parliament

Question 1

Speaker with issues with neutrality

Answer 1

John Bercow 2019

Question 2

1922 committee

Answer 2

which includes all backbench conservative MP’s and meets weekly to discuss forthcoming business. The chairs of the committee feeds back the views to party leaders.

Question 3

Example of independents in parliament

Answer 3

Sylvia Hermon was elected for the Ulster Unionist Party in 2001 but resigned from the party in 2010. However she was successfully re-elected as an independent candidate in 2010, 2015 and 2017.

Question 4

when were life peers created

Answer 4

1958 house of lords act

Question 5

How many appointments did Blair make?

Answer 5

Between 1997 and 2007 Tony Blair appointed 62 conservative peers, 162 labour, 54 Liberal Democrat at 96 independent or crossbench. This meant he appointed a total of 374 peers. this compares to Thatcher’s 201 appointments.

Question 6

David Cameron corrupt appointments to the lords

Answer 6

2016 it was reported that Prime Minister David Cameron nominated Michael Spencer, a business owner and a former party member donating £4 million to the conservative party. The appointment had been blocked by the appointments committee, partially due to his connection to the Libor banking scandal.

Question 7

Parliament act 1911

Answer 7

The parliament act of 1911 limited the lords to only delaying non money bills for 2 years and 1911 requires all money bills, to be presented for royal assent one month after being sent to the lords, weather they like it or not.

Question 8

Parliament act 1949:

Answer 8

reduced the lords power to delay non-money bills to just a single year. Due to opposition from peers, the bill had to be passed without the approval of the house of lords under the terms of the 1911 parliament act

Question 9

In addition to the 1949 parliament act, how many laws have been passed without parliamentary consent

Answer 9

6- the lords have more time to scrutinise so amendments are often accepted

Question 10

Salisbury convention

Answer 10

the convention that the House of Lords should not oppose bills that were featured in a government election manifesto. in 1945 labour won a landslide victory but only had 16 peers in the House of Lords.

Question 11

Secondary legislation

Answer 11

while the parliament act does not affect the Lords power to veto secondary legislation, the house has done so on rare occasions. As a result some argue that there is a convention that the Lords should only block secondary legislation in exceptional circumstances

Question 12

When have the lords rejected manifesto bills due to low turnout?

Answer 12

In 2005 the Liberal Democrat peers opposed the labour government’s identity card scheme even though it was in the party’s manifesto. The 2005 general election had a turn out of just 61.4% and of those who actually voted only 35.2% voted for labour meaning that only 21.5% of the total electorate voted for labour.

Question 13

commons power to dismiss the executive

Answer 13

Pre 2011 any government that lost a vote of confidence was expected by convention to resign or request a dissolution of parliament triggered by a general election- this is now the case

Question 14

Green Paper

Answer 14

consultation documents that explain the specific issues the government would like to address, along with various different courses of action, to prompt debate and discussion.

Question 15

White paper

Answer 15

It sets all the government’s proposal for new legislation and invites feedback so that necessary changes can be made before the bill is presented to parliament.

Question 16

when was the last time a bill was defeated in the second reading?

Answer 16

the 1986 shops bill.

Question 17

In 2016, how much time did the commons spend debating government bills vs the lords?

Answer 17

In the 2016 seventeen session MP’s spent 235 hours and 20 minutes debating government bills on the floor of the house, roughly 22% of total time spent on the floor of Commons. Peer spent 407 hours 18 minutes debating government bills on the floor of the house, roughly 43.6% of the total time spent on business on the floor of the Lords.

Question 18

What powers does the lords not have meaning there is more debate on government billls?

Answer 18

the speaker does not decide which amendments can be debates, in the commons 100MPs can bring a cloture motion

Question 19

What are the three different ways private members bills can be intoduced?

Answer 19

ballet bills (20 MPS selected at random at the beginning of the session), 10 minute rule bills (outline proposals after question time of Tuesdays and Thursdays) and presentation bills (introduce title but cannot speak on it)

Question 20

In recent years a number of legal limits have been placed on the royal prerogative powers, in order to give parliament more influence and give decisions or actions greater legitimacy- what are examples of this?

Answer 20

In 2003 Tony Blair asked the Commons to approve the decision to go to war in Iraq which it did. In 2013 Prime Minister David Cameron asked the Commons to approve military intervention in Syria which it didn’t, legally Cameron still had the power to proceed with his plans but he recognised that the legitimacy of the decision would be seriously questioned and so did not.

