Parliament Flashcards
(19 cards)
How does Parliament produce legislation that meets the country’s needs/wishes
Experts involved in pre-leg scrutiny and PBCs and HOL- this allows for more effective scrutiny such as Lord Alan Sugar in finance so offers great expertise to suggest laws surrounding money in the HOL and Jess Phillips sat on the Domestic Abuse Bill committee and she has extensive experience of campaigning on this issue.
PMBs allow a diversity to be covered- It allows MPs to address the wishes of their constituents for example Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013: Sponsored by MP Yvette Cooper, this bill legalized same-sex marriage in England and Wales. It allowed same-sex couples to marry in civil and religious ceremonies where the religious organization consents.
how doesnt Parliament produce legislation that meets the country’s needs/wishes
Government control the agenda and narrow scope of legislation- Government can chose to ignore any amendments suggested by HOL and PBCs
PMBs are too easily defeated and not prioritised- cloture motion is not effective due to 100 MP votes needed to trigger it in order to stop an MP who opposes the bill to stop ‘fillerbusting’
How does Parliament scrutinise the legislation that is introduced to a good standard
Strength of PBCs and House of Lords- HOL get however long they feel is appropriate in order to suggest amendments to scrutinise legislation which ensures the bills are fully scrutinised line-by-line and PBCs allow MPs to hear the opinions of external stakeholders. This allows them to test the bill more fully. For example, the Domestic Abuse Bill received 96 pieces of written evidence from various stakeholders.
how doesn’t Parliament scrutinise the legislation that is introduced to a good standard
Lords too weak in scrutiny- they are not allowed to scrutinise money bills nor legislation in line with the government’s manifesto
PBCs controlled by whips- government whips choose members of PBCs so usually the most loyal party members in order to either challenge or ensure the bill is passed. They also choose the most experienced members in the topic of the bill so the bill is scrutinised effectively eg Dr Sarah Wollasten was not chosen to be in PBC when discussing a bill surrounding health
how does parliament defeat the government when it needs to
Regardless of government majority, the Commons can defeat legislation- MPs are entitled to a free vote and therefore can vote against legislation passed by their own party for example Theresa May’s minority government faced 28 defeats in parliament over 2 years including a resounding defeat of 202-432 with 111 conservative MPs voting against their party
how doesn’t parliament defeat the government when it needs to
Too rare, needs certain circumstances(e.g. Small majorities, really contentious issues etc)- as in 2005 Blair had not had a single bill since 1997 defeated until his backbench MPs defeated his plans to extend detention of terrorist suspects to 90 days.
Is Parliament representative of British society?(Yes)
- 263 female MPs in 2024 which is around 41% of the House and there has been 3 female PMs and female leader of opposition and deputy PM and chancellor so are getting access to top jobs
- Highest proportion of ethnic minorities at 14%
- Still get access to top jobs such as Conservative party, with Rishi Sunak PM, Kemi Badenoch Shadow PM and James Cleverly as home secretary
- 64 MPs who openly identify as LGBTQ+ such as Carla Denyer who is openly pansexual
- Conservative MPs have tended to be younger
- Number of politicians who have had private education are decreasing
- In Keir Starmer’s cabinet only 1 out of 25 went to a private school and 1 to a grammar school
40% of MPs are non-religious which is proportionate to the population where the majority of people are considered non-religious and non-religious people make up 50% of Keir Starmer’s cabinet - 5 disabled MPs who returned to the Commons in the 2017 election
- May be more MPs that are disabled as disability may be based on age as older people were less likely to be diagnosed with disabilities
Is Parliament representative of British society?(NO)
Still not fully representative of British population as in 2017 only 21% of Conservative MPs were woman despite 51% of the population being women so should be 50/50
BAME makes up only 8% of parliament with only 52 MPs being BAME where there should be 112 for full representation
- Average age of 50 years old and average age of MPs are rising for Lib Dem and Labour
- Not representative but low percentage of younger people who vote
46% of Conservative MPs were privately educated and in total 23% of all MPs went to a private school
86% of MPs went to a University but only 19% of the working population has
Parliament still appears to be more religious than the population as a whole. The British Social Attitudes Survey records 53% of people as belonging to no religion, versus 37% Christian and 9% of another religion. In 2018 it recorded that 42% of Brits don’t believe in a god, and 39% do.
There would need to be around 130 MPs to be representative of the population as 20% of the population are disabled
Is Parliament democratically representative?(YES)
Elections
* Referendums
* Strong MP-constituency link
* Surgeries
* Conferences
Ability to E-mail MPs
Is Parliament democratically representative?(NO)
- FPTP does not produce proportional results
- Unelected Lords chamber
- Public does not chose who parties delegate as their PM
- Public do not choose government cabinet
General elections are only every 5 years unless vote of n confidence
Is Parliament able to take action on behalf of constituents?(Yes)
- Free vote- MPs vote without being whipped allowing them to canvass the views of their constituents- Terminally ill adults(End of Dying) Bill November 2024
- PMBs
- Surgeries
- E-petitions- In November 2015, the Petitions Committee scheduled a debate on the introduction of a tax on sugary drinks in the UK and connect petitions to other works of parliament
- started by the chef Jamie Oliver, received over 151,000 signatures, referred to the Heath Committee. This made George Osborne, the chancellor, levy a sugar tax in 2016.
