limit of 10 minutes
• decision made and see if it goes to the next stage
• PMB can be contentious in nature: recently introduced in HOL on euthanasia
  examples:
  1. abortion act 1967, david steel MP
  2. murder (abolition of death penalty) act 1965, sidney silverman MP
  3. marrige act 1994, giles brandreth

Question 13

public bill and example

Answer 13

• most frequent
• usually involve matters of public policy that will either affect the whole country or a large section of it
• most government bills are in this category
• eg. human rights act 1998

Question 14

private bill and example

Answer 14

• designed to pass a law that will only affect an individual or corporations
• eg. university college London act 1996

Question 15

breakdown of the process: first reading

Answer 15

• formal procedure
• name and main aims read out
• no discussion
• usually no vote, only procedural
• date will be set for the second reading

Question 16

breakdown of the process: second reading

Answer 16

• main debate
• mps debate principles behind the bill
• mps must catch speakers eyes
• speaker controls debates and no one may speak, unless told by the speaker
• must be majority
• at end: vote taken in some way at the first reading

Question 17

breakdown of the process: committee stage

Answer 17

• detailed examination of each clause of bill is undertaken by standing committee of between 16-50 MPs
• MP’s with special interest in or knowledge

Question 18

breakdown of the process: report stage

Answer 18

• standing committee report back to house on any amendments
• if no amendments then no report stage
• can only be a further debate if atleast 6 MP’s request

Question 19

breakdown of the process: third reading

Answer 19

• final vote
• formality: unlikely to fail at this stage
• can only be a further debate if atleast 6 MP’s request

Question 20

what happens after the third reading?

Answer 20

• the bill will now go through the same 5 stages
• if the HOL makes amendment then it will go back the the HOC for them to consider
• known as ‘ping pong’
• a bill can be introduced by the HOL
• this will go through the same 5 stages and then be passed to the HOC for their consideration

Question 21

parliament acts 1911 and 1949

Answer 21

• allows a bill to become law even if HOL reject it
• but the bill must be reintroduced into the HOC in the next session and pass all stages again
• HOL is not an elected body

Question 22

examples of when the parliament acts 1911 and 1949 have been used

Answer 22

• parliament acts only used of four occasions since 1949
• war crimes act 1991
• European parliamentary elections act 1991
• sexual offences act 2000

Question 23

royal assent

Answer 23

• final stage
• monarch formally gives approval to bill: now given by speaker in HOC and the speaker in the HOL
• becomes an act of parliament
• now a formality under the royal assent act 1961
• last time monarch refused assent was in 1707, Queen Anne

Question 24

dieu et mon droit

Answer 24

god and my right - motto of the United Kingdom

Question 25

commencement of an act of parliament and eg

Answer 25

- following royal assent the act of parliament will come into force on midnight of that day - very few acts are implemented immediately - act may state the date: or the responsibility on the appropriate minister to fix the commencement date, may need to keep checking - eg. easter act 1928, intended to fix the date of Easter Day

Question 26

law making process

Answer 26

- manifesto - green paper - white paper - ballot - first reading - second reading (vote) - committee - reporting - third reading - HOC + HOL play ping pong - royal assent

Question 27

ao3: advantages of the legislative process

Answer 27

1. law is being made elected representatives: this means it is democratic. as there has to be a general election at least once every 5 years, the electorate can vote out any government if it has not preformed as the public expected and introduced promised law reforms 2. green papers: before a bill is presented to parliament, there will often have been a consultation on the proposed changes to the law such as green papers. this allows the government to take into consideration objections and further suggestions on their original proposals 3. time: as all bills have to go through the lengthy discussion process in both HOP, especially in the committee stages, any new law will have been thoroughly discussed and scrutinised before being brought into force 4. parliament can act on reports and draft bills prepared by the law commission, who will have consulted widely and investigated the state of existing law and the need for reform. this research is more likely to result in less contentious and better drafted legislation. There is a greater possibility of codification of existing law and practise, such as that introduced by the sentencing act 2020

Question 28

ao3: disadvantages of the legislative process

Answer 28

1. undemocratic process: the house of lords is unelected, the approval of the crown is undemocratic, although MP's are democratically elected, they are often obliged to 'tale the whip' and vote on party lines rather than voting with their conscience or in the interests of their constitutes 2. long process: even where the government introduces a bill into parliament, the process of it becoming an act, with all the different readings, committee and report stages, and the possible 'ping pong' between the HOC and HOL, can take several months, eg. consumer rights act took fourteen months from the first reading to royal assent 3. the government is in control of of the parliamentary timetable, which often allows very little time for considering private members bills. even when a private member does manage to introduce a bill, it can easily be voted out by the government as they have the majority of seats in the HOC. The result is that very few private members bills become law 4. MPs are not specialists in all areas of legislation, which may mean that some will not receive detailed scrutiny in the HOC, it is more likely that there will be a specialist in the HOL who can provide appropriate scrutiny. however, as the will of the commons will prevail, there is limited likelihood of success of amendments suggested by the HOL