Question 21

In recent is with the increased use of referendum the question has been raised over if a decision is made by the people in the form of a referendum it needs the approval of parliament to be legitimate. Give an example

Answer 21

2016 European Union referendum, it was argued that only an act of parliament could empower the government to trigger article 50, as Brexit would greatly reshape our constitution and laws. This concerned Brexit voters as although 52% voted in favour of Brexit the majority of MP’s were still against it,

Question 22

How much primary legislation is there a year compared to secondary legislation?

Answer 22

Primary legislation consists of acts of parliament, and only around 30 to 50 of these occur a year. However secondary legislation occurs through statutory instruments underground 3500 of these occur a year.

Question 23

recently ministers are increasingly using statutory instruments to make more significant reforms. give an example of this:

Answer 23

An example of this was in 2015 when the House of Lords voted to delay the statutory tax credits regulations act of 2015 which cut the tax credits bill by 4.4 billion, by increasing the rate at which tax credits were withdrawn.

Question 24

How does the use of secondary legislation reduce parliaments legitimacy, scrutiny, and debate powers- 2015-16?

Answer 24

MP spent just under 8 hours debating over 7000 pages of secondary legislation on the floor of the house in the 2015-16 session.

Question 25

How has the Lords increased secondary legislation scrutiny?

Answer 25

Since 2003 they have a committee dedicated to the scrutiny of secondary legislation

Question 26

How many statutory instruments have been rejected in the last 65 years?

Answer 26

2/170,000

Question 27

Government controlling the time table Decrease its parliament’s legislation powers.

Answer 27

In the 1960s, 172 private members bills were successfully passed whereas in 2010 to 2017 only 46 private members bills were passed.

Question 28

Public bill committees

Answer 28

have the power to receive written evidence from outside groups and if need be conduct oral evidence in hearings before they begin to scrutinise a bill.
Unlike select committees public bill committees have temporary members with little incentive to work together and little time to develop expertise. They also differ as in public bill committees members are selected by whips and tend to be more loyal, whereas in select committees members tend to be elected and therefore are much more independent.

Question 29

Example of how public bill committees can be partisan

Answer 29

In 2011, the Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston, a former doctor, who had been critical of the government health care policy, was blocked from the health and social care bell committee despite her relevant expertise.

Question 30

Example of the inefficiencies of public bill committees?

Answer 30

From 2000-2010 only 88 non government amendments were successfully made in public bill committees despite opposition MPs proposing 17,468 amendments.

Question 31

Example of how MPs have become more rebellious

Answer 31

Conservative and Liberal Democrat MP’s rebelled in 35% of the votes. Beating the previous record of 28% during the labour government of 2005 to 2010. 91 conservative MP’s rebelled against the House of Lords reform bill

Question 32

Example of a government debate

Answer 32

House of Commons Syria debate ( 29th august 2013), where there was a government motion for a strong humanitarian response required from the international community (necessary legal and military action) to save lives and that a further use of chemical weapons in Syria). This received 272 Ayes, and 285 Noes.

Question 33

Opposition day debates:

Answer 33

In each session, 20 days are set aside for debates on topics chosen by opposition parties. The official opposition is allocated 17 days, and three days are allocated to the second largest opposition party, which can share them with smaller parties.

Question 34

Backbench Business committee:

Answer 34

Established in 2010 on the recommendation of the wright committee. Allocated 35 days each session to schedule debates raised by backbench MP’s. By the end of 2015 the backbench business committee had scheduled over 300 debates many of which were triggered by successful E petitions.

Question 35

Adjournment debate:

Answer 35

• At the end of each day a backbench MP raises a topic for an adjournment debate.
• Each week, MP’s wishing to raise a topic for debate submit their name to the speaker- and a lucky few are selected in ballot
• the MP chosen im ballot is given 5 minutes to speak and then a government minister has 15 minutes to reply.

Question 36

Westminster hall debates :

Answer 36

Since the 1999 session additional debates have been held in Westminster Hall. This has allowed for far more issues to be debated on without taking up the limited time available in the Commons chamber.

Question 37

Emergency debates:

Answer 37

If MPs feel that an issue needs to be urgently debated they can ask the speaker to grant an emergency debate. If allowed they make a 3 minuet speech after question time.- Between 2015 and 2017 eight emergency debates were called, this is a very high amount. An example of an emergency date was the Aleppo and Syria issue on the 11th of October 2016.

