Parliament

Question 1

what are the exclusive powers of the commons?

Answer 1

• they can hold a vote of no confidence and bring down govt (1979)
• the commons can insist on legislation and veto bills - if it doesnt get through the commons, it will not become law
• if a bill reflects a manifesto pledge by the govt, then the HOL cannot block it (salisbury doctrine)
• if a bill concerns finances then the HOL cannot amend it meaning the HOC has complete power over taxation and public spending - Welfare Reform Bill (2012) and sometimes bills which arent fully financial (counter terrorism and identity cards
• Secondary legislation - changes to previous acts of parliament - sole job of commons although in 2015, the HOL made amendments to tax credit regulations - this led to strathclyde review which meant HOC could override any HOL changes

Question 2

what are the main powers of the House of Lords?

Answer 2

• the 1911 and 1949 parliament acts have reduced the Lords’ powers to only being able to block a bill for 1 year and removed their ability to delay money bills
• salisbury convention says that the HOL would not oppose any bill that was in the parties’ manifesto
• the HOL can propose amendments which the govt may accept
• the HOL can force a general election if one isnt called at the end of the 5 year term

Question 3

an argument saying that the Lords should have more power?

Answer 3

various election results have questioned the legitimacy of governments and it is argued the Lords should act as a check, especially because the Commons’ ability is limited by party politics - 2005, Labour won just 35% of the popular vote (Lords challenged the bringing in of identity cards even though Labour pledged to introduce them)

Question 4

is the Lords becoming more important?

Answer 4

• since the 1999 act, the lords has greater legitimacy with the removal of most of the hereditary peers
• the Lords has therefore been more active in challenging government - even though they cant veto a bill, they can delay - fox hunting with dogs in 2004 had 700 hours of deliberating
• under the conservative govt 1979-97, there were on average only 13 defeats of the government in the lords, whilst labour 1997-2010 suffered on average 40 a year

Question 5

what is a public bill?

Answer 5

a bill which is brought forward by the govt. makes up the bulk of legislation that passes in parliament

Question 6

what is a private bill?

Answer 6

an organisation (e.g., company or local authority) can petition parliament to change the law on something that affects them e.g., 2013 london local authorities and the Transport for London Act

Question 7

what is a hybrid bill?

Answer 7

-mixture of a private and public bill and has an impact on a specific group of the public e.g., HS2 bills

Question 8

what is a private members bill?

Answer 8

-introduced by backbench MPs which affect the whole population. there have been some very significant ones e.g., abolition of death penalty 1965, HOL reform act 2014

Question 9

what is a ballot bill?

Answer 9

20 MPs are drawn out of a ballot and have time allocated on one of the 13 fridays in the parliamentary session to propose a bill. although, these are often filibusted

Question 10

what is a Ten Minute Rule Bill?

Answer 10

10 mins to introduce a bill - tends to just raise awareness although some do become law e.g., Divorce Act 2002

Question 11

name all the types of Bills

Answer 11

• Private Bill
• Public Bill
• Hybrid Bill
• Private member Bill
• 10 minute rule Bill
• Ballot Bill

Question 12

what are the stages of a bill going to law?

Answer 12

1. first reading - normally in the commons - formal presentation of the title of the bill to the house by a minister - no debate yet
2. second reading - debate on the principle of the bill - minister explains and justifies - the shadow minister and backbenchers respond and ask questions. a vote will be taken and almost all bills will pass the second reading
3. committee stage - bill goes to a public bill committee who read bill and ask for clarification and propose amendments (scrutiny) - highly significant bills (finance) are scrutinised by the committee of the whole house
4. report stage - amendments suggested in committee are considered by the whole house - further amendments can be proposed and are voted on
5. third reading - debate and vote on amended bill

Question 13

what happens if the bill passes the third reading?

Answer 13

• house of lords stage - goes through the stages that it went through in the commons - Lords can propose amendments and then the commons can vote on whether to accept them - ‘parliamentary ping-pong’ lasts up to one year
• final stage is royal assent which would cause a constitutional crisis if not given

Question 14

what are the interactions between the HOL and the HOC during the legislative process?

Answer 14

• the lords can initiate bills but this is rare
• the lords cannot delay or initiate finance bills
• the Salisbury Convention says that the HOL should not block any bill on the govts manifesto - although this has been challenged when the legitimacy of the govt is questioned e.g., identity cards 2005 35% labour
• the lords can make amendments to a bill but these can be rejected in the commons
• the lords can delay a bill for up to 1 year

Question 15

what is secondary legislation?

