UK Parliament Flashcards
(92 cards)
1
Q
How many MPs are there?
A
650
2
Q
What is the average constituency size?
A
68,000
3
Q
Example of an independent MP
A
Jeremy Corbyn (kicked out of Labour)
4
Q
How many Conservative MPs were elected in 2024?
A
121
5
Q
How many Labour MPs were elected in 2024.
A
411
6
Q
How many SNP MPs were elected in 2019?
A
48
7
Q
How big should the House of Lords be?
A
No fixed size
8
Q
How many Lords are there currently?
A
~800
9
Q
3 types of peers
A
- Life peers
- Hereditary peers
- Lords spiritual
10
Q
What are life peers?
A
Appointed to the Lords for their lifetime only
Often nominated by leaders of political parties
11
Q
How many hereditary peers are there?
A
92
12
Q
How are hereditary peers chosen?
A
If a peer dies or resigns, the other 91 hereditary peers elect who should fill their seat
13
Q
How many Lords Spiritual are there?
A
26 - all Church of England bishops
14
Q
What are crossbenchers?
A
Peers in the HoL that do not have a party affiliation
15
Q
How many crossbench peers are there?
A
184
16
Q
How many female MPs were elected in 2019?
A
220
17
Q
What is the role of the speaker?
A
- Keeping order in the HoC
- Ensuring as many MPs as possible can speak during parliamentary debates
- Can suspend MPs who break the rules
18
Q
Who is the current speaker?
A
Lindsay Hoyle
19
Q
What is the role of the Leader of the House of Commons?
A
Ensure the commons runs smoothly and bills are properly timetabled
20
Q
What is the role of a government whip?
A
Maintaining party discipline and ensuring MPs stay loyal
21
Q
What is a three line whip?
A
A strict instruction to all MPs that they must support the government’s legislation or they face having the whip removed
22
Q
What is having the whip removed?
A
When an MP is kicked out their party and therefore remains in the Commons as an independent
23
Q
Example of an MP having the whip removed
A
Matt Hancock after he decided to go on I’m A Celeb
24
Q
What is a frontbench MP?
A
Members of the government who are also ministers
25
4 main functions of parliament
1. Legislation
2. Representation
3. Scrutiny
4. Debate
26
What are public bills?
Bills that come from the government and apply to everyone once it becomes law
27
How many public bills were passed in 2019?
31
28
What is a Green Paper?
Government document setting out an issue and the options for legislation to resolve said issue
29
What is a White Paper?
Government document setting out detailed plans and proposals for legislation
30
6 stages of the legislative process?
1. First reading
2. Second reading
3. Committee stage
4. Report stage
5. Third reading
6. Continues to the Lords
31
What happens in the first reading?
Formal introduction of a bill
No vote or debate
32
What happens in the second reading?
Main debate on the principles of the bill takes place
Vote to continue (nearly always passes)
33
Example of a bill which failed at the second reading?
1986 Sunday Trading Bill
(this was the last time this happened)
34
What happens in the committee stage?
Bill sent to a public bill committee
Suggest amendments and review the bill in detail
35
Why are public bill committees weak?
- Temporary
- Members appointed by party whips
- Membership reflects HoC proportions
36
What happens in the report stage?
Any amendments from the committee stage are considered by the HoC
37
What happens in the third reading?
Final debate and vote on the amended version of the bill
38
What happens when the legislative process is successful in the House of Commons?
The process is then repeated in the Lords
39
What is secondary legislation?
The relevant minister of a department can introduce new clauses or changes without it passing through Parliament
40
Why is secondary legislation useful?
- Allows legislation to be passed quickly
- Scrutinised by Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments
41
Example of a committee where the government does not enjoy a majority
Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments
42
Why can secondary legislation be controversial?
Important decisions 'swept under the rug' and do not receive democratic scrutiny
43
What act allows drugs to be criminalised through secondary legislation?
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
44
What are Private Members Bills?
Bills drafted and presented by backbench MPs
45
Example of a Private Members Bill
Abortion Act 1967 - outlawed abortion
46
Is Parliament good at representation? - YES
- 650 constituencies which are all roughly even
- Wide range of parties
- Commons is increasingly diverse
47
Is Parliament good at representation? - NO
- FPTP favours the two largest parties and regionally concentrated parties (ie SNP)
- Women significantly underrepresented
- MPs largely from privileged backgrounds
48
What percentage of MPs are women?
34%
49
What percentage of MPs are LGBTQ+?
6% (compared to 2% nationally)
50
What percentage of MPs were privately educated?
29% (compared to 7% nationally)
51
What percentage of MPs have declared second jobs?