Question 38

Oral questions:

Answer 38

On Monday to Thursday each week time is reserved in comments for Question Time, where MP’s can question ministers from particular government departments. Is department takes their time appearing roughly every five weeks. 25% of the time is reserved for topical questions.

Question 39

Prime ministers questions:

Answer 39

MP’s are also able to question the Prime Minister every Wednesday from 12:00 to 12:30. Questions are selected by a computer shuffle and the Prime Minister must also answer supplementary questions that they do not see in advance.

Question 40

Urgent questions:

Answer 40

if the speaker is satisfied that a question is urgent and cannot wait for the relevant department’s next session of Question Time then the MP can ask it at the end of Question Time. The speaker John Bercow allowed for far more urgent questions than his predecessors, allowing for 159 urgent questions between 2009 to 2014.

Question 41

Select comitees

Answer 41

In 1979 the House of Commons agreed that for each individual department there should be a dedicated select committee to examine the expenditure, administration and policy, of that department, as well as other public bodies associated with it.

Question 42

Example of a select committee

Answer 42

Public accounts committee: does not judge the merits of policy-cheques that money is being spent effectively, economically and efficiently. Chat is always an opposition MP and all members are appointed by the house.
Liaison committee: members are the chairs of other select committees, and they questioned the Prime Minister twice a year. Choose select committee reports for debates in Westminster

Question 43

Example of the government not listening to the advice of select committees?

Answer 43

In 2016 Amanda Spielman became the new head of Ofsted even though the education committee said it was unable to support her appointment.

Question 44

Example of how Parliament can issue a formal summon to get someone to speak at a select committee:

Answer 44

In 2016 Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley declined a request to appear before the Business Innovation and skills committee to answer questions regarding the practises of one of his company warehouses. However after being threatened with a formal summon and with parliamentary contempt he agreed to questions.

Question 45

Example of how the new appointment process to select committee is more democratic:

Answer 45

Sarah Wollaston, a former Doctor Who had previously been critical of the government’s health policies and requested to join the health and social care committee in 2011 but was rejected by whips. In 2014 however she campaigned to be the chair of the health committee and was elected by the whole of the House of Commons

Question 46

What percentage of select committee recommendations are accepted?

Answer 46

40%

Question 47

How many committees are there in the lords?

Answer 47

. There are six main permanent select committees in the House of Lords: the European Union committee, the science and technology committee, the communications committee, the constitution committee, the international relations committee and the economic committee. Ad Hoc (temporary) committees are also regularly established to examine issues that fall outside of these six policy areas for instance in 2017 an artificial intelligence committee was established.

Question 48

Example of how first past the post is unrepresentative

Answer 48

in 2019 cons won 56% of seats with 41% of votes, 2015 Ukip won 12.6% of vote and 1 seat.

Question 49

2012 pledged House of reform bill that failed as of September 2012

Answer 49

by the 2025 election the House of Lords would have had 360 elected members serving 15 years, 90 appointed members and up to 12 bishops. There was also supposed to be up to eight additional ministerial members appointed by ministers of the crown.

Question 50

What percentage of the House of Commons are women compared to the population

Answer 50

32% of parliament and 51% of MPs- 45% of labour and 21% of conservatives

Question 51

What percentage of the House of Commons have disabilities compared to the population

Answer 51

22%, or 14.6 million compared to 1% of Mps.

Question 52

What percentage of Commons Are from an ethnic minority compared to the population

Answer 52

make up 10% of commons, 7.3% of the house of lords and 13% of the UK.

Question 53

What percent of their time to MPS on average spend doing constituency work as of 20 10

Answer 53

59%

Question 54

Free vote in 2015

Answer 54

2015 MP’s voted 330-118 in opposition to the assisted dying bill which would allow some terminally ill people to end their own lives with medical supervision. Angry pressure groups pointed to polls that suggested the bill was supported by as much as 82% of the public-arguing MPs had failed their duty to represent the people.

Question 55

European Union act 2017 as an example of how mps can go against whips

Answer 55

52 labour MP’s controversially voted against the bill after its third reading, despite party whips instructing them to vote for it. 1/3 of labour MP’s represented a constituency in which a majority voted remain in the 2016 EU referendum. the Labour Party issued a three line whip instructing MPs to support the bill however multiple shadow ministers resigned to defy the whips and vote against the bill.

Question 56

How many of May’s Cabinet were Lords?

Answer 56

. In Theresa May’s 2017 cabinet there was only one peer selected from the House of Lords-the leader of the House of Lords