Answer 15

• acts of parliament are primary legislation
• secondary legislation is law made by ministers, who issue statutory instruments (about 3500 a year)
• these are scrutinised by the statutory instruments committee
• Secondary legislation is effectively amendments to already made bills and is used in many areas including tax, education, health and immigration

Question 16

what is parliamentary privilege?

Answer 16

-inside parliament MPs have complete freedom of speech and cannot be prosecuted over what they have said e.g., Lib dem MP named Ryan Giggs as having being the person protected by a gagging order on the press about an affair in 2011 - if this were a journalist who disclosed this information, they would have been in trouble

Question 17

what are backbench MPs

Answer 17

• any MP who does not hold a position in govt or the shadow cabinet.
• they are often seen as lobby fodder meaning they are only useful to vote in favour of their party

Question 18

what is the significance of backbenchers?

Answer 18

• back bench rebellions have increase - 2005-10 there were rebellions in 28% of divisions - in 2010-15 - there were rebellions in 35% of divisions
• due to issues on Brexit, Johnson lost all of his early votes and ended up suspending 21 MPs from the whip

Question 19

what does the significance depend on?

Answer 19

-the significance depends on the majority of the govt - a large majority means a minor backbench rebellion wont really have much effect

Question 20

how much has the use of ‘Urgent Questions’ increased due to Brexit?

Answer 20

from 2013/14, the number of urgent questions asked by by backbenchers has over quadrupled from 0.2 per sitting day to 0.9 in 2017/19

Question 21

how is the significance of backbenchers limited?

Answer 21

• few 10-minute rule bill speeches actually lead to change
• committees are proportional to distribution of seats meaning govt tends to get its way even in committees
• patronage and whips keep backbenchers from rebelling on very important issues
• the large conservative majority gained in 2019 has weakened the potential backbench rebellions

Question 22

what is the backbench business committee, set up in 2010?

Answer 22

• created in part to give backbenchers more of a say in the agenda of parliament
• members are elected by their party (meaning rebellious MPs are unlikely to be selected)
• it chooses the topic of debate for 35 days in each parliamentary session. some are chosen from e-petitions with more than 100,000 signatures

Question 23

what are the positive impacts of the backbench business committee on the executive?

Answer 23

• it has enabled debates that government would have otherwise avoided
• has led to changes - reducing fuel duty
• engages the public via e-petitions

Question 24

what are the limitations of the backbench business committee?

Answer 24

• the government does not need to accept any motions voted for
• small parties are underepresented

Question 25

what is the work of a select committee and its relation with the executive?

Answer 25

• select committees are responsible for scrutinising a government department e.g., Health Select Committee
• members are selected by secret ballots within parliamentary groups which is an improvement since pre-2010 where whips appointed them
• members often are chosen for expertise e.g., Sarah Wollaston was a GP and on the health select committee
• they examine a departments expenditure, performance, proposals etc.
• in 2016, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee was highly critical of sir Phillip Green and said he had to solve the problems with the BHS pension scheme

Question 26

how are select committees effective?

Answer 26

• they examine and scrutinise government policies in detail and have power to question ministers, civil servants and others as well as the ability to request government documents
• Many recommendations are accepted by Government (40% in 2011)
• Chairs and members are elected anonymously

Question 27

how are select committees not effective?

Answer 27

• govt has majority on all committees
• turnover of membership is high meaning members wont gain expertise
• they cant propose policy and govts can often ignore recommendations
• Ministers and civil servants may not answer all questions or provide requested documents (Theresa May in 2013 refused to allow MI5 head to be interviewed

Question 28

what is the relationship between the opposition and govt?

Answer 28

• little can be done if big majority
• opposition leader and shadow cabinet members can attack government through PMQs or Media
• 20 days are given to opposition parties to set subjects for debate
• opposition receives ‘short money’ to provide funding for the necessary support for opposition offices so they can hold govt to account although this was reduced in 2015 with austerity

Question 29

what are PMQs?

Answer 29

• prime ministers questions occur every wednesday
• in theory, they offer a great way to hold govt to account but they often descend into political theatre and a chance for sound bites- ‘build back better’
• leader of opposition gets 6 questions
• leader of third party gets 2 questions
• only lasts 30 minutes

Question 30

what is the purpose of ministerial question time?

Answer 30

• ministers receive oral questions before so they can prepare an answer with all the information from the civil servants
• most questions are written - 35,000 in 2015/16