18%
52
Example of an MP with a second job
Conservative MP Martha Caulfield works part time as a nurse, as this is necessary for her to keep her nursing registration
53
Burkean/trustee theory of representation
Elected officials are trusted by their constituents to make decisions in their best interests
54
Delegate theory of representation
Elected officials should act as a mouthpiece for their constituents
55
Example of an MP following the trustee theory of representation
Conservative MP Nick Boles represented a Leave constituency (Grantham) but personally supported the remain campaign and voted against the government's Brexit plans
56
Example of an MP following the delegate theory of representation
Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith promised his constituents that he would resign if the government backed building a 3rd runway at Heathrow (he did)
57
Mandate theory of representation
MPs are elected to carry out the policies stated in the party manifesto
58
Example of an MPs following the mandate theory of representation
When 139 MPs rebelled against the Blair government over the invasion of Iraq - not a manifesto promise so they did not have to follow
59
Example of parliamentary debate causing effective scrutiny
After a heated and emotional debate on the Syrian military intervention in 2013, the Cameron government was defeated by 13 votes
60
What is parliamentary privilege?
MPs and peers cannot be convicted for anything they say in Parliament, allowing for true freedom of speech in debate
61
How many signatures must a petition get to be debated in the Commons?
100,000
62
Examples of successful petitions which have been debated in the Commons
A 2020 petition asking for NHS staff to receive free parking received 450,000 signatures and was successful
63
Why are parliamentary debates weak?
- Poorly attended
- No direct power over government
- Many MPs of the governing party may be reluctant to publicly criticise the government
- Opposition MPs can be seen as playing politics instead of providing effective scrutiny
64
What are 'patsy questions'?
Questions asked by governing party MPs during PMQs which praise the government
65
Is PMQs effective? - YES
- High profile
- Forces the PM to face direct questioning publicly (no US equivalent)
- Builds up profile of opposition
- Parliamentary accountability of executive
66
Is PMQs effective? - NO
- Mostly seen as 'Punch and Judy' politics, trying to score political points instead of effective scrutiny
- PM rarely directly answers questions
- Patsy questions
67
Three types of committee
- Public bill committees
- Select committees
- Lords committees
68
What are public bill committees?
Temporary committees created to scrutinise bills going through the legislative process
69
Advantages of public bill committees
- Backbench MPs play a key role
- Chaired by both governing party and opposition
- Provide opportunities for pressure groups to scrutinise legislation
70
Example of a public bill committee providing effective scrutiny
Investigatory Powers Act 2016
Additional safeguards put in place to protect journalists
71
Disadvantages of public bill committees
- Membership is proportional to party strength in Commons
- Major amendments unlikely (just 0.5%)
- Temporary membership, MPs aren't experts
- Select committees choose membership
72
Role of select committees
To hold ministers and departments to account for their policies and decision making
73
What is the most important select committee?
Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
Reviews how government spends money
Chair is Labour MP Meg Hillier
74
Example of a select committee chaired by an expert
Until 2019, the Health Select Committee was chaired by former GP Sarah Wollaston
75
How many select committees are there?
28
76
What is the standard number of members in a select committee?
11
77
How are select committee chairs chosen?
Secret ballot of MPs
78
Example of a select committee chaired by Labour
Work and Pensions Committee chaired by Stephen Timms (as of 2019 election)
79
Powers of select committees
- Summon witnesses
- Analyse restricted documents
80
Example of select committees scrutinising a government appointment
In 2013, the Education Select Committee rejected the proposed head of Ofsted
However, she was still appointed to the post
81
Are select committees effective? - YES
- Less partisan than Parliament
- Chaired by opposition MPs
- Power to call witnesses
- Members are often specialists
82
Are select committees effective? - NO
- Often committees vote along party lines
- Governing party has majority of committee seats
- Government under no obligation to accept suggestions
83
What are Lords committees?
Specialist committees which analyse niche areas
84
Example of a Lords committee
COVID-19 committee to analyse the long-term affects of the pandemic
85
How can the opposition provide scrutiny of the governing party?
- PMQs
- 20 opposition days a year
- Shadow cabinet questioning ministers
- Work in select committees
86
What are opposition days?
The opposition party, for 20 days a year, are allowed to choose what is debated in Parliament
87
Examples of opposition day topics
In 2018, Labour raised the issue of the Grenfell Tower fire
88
Purposes of the opposition in Parliament
- Receive short money to help them effectively scrutinise
- Present an alternative government to the public
- Can check government policy
89
Weaknesses of the opposition in Parliament
- Government has more funding and media coverage, can be hard to opposition to make big statements
- Successes are rare
90
Example of a shadow cabinet appearing weak
In 2017, Diane Abbott, shadow home secretary, was interviewed on LBC and was criticised for her lacklustre understanding of the police force
91
Does the executive dominate parliament? - YES
- Whipping ensures that government-backed bills pass easily
- The executive proposes majority of legislation
- Committees are also dominated by governing party
92
Does the executive dominate parliament? - NO
- Govs in minority or small majority can be easily defeated by small groups of rebels
- Opposition days and private members bills
- Select committees reasonably independent
