Parliament (2) Flashcards
(29 cards)
What is a parliamentary government?
No separation of powers
What does legislate mean
Make law
What is legislation?
The act of passing bills into law.
In theory, Parliament legislates and government carries out the legislation in practice.
Types of bills (majority + control most of party discipline + mandate + the timetables)
What is legitimation? 3 examples
Questions, committees, and the opposition
How does the Government control Parliament? Give 3/4
Majority, discipline, control of timetable, bills
What is a private member bill?
Give an example.
Individual members may propose a Bill at the beginning of a year and 7 are guaranteed a reading.
They have almost no chance of becoming law. However, they can occasionally have an effect/ will be useful.
If it gains support they can force govt into creating its own legislation.
On moral/ ethical issues, great reforms have been made such as the landmark abolition of the death penalty 1965 and legalisation of abortion 1967.
2021 Andrew Rosindell’s Animal (Penalty Notices Bill) aimed to reduce new financial penalties for animal health and welfare offences of up to £5,000.
What do public bills do? Give an example of one
Public bills change the law, as it applies to the general population and are the most common type of bill introduced in parliament.
The government introduce most of them.
They get introduced in either house and go through stages that generally involve members of both houses examining it. Largely financial bills.
Once passed into law, public bills become and Act of Parliament and their conditions apply to the general public,
eg. national speed limit change on motorways
Members of the public can voice their objections/ opposition to public bills.
What does secondary legislation do?
Provides the govt with a useful way of avoiding parliamentary scrutiny.
Why can it be said that Parliament legitimates (conforms to law) rather than legislates (makes law)?
Government usually controls parliament on a day-to-day basis and the majority of Bills are government bills.
HOW does the government control parliament on a day-to-day basis?
Parliamentary timetable/ most bills are government bills.
Discipline/ “payroll vote” (when a government ensures its MPs vote along party lines by employing them as ministers or parliamentary private secretaries. This creates loyalty since their jobs depend on supporting the government)
Statutory instruments (SI/ Henry V111 Clauses)
What are statutory instruments?
Statutory Instruments (SIs) are a type of legislation that allows government ministers to make changes to the law without needing a new Act of Parliament. They’re used to update or implement existing laws.
What are backbench MPs?
Backbench MPs are members of parliament who are not in the government or shadow cabinet. They sit on the back rows in the House of Commons and primarily represent their constituents and participate in debates.
How does a large majority affect the effectiveness of backbench MPs?
Allows a government to absorb rebellions.
How did the coalition survive relatively comfortably?
A healthy working majority of 79 -> allowed the govt to get much of its legislation through the Commons.
Flexibility in the agreement
What failures did the coalition have?
Disputes between the coalition partners saw two key bills fall when rebel Conservative MPs blocked the HOL reform and Lib Dem’s blocked the revision of constituency boundaries.
Give an example of a small majority:
Cameron after 2015 was in control most of the time but suffered occasional defeat.
Why was 2017 a turning point in that Parliament became stronger against government?
Give 2/3.
Brexit
Covid
Loss of faith in PMs (BJ and Truss)
Give an example of a minority government:
May 2017
What were the terms of the “Confidence and supply” deal between May and the DUP?
Give them 1 billion pounds
How loyal/ dependable were the DUP?
Pretty loyal/ dependable most of the time
How frequent are coalition governments in the UK?
Not very frequent.
Only in the war, one since the war, one in Great Depression.
Rare only in extreme circumstances.
Even with a small majority, government can control parliament if it has strong ______.
unity
How many senior tories rebelled against Johnson’s BREXIT plan?
21 senior tories
How were Tory rebels dealt with after BREXIT?
Temporarily removed the whip
