The Opposition Flashcards
(23 cards)
What are the methods of scrutiny the Opposition has against the government?
-PMQ’s
-Parliamentry Commitees (when headed by an oppositon member)
-Oppostion days
-Votes of no confidennce
Describe the PMQ’s timetable
It is held once a week for half an hour for each Wednesday that the Commons is sitting. It recieves high levels of media attention and allows the oppositon to engage the government on a range of topics.
What is a strength of PMQ’s
They recieve high levels of media coverage and therefore the leader of the opposition can inflict serious damage with memorable sound bites.
Give a PMQ’s quote from Starmer?
‘Why is he still here?’ , questioning of Boris Johnson which compounded the pressure upon the then PM over Partygate
Give examples of Blair demoralising the government at PMQ’s
‘I lead my party, he follows his’ to John Major coupled with describing Major as ‘in office, but not in power’. All compounded by ‘weak, weak, weak’ rubbing sult in the wounds and solidfying Major’s image as a weak leader which was not helped by his Paty’s clear internal divisions as well as numerous scandals
Give a Badenoch quote from PMQ’s
‘When Labour negotiates, Britain loses’ in response to Starmer’s already highly scrutinised new EU deal
What did David Cameron describe PMQ’s as
‘A Punch and Judy show’
What is a disadvantage of PMQ’s
Government often take up time to ask easy or planted questions such as when in 2015 Conservative MPs repeatedly asked David Cameron about his long term economic plan, this was during the weeks before the general election.
Give examples of PMQ’s being controlled by the government
-David Cameron repeated long term economic plan questions
-In 2012, Desmond Swayne (Cameron’s parliamentary private secretary) had orchestrated the heckling of Labour leader, Ed Miliband, and had asked Conservative MPs to create protective wall of sound around the Prime Minister when he faces opposition criticism.
What example summarises the trivial nature of PMQ’s
David Cameron’s comment about Jeremy Corbyn’s chocie of suit in 2016
Give an example of the Government using urgent questions against the opposition
When the government asked an urgent question about whether it was appropriate for Sue Gray, the servent who investigate Partygate, to be given a senior role in Kier Starmers team in 2023
Give examples of urgent questions being wholly undermined
-2020 Labour MP for what she was wearing whilst raising an important issue about journalists’ access to number 10
-In 2022 Boris Johnson sent his paymaster general to answer an urgent question relating to lockdown parties at number 10, opposition MPs shouted ‘where is he!’ and ‘shame!’ to no avail
Give examples of opposition MPs chairing select committees to scrutinise the government
-In 2018 Yvette Cooper, chair of the the home affairs select committee, orchestrated the discovery into the windrush scandal.
-In 2021 Chris Bryant, chair of parliamentry standards committee, crticising the government for having second jobs
-Harriet Harman being the chair of the privledges committe when overseeing the discovery of Johnsons misleading of Parliament in relation to Partygate
What did Paul Flynn write in his book ‘how to be and MP’
He wrote that oppositon MPs are often lectured that their only influence is the ability to delay government bills
What are oppositon days?
Opposition parties are allocated 20 days during each parliamentary session, during which they can choose the main topic of business and table motions. 17 of these days go to the official opposition and 3 go to opposition parties.
Give an example of HM’s opposition making use of an opposition day
-In October 2020 Labour used one of its opposition days to put forward a motion to extend free school meals through half term following Marcus Rashford’s campaign urging them to do so. The motion was rejected in parliament but allowed Labour to kepp the issue in the public eye, the government later reversed its positon
-In October 2022 the Labour opposition day motion on fracking sparked chaos on Tory backbenches and was mishandled badly by the Tory whips, it contributed to the resignation of Liz Truss who some days earliear promoted and then ditched Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget. This highlights how oppositon days can be used to divide the government.
How are opposition days limited in their ability to provide effective scrutiny towards the government?
The votes made on oppostion days are non-binding and the government can rely on its inbuilt majority in the Commons to defeat motions, In recent years MPs from the governing party have abstained from voting if they felt they were going to lose.
Give an example of the government abstaining from voting for an opposition day motion
-In 2017, the government, which at the time had no parliamentary majority, and therefore was at risk of losing serious votes abstained from voting on a Labour motion calling for pay rises for nurses, avoiding scrutiny by simply failing to participate was described at the time as ‘a bad week for democracy’ by the then leader of the House.
What is the public accounts committee?
A select committe that is designed to examine how money is spent by the government. It is only chaired by members of the opposition.
What is a vote of no confidence?
A formal motion in which parliament decide whether still support the government, in particular the Prime Minister. It can lead to: the resignation of the PM, a new general election being called, or a government being formed from the existing parliament.
How did Thatcher successfully issue a vote of no confidence
James Callaghan led a minority government that faced numerous issues such as ‘The Winter of Discontent’. In March 1979 Thatcher issued a vote of no confidence and the motion won by only one vote (311-310). As required a general election was called in which Thatcher won, winning a 43 seat majority.
Give examples of governments surviving votes of no confidence
-Major facing strong opposition to the Maastricht treaty from the ‘bastards’ (Eurosceptics) causing internal party divides. After a vote on the ‘social chapter’ section of the treaty in which the Conservatives vote he boldy called a vote of no confidence essentially conveying ‘support the treaty or we fall’ and won by 399 to 299.
-In 2019, May survived a motion of no confidence despite suffering a demoralising defeat (432-202) on the Brexit withdrawal agreement the day before
Describe how government backbechers were closer to removing Johnson during a vote of no confidence
In 2022 Johnson had to face a vote of no confidence which was called for by his own backbenchers, he survived but 41% of Conservative MPs voted to remove him whilst the oppostion simply watched.
