UK Politics - Parliament

Question 1

House of Commons

Answer 1

• UK Parliament is a bicameral parliament - meaning it is made up of two chambers (HoL and HoC)
• the Commons is the elected chamber, with 650 MPs
• there is a Speaker who chairs proceedings (even though they are an MP that’s elected by the rest of the House, they must remain impartial)
• the treasury benches are where the government sits (PM, Cabinet, government ministers + backbenchers)
• opposition benches are where non-gov MPs sit (at the front is opposition leader, shadow cabinet with opposition backbenchers behind)
• both parties have whips who seek to ensure their party’s MPs vote the correct way
• independent MPs sit on opposition benches

Question 2

Functions of the House of Commons

Answer 2

¬ Legislation
- the Commons has a key role in debating, scrutinising, amending and voting on legislation
- has a lesser role in creating legislation (small # of bills are written and proposed by MPs rather than by the executive)
- the Commons can stop government legislation altogether (rarely happens)
¬ Debating
- legislation is debated at second reading
- issues of the days & of interest to constituents are also debated such as during adjournment debates & emergency debates
¬ Representation
- MPs are elected to represent their constituents
- they have surgeries in their constituencies and raise constituency issues in questions and debates
- MPs follow the Burkean or trustee model of representation
¬ Scrutiny & Accountability
- Parliament scrutinises legislation and the business of government, especially through Public Bill Committees and Select Committees
- MPs hold the government to account in PMQs and MQs
¬ Legitimation
- the democratic accountability of the Commons means that the people give their consent to laws

Question 3

1. Effectiveness of the Commons

Answer 3

LEGISLATION
¬ Effective
- examples of Commons stopping of significantly amending legislation
- e.g., Commons voted against Blair’s plans to extend the detention of terrorist suspects to 90 days
¬ Ineffective
- governments usually enjoy a majority in the Commons and are therefore rarely defeated
- e.g., Blair didn’t lose a vote between 1997 and 2005
- the coalition only lost 2 2010-2015
DEBATING
¬ Effective
- Wright reforms have given more power to backbenchers to influence the parliamentary agenda
- increased number of debates on current and pressing issues
¬ Ineffective
- debating time strictly limited because of time required for government business
- whips exercise significant control

Question 4

2. Effectiveness of the Commons

Answer 4

REPRESENTATION
¬ Effective
- MPs raise constituent concerns through written and oral questions
- can use adjournment debates and private members bills to address constituency concerns
- MPs face scrutiny from constituents between elections, through surgeries, correspondence and social media
¬ Ineffective
- although people vote for a specific candidate in general elections, the focus is largely on the party
- FPTP means that MPs are often elected by less than half of their constituents
- Parliament is not descriptively (or socially) representative of the UK
- 2017: 442 / 650 MPs = men, 52 / 650 = BAME
SCRUTINY & ACCOUNTABILITY
¬ Effective
- select committees can spend significant time on scrutiny of government actions and public bill committees are able to amend and improve legislation
¬ Ineffective
- oral questions in the House are often described as “pantomime” and rarely challenge the government or seriously hold it to account

Question 5

Powers of the House of Commons

Answer 5

• it can initiate, amend and reject (veto) legislation
• it can even reject legislation from the governing party’s manifesto
• government’s budget is subject to approval by the Commons
• can dismiss a government, by passing a motion of no-confidence - very rare
• last occurrence was 1979

Question 6

House of Lords

Answer 6

• unelected chamber
• life peers (appointed for life) - 676 in 2019
• hereditary peers (inherit their title - greatly reduced in 1999) - fixed at 92
• lords spiritual (senior clergy from Church of England) - fixed at 26
• like the HoC, the HoL has a speaker, government + opposition benches and whips
• has a number of crossbencher (182 in 2019) who are independent

Question 7

Functions of House of Lords

Answer 7

• has many of the same functions as Commons, other than that of representation (Lords are unelected) or legitimation (democratically illegitimate)
• legislation - sometimes referred to as revising chamber
• debate - Lords debate legislation and current issues
• scrutiny & accountability - Lords scrutinises legislation as a whole house as opposed to committees like Commons
• does have select committees and some committees that include members of both chambers
• whilst Lords can’t ask questions of PM in chamber, there are minister’s questions (like in Commons) where ministers who are members of HoL must answer questions on behalf of government

Question 8

1. Effectiveness of Lords

Answer 8

LEGISLATION
¬ Effective
- government legislative is defeated in the Lords more often than in Commons - lack of clear majority
- e.g., government suffered defeats in Lords during passing of EU Withdrawal Bill 2018
- Lords are more likely to rebel against the whip than MPs, and presence of crossbenchers means that the outcome of votes is less predictable
¬ Ineffective
- has no legislative veto, can only delay and can be over-ridden (Parliament Acts 1911 + 1949)
- significant areas of legislation cannot be obstructed by Lords - Salisbury Convention (Lords can’t obstruct measures promised in governing party’s manifesto)

Question 9

2. Effectiveness of Lords

Answer 9

DEBATE
¬ Effective
- Lords has less crowded timetable than Commons - can spend more time on debates
- many peers have been appointed due to being experts in particular field, others have held high office - quality of debate is often high
¬ Ineffective
- sometimes accused of being a “talking shop” - long debates but to no useful or practical end
- despite there being a lot of Lords, the chamber is often poorly attended (even more than Commons) - members only really attend debates of their interest
SCRUTINY & ACCOUNTABILITY
¬ Effective
- high levels of expertise can lead to forensic and effective questioning
¬ Ineffective
- most senior ministers are in the Commons, so only junior ministers are held to account in the Lords

Question 10

Powers of the House of Lords

Answer 10

• has fewer powers than HoC
• delay legislation for up to 1 year (Parliament Act 1949) - has no veto
• amend legislation - Lord amendments then have to go back to Commons for approval - ping-pong
• scrutinise the executive through select committees
• there are several restrictions on its powers

Question 11

Commons v Lords

Answer 11

¬ House of Commons
- elected
- can reject any legislation
- can amend legislation
- gov’s budget requires approval
- highly partisan & adversarial
- provides gov with legitimacy and a mandate
¬ House of Lords
- unelected; largely appointed
- cannot obstruct manifesto commitments
- can only delay legislation for up to a year (no veto)
- amendments must go back to Commons for approval
- doesn’t vote on “money bills”
- more independent of party - less adversarial
- no democratic mandate

Question 12

1. Legislative process

Answer 12

1. The King’s Speech - gov’s legislative programme outlined
2. First Reading - bill is introduced in HoC
3. Second Reading - full debate and vote in the HoC
4. Committee Stage - Public Bill Committees scrutinise the bill
5. Report Stage & third reading - amendments are proposed and debated + final vote

Question 13

2. Legislative process

Answer 13

5. House of Lords - bill goes through same stages in HoL
   If no amendments suggested, goes straight to Royal Assent however if they are…
6. Back to Commons - Commons can accept changes from Lords or send it back (ping-pong - can last years)
7. Royal Assent - monarch signs the bill at which point it becomes an Act of Parliament and the law

Question 14

1. Salisbury Convention

Answer 14

¬ Background
- when Attlee became PM with Labour landslide - only 16 Labour-supporting Lords out of 761 peers
- Labour had clear mandate to implement 1945 manifesto - Lords had no mandate to block it
- Lord Salisbury (Tory leader in Lords) set out principle that Lords wouldn’t obstruct measures set out in gov’s manifesto
- this has become part of UK constitution (ex of a convention)
- however didn’t apply 2010-2015 as Coalition