Structure and Role of Parliament Flashcards
(73 cards)
1
Q
what is a bicameral legislature?
A
- made up of 2 chambers
- hoc and hol
2
Q
how many MPs are in the HoC?
A
- 650
3
Q
who sits in the center chair?
A
- the speaker
- ensure the rules of the HoC are observed
4
Q
what is the authoritative source on parliamentary procedure?
A
- erskine may
- continually updated, most recently in 2011
5
Q
when are MPs allowed to speak in parliament?
A
- when the speaker calls upon them
- speaker determines how long they can talk for and how long questions can focus on a particular topic when ministers are being questioned
6
Q
whats the role of the speaker in bills and motions?
A
- they decide whether bills or motions before the house should be debated and voted upon
7
Q
what happens when an MP becomes the speaker?
A
- they must sever all ties to their previous party
- they cannot vote on any motion, unless its to break a tie
8
Q
what is an example of an act that proves the impartiality of the speaker?
A
- Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
- prevents the speaker from standing under a party label at general elections
- they appear on the ballot as ‘the speaker seeking reelection’
9
Q
when must the house elect a speaker?
A
- at the start of a new parliamentary term
10
Q
who sit to the speakers right?
A
- the governing party
11
Q
who sit to the left of the speaker?
A
- the opposition parties
12
Q
who sit on the front benches?
A
- government ministers, including the PM
13
Q
who sits on the backbenches?
A
- MPs in the governing party that dont hold ministerial positions
14
Q
what are the leader of the oppositions frontbenchers called and what is their role?
A
- shadow cabinet
- tasked with scrutinising and challenging a particular government minister
15
Q
what is the role of the whips?
A
- responsible for enforcing discipline within the party
- issue weekly instructions (called the whip) to backbench MPs which makes it clear how party leaders would like them to vote
16
Q
what is a 3 line whip?
A
- particularly important votes are underlined 3 times
17
Q
what is withdrawal of the whip?
A
- being expelled from the party
18
Q
whats are 2 examples of an MP having the whip withdrawn?
A
1 - zara sultana in 2024
- she voted (against the labour partys position) on favour of an amendment to scrap the 2 child benefit cap
2 - jeremy corbyn
- refused to take back remarks made about anti semetism
19
Q
what is the 1922 committee and what is their role?
A
- conservative backbenchers
- meet weekly to discuss forthcoming business
20
Q
what are hereditary peers?
A
- members of the aristocracy who inherited their titles
21
Q
whats an example of an act that modernised the HoL?
A
- House of Lords Act 1999
- removed all but 92 HPs
22
Q
what are life peers?
A
- appointed by the monarch on the advice of the MP
- have no fixed term
- appointed for their expertise
23
Q
what is the role of the HoL Appointments Commission?
A
- responsible for non political appointments
- scrutinise political appointments made by the PM to ensure theres no financial concerns
24
Q
what is an example of when the HoL Appointments Committee have had to interfere with a PMs appointment?
A
- 2016 david cameron appointed micheal spencer who was a business owner
- he had donated £4m to the party
- he had a connection to the Libor Banking scandal
25
how many lords spirituals are there?
- 26
- archbishops and bishops from the CofE
26
what are crossbenchers?
- they dont take a collective position on issues
- elect a covenor to represent the group and keep members informed of parliamentary business
27
what did he House of Lords Reform Act 2014 do?
- allows members to retire
- any member who doesnt attend at all ina session is considered to have retired
28
what is the role of the king in parliament?
- state openings
- dissolving
- kings speech announces the governments legislative plans
- royal assent
29
what are the 3 functions of the HoL?
- scrutinise
- shape laws
- investigate through committees
30
whats an example of an act that shows the commons are more powerful than the lords?
- Parliament Act 1911
- asserted the primacy of the commons after the constitutional crisis of 1909
31
explain the salisbury convention
- states the HoL shouldnt vote against a bill that seeks to enact a manifesto commitment of the governing party on 2nd and 3rd reading
32
what are the 3 functions of the HoC?
- vote on laws and policies
- raise constituents concerns
- debate issues
33
how can MPs hold the PM to account?
- PMQs
- encourages politicians to perform more effectively
- rarely face forensic questioning, usually just pasty questions
34
whats an example of a speaker holding MPs to account?
- 2016 john bercow suspended dennis skinner for refusing to apologise for calling the PM dodge dave
35
whats an example of a backbench rebellion?
- 2003 over the iraq war
- 121 labour MPs broke a 3 line whip to protest blairs 'as yet proven' military intervention in iraq
36
what does parliamentary privillege entail?
- freedom of speech: able to debate issues which could elsewhere cause prosecution
- executive cognisance: each house can regulate itself
37
whats a real example of parliamentary privilege?
- 2021 socdem and labour party leader names soldier F
- he was a british paratrooper who killed 5 unarmed civillians during the 1972 Bloody Sunday Massacre
38
what are the 3 theories of representation?
- burkean
- delegate
- mandate
39
explain and give an example of burkean theory
- MPs should consider constituents ideas but its ultimately their decision
- MPs have better judgement
- eg: gerald howarth voted against his constituents on the 2013 Marriage Act because heavily opposed it
40
explain and give an example of delegate theory
- MPs are mouthpieces for constituents
- eg: 2016 Zac Goldsmith threatened to resign if the government backed a 3rd runway at heathrow
41
explain and give an example of mandate theory
- MPs owe party loyalty as it wasnt the individual that was voted for,m but the party
- elected to carry out their manifesto
- eg: 2010 conservative pledge to give parenrs 'the power to save schools threatened by closure, allowing communities the chance to take over and run good small schools'
- came in the form of free schools
42
what functions do the 2 houses have in common?
- debate key issues
- introduce, amend and vote on bills
- hold ministers accountable
- dismiss senior judges with a joint vote
43
explain the commons financial privillege
- 1678 resolution
- 'all aids and supplies are the sole gift of the commons which ought not to be changed or altered by the hol'
- the lords shouldnt insist on an amendment that affects taxation or spending if overturned by MPs
44
give an real life example of the commons financial privillege
- 2012 welfare reform bill
- the lords 7 key amendments softened some of the bills most controversial reforms, such as the new household benefit cap
- they were all overturned in the commons
45
what did the 1911 parliament act do?
- established hoc financial primacy in statute
- gave hoc the right to insist on legislation, can only delay for 2 years
46
what did the 1949 parliament act do?
- reduced the lords ability to delay non money bills to 1 year
47
whats the salisbury convention?
- the hol shouldnt oppose bills that were featured in a governments election manifesto
48
explain an example of the salisbury convention in practice
- in 1945 labour won a landslide but only had 16 peers in the hol
- the conservative leader in the hol argued that peers shouldnt obstruct labours nationalisation and welfare policies
- voters had given the gov a clear mandate
49
explain the 2015 tax reform controversies
- 2002 Tax Credits Act created a new system of tax credits paid to low incomes
- it gave the chancellor the power to make secondary legislation
- he wrote new regulations that would cut the tax credits bill by £4.4b, by increasing the rate at which tax credits were withdrawn as wages increased
50
what is a bill?
- a proposal for a new law or to change an existing law
51
explain the 2 types of bills
- public: affect the whole population
- provate: only apply to specific people or organisations
52
explain how bills are passed
HOC then HOL
- first reading
- second reading
- committee stage
- report stage
- third reading
Consideration of amendments
Royal Assent
53
what are PBCs?
- public bill committees
- temporary
- 16-50 members
- composition is roughly proportional to the rest of the house
54
whats the west lothian question?
- whether its fair for english mps to not vote on devoved matters when they can vote on english laws
55
what are 10min rule bills?
- mps enter their name into weekly ballot
- if successful they can make a short speech outlining their proposed bill after question time
- if the house agrees, itll have its first reading
56
what are presentation bills?
- members introduce the title but theyre not allowed to speak on it
57
what are the 6 functions of parliament?
- legitimacy
- legislation
- debate
- scrutiny
- representation
- recruitment
58
whats an argument FOR parliament effectively carrying out legitimisation?
- whilst gov claim mandates from winning elections, a gov survival depends on maintainance of confidence
- Fixed Term Parliament Act 2011 states that if the gov is defeated on the motion, that 'this house has no confidence in HM gov'
- this can trigger parliament to be dissolved and an early GE
59
what are 2 prerogative powers?
- declare war
- negotiate treaties
60
whats an example of a PM still consulting with parliament, despite it not being legally necessary?
- 2013
- david cameron asked the commons to approve military intervention in syria
- he recognised that serious questions wouldve been raised over the legitimacy of the decision if he hadnt
61
whats a filibuster?
- where mps make lengthy speeches to use up available debate time and prevent a vote
- to block a PMB they dont like
62
what are 2 differeneces between public bill committees and select committees?
- select committees have permenant members
- select committee members are elected so more independent
63
whats an argument AGAINST parliament effectively carrying out its function of debate?
- many mp tend to deliver pre prepared speeches
- many leave after having their say
- many will have already decided how to vote before the debate begins
64
give an example of a past hoc debate
- hoc syria debate in 2013
- gov lost the vote that military action may be necessary
- although the pm had the royal prerogative power to order military action, he accepted the will of the house
65
what are EDMs?
- early day motions
- petitions that only mps can sign
- used as a way to measure support for an issue in the house
66
whats a pro of EDMs?
- allow mps to raise an issue without having to win the lotteries used for oral questions or adjournment debates
67
whats a con of EDMs?
- printing and managing EDMs costs hundreds of thousands of pounds each year
- some EDMs are trivial
- some mps refuse to sign EDMs regardless of how strongly constituents feel about an issue
68
whats individual ministerial responsibility?
- ministers are expected to take corrective action or resign in the case of wrongdoing
69
explain how PMQs are efficient in scrutinising the gov
- after asking the question they tabled in advance, they can ask 1 supplementary question
- the speaker can also select other mps to ask further supplementary questions
70
explain a critisism of PMQs
- theyre more about partisan point scoring than scrutiny and accountability
- pasty questions
71
whats a weakness of select committees?
- struggle to get the info they want from the gov
- departments can be slow to provide documents
72
what causes dispropotionate representation in parliament?
- first past the post
73
whats a pro and con of FPTP?
+ produces a clear mp-constituency link
- disproportionate outcomes