Backbench Business debates have tended to have much higher viewing figures on BBC Parliament and Parliament TV. Around 330,000 people watched the debate on the Hillsborough disaster, which was timetabled by the Committee after an e-petition successfully gained over 100,000 signatures. So gets media attention and allows MPs to select issues for HOC
- started by the chef Jamie Oliver, received over 151,000 signatures, referred to the Heath Committee. This made George Osborne, the chancellor, levy a sugar tax in 2016.
Is Parliament able to take action on behalf of constituents?(NO)
- High levels of control by party whip
- Some MPs choose to stay more loyal to parties then constituencies
- PMBs are rarely passed due to poor attendance on Fridays so cannot get closure motion passed to stop opposing MPs from filler busting
- MPs must get great support from government if they want a PMB passed
- Of the 23,096 petitions filed, 15,164 have been rejected and 4,633 did not receive enough signatures to receive a written response- this does not work for very niche issues and depends a lot on having lots of publicity (such as Jamie Oliver taking part)
- BBCs only get 35 days a year and most are scheduled on days with less expected attendance
Free votes happen very infrequently(Social issues only) and are manipulated for political reasons
Is HOL effective with legislation(Yes)
Party discipline is weaker than in the Commons, so it is more independent-
Because approximately one-quarter of Lords are crossbenchers, peers are more able to express their own views. Moreover, since the removal of most hereditary peers in 1999, the Lords have been more willing to challenge the government.
For example, the Lords rebelled against the government requiring them to have a rethink:
* In December 2020 the Lords forced the Government to U-turn over the internal markets bill to protect the rights of the devolved parliaments.
* EU Withdrawal Bill - In 2018 the government lost 14 of the 16 divisions on amendments to the Bill in the Lords.
Asylum for children - In 2016 the Lords rebelled over the Dubs Amendment, which sought to compel the government to accept its ‘fair share’ of children from Syria
Is HOL effective with legislation(no)
demonstrated by the Commons overturning various Lords amendments to legislation.
* The Parliament Act 1949 makes the Lords less powerful than the Commons because it prevents them from vetoing legislation and only allows them to delay for
a year.
* All defeats by the Lords on both the EU Withdrawal Bill and the Article 50 Bill were overturned in the Commons.
* The Dubs amendment was overturned in the Commons in January 2020.
* The Health and Social Care bill 2012 proceeded with most of its content intact since most of the Lords’ amendments were overturned in the Commons.
* The Lords did not reject any measures passed by the Commons in 2019 over the issue of Brexit, nor in 2024 did it reject the highly contentious Safety of Rwanda(Asylum and Immigration) Bill, which stipulated that Rwanda was to be treated as a safe country for migrants. Conflict with the Commons on any significant basis is rare
The Salisbury Convention means the House of Lords does not oppose measures in the manifesto of the elected government
Is the House of lords effective with its scrutiny(yes)
The government majority in the Commons means the government is rarely checked effectively but because the government doesn’t have a majority in the Lords, scrutiny is much more effective.
* The Lords achieves notable changes to the detail legislation- more than achieved in the Commons- with anything between a few hundred to sometimes over a thousand amendments secured to government bills each year
The Lords are more independent and so issues may be looked at in a non-partisan manner especially by crossbench peers. Because Lords are there for life, whips have limited power over them
Is the House of lords effective with its scrutiny(no)
The Lords are less effective in scrutinising the government.
* PMQs and MQs allow the Commons to directly scrutinise government by making it accountable for its actions; this direct scrutiny is not possible in the Lords.
* The Lords did not reject any measures passed by the Commons in 2019 over the issue of Brexit, nor in 2024 did it reject the highly contentious Safety of Rwanda(Asylum and Immigration) Bill, which stipulated that Rwanda was to be treated as a safe country for migrants. Conflict with the Commons on any significant basis is rare
The Commons select committees have grown in influence and authority since being reformed in 2010. The lack of departmental select committees in the Lords limits their ability to scrutinise effectively.
* Since 2010 select committee chairs have been elected by backbenchers, not whips. Members of these committees tend to serve for the full Parliamentary term, meaning that they develop significant expertise in their area. The expertise provided by the Lords is now matched by these committees.
Also, the Commons have the Liaison Committee, which questions and checks the Prime Minister, something the Lords cannot do.
Is the HOL effective with their representation(yes)
While the Lorde cannot claim democratic legitimacy, as on unelected house, they may be more willing to represent people and issues that un elected house may be less inclined to
* For example, asylum and protection of human rights issues are not as electorally popular as other issues.
The Lords represents areas of expertise outside of politics - In areas such as medicine, law, business, the arts, science, sports, education, the armed forces, diplomacy and public service - which is lacking in the Commons.
* Baroness Altman speaks on behalf on pensioners as the former Director General of Saga and Baroness Bakewell as an investigative journalist and broadcaster, brings this specialism to the Lords. Lord Adebowale was chief executive of the drugs charity Turning Point, and Baroness Lawrence specialises on institutional racism.
The zoologist john Krebs chairs the Lords’ Science and Technology Committee, Lord Patel is a former president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Lord Walton was a former president of the British Medical Association.
Is the HOL effective with their representation(no)
The Commons is elected, allowing MPs to represent their constituents.
* It can do this collectively by speaking against something happening in their area which will have a negative effect on their constituents.
* It can also represent them individually via adjournment debates, raising issues at PMQs or MQs or raising it privately with a member of the government.
The structure of the Lords works against Increases in women’s membership.
Hereditary peerages automatically pass to the first-born son, and the House has reserved places for bishops- a position for which the first female was only chosen in 2014 - who make up 14% of the Lords.
