parliament

Question 1

legislation

Answer 1

legislation is a piece of law and to legislate is to pass laws

Question 2

two types of bills

Answer 2

private members’ bills- by individual MPS; important but rare unless government provides time to support which they made do if its a controversial conscience issue they do not want to get involved with

public bills- introduced by government

Question 3

legislative process

Answer 3

first reading
second reading
public bill committee
report stage
third reading
House of Lords
parliamentary ping pong

Question 4

first reading

Answer 4

title is introduced and date for second reading is announced

Question 5

second reading

Answer 5

bill is debated and the MPs vote. a bill can be defeated at this stage

Question 5

public bill committee stage (leg process)

Answer 5

bill is examined in detail, amendments can be made

Question 6

report stage

Answer 6

amendments made by PBC are either accepted or rejected

Question 7

third reading

Answer 7

bill is further debated and a vote takes place. unlikely to be defeated at this stage

Question 8

house of lords- legislative process

Answer 8

the bill is then taken to HoL where a similar process occurs

Question 9

scrutiny

Answer 9

necessary for parliament to perform its duty of holding the government to account for its actions- essential for any democracy

Question 10

how do MPs hold the government to account?

Answer 10

Select committees
ministers questions
opposition
debates and motions

Question 11

select committees

Answer 11

there is 1 select committee for each of the government departments. members are government backbenchers

Question 12

what is the top select committee?

Answer 12

liaison committee

Question 13

when are committee members chosen?

Answer 13

immediately after an election

Question 14

how many members of the HoL are there?

Answer 14

800

Question 15

what are the religious members of the HoL known as?

Answer 15

Lords spiritual

Question 16

what have hereditary peers been described as?

Answer 16

‘outdated and indefensible’

Question 17

occasions where the commons have bypassed government:

Answer 17

War Powers Act 1991- allowing the UK government to prosecute war criminals even if the offences were committed outside of the UK
European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999- established a new closed list system for elections to the European Parliament
Sexual Offences Amendment Act 2000- lowering age of consent for gay men to 16
The Hunting Act 2004- banning fox hunting with packs of hounds

Question 18

how many amendments did the HoL consider?

Answer 18

5244 amendments to 100 bills alone

Question 19

3 cases where Parliament demonstrated its power over government

Answer 19

• May’s EU withdrawal bill
• Johnson’s EU withdrawal bill
• safety of Rwanda

Question 20

May’s EU withdrawal bill

Answer 20

May had a minority government following the 2017 General Election. 5 days of debate lead to a ‘meaningful vote’. She looses this and subsequently survives a vote of no confidence. She looses another ‘meaningful vote’ and resigns on the 7th June

Question 21

Johnson’s EU withdrawal bill

Answer 21

on the 9th September 2019, Johnson prorogues parliament. Many people said this was wrong, and he is just doing it so he can tell the EU no deal without facing a lot of scrutiny. the SC rules that the decision to prorogue Parliament was unlawful.
on the 19th October 2019- a rare Saturday meeting was held which showed Johsnon to present his new bill. This was opposed by Labour supporters and a few rebel Torys

Question 22

what were Labour backbenchers in 1997-2001 accused of?

Answer 22

having a lack of independent judgement

Question 23

how many Conservatives MPs voted against the Covid Passport?

Answer 23

99

Question 24

the lack of PMBs demonstrate

Answer 24

the lack of power that backbenchers have

Question 25

arguments for the Lords being partly/wholly elected:

Answer 25

- a wholly appointed body is undemocratic and the UK is one of the only countries in the world which gives power to such bodies - if House of Lords was elected through proportional voting system Westminster would become fairer - an elected Lords would have more legitimacy - members are often not chosen because they have genuine expertise but because they are 'croneys' - the Lords spiritual is inappropriate in todays multicultural society

Question 26

an example of the use of parliamentary privilege (Russia Ukraine)

Answer 26

In 2022, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Conservative backbench MP named a number of British lawyers who supported Russian oligarchs. If he had not done this in Parliament, he might have been sued for deformation

Question 27

what were the wright reforms

Answer 27

a set of reforms to the HoC that were pushed forward by Gordan Brown. These reforms came into position after the 2010 GE

Question 28

what was one of the key reforms set up in the wright reforms?

Answer 28

the backbench business committee- giving backbenchers more of a say on the agenda of Parliament. The BBBC chooses the topic of debate for 35 days each parliamentary session

Question 29

how many times was Theresa May defeated as PM?

Answer 29

118

Question 30

why aren't some of the most serious rebellions recorded?

Answer 30

the government often drops its proposals rather than suffering a defeat

Question 31

give an example into the influence of urgent questions

Answer 31

when Amber Rudd had to answer questions by Dianne Abbot about deportation targets in the Home Office and her handling of the Windrush scandal

Question 32

how often does the liaison committee scrutinise the PM?

Answer 32

twice a year

Question 33

arguments of the influence and importance of select committees:

Answer 33

- Look in depth into issues. Questioning is calm, measured and professional and political answers aren't accepted - Scrutiny is more professional and less partisan dictated as it is in PMQs - Work is respected as it is evidence based. They air issues of public influence - The government has to publicly respond to their findings/reports in 8 weeks and they can sometimes have direct influence on government policy - Long serving members can become more knowledgeable about a particular policy area - Recognised as an alternative career path to the ministerial ladder - In march 2023, the Privileges Select Committee scrutinised Johnson over his involvement In the Partygate scandal which gathered a lot of public interest and media attention A liaison committee directly scrutinises the PM twice a year

Question 34

arguments that the influence of select committees are limited:

Answer 34

- A majority of select committee members are drawn from the governing party which limits their independence from the government - There Is a high turnover rate for membership of Select Committees - Can only cover a limited range of topics - Power to summon witnesses is considerable but not unlimited - The government accepts about 40% of SC recommendations Johnson cancelled appointments to attend the liaison committee twice in order to avoid scrutiny

Question 35

what % of select committee recommendations are accepted by government?

Answer 35

about 40%

Question 36

arguments for ministerial question time providing effective scrutiny:

Answer 36

- The leader of the opposition and the leader of the 3rd largest party have the opportunity to get the government to respond directly to their questions - The government is forced to address concerns of the public - Corbyn made a habit of asking questions from members of the public - Misleading the HoC can lead to pressure to resign, which forces ministers to be competent - PMQs is televised every week and is the most watched aspect of politics among the public Even if it is highlight partisan, it can be seen as important in providing genuine political debate between parties and MPs

Question 37

arguments against the effectiveness of ministerial questions

Answer 37

- PMQs in particular provides little effective scrutiny and is more focused on scoring points in a partisan manner - Ministers often give political answers, intended to deflect and get soundbites for the media clips rather than to honestly answer scrutiny - PMQs is very boisterous and is more parliamentary theatre than effective scrutiny - Effective scrutiny is dependent on the abilities of backbenchers and leader of the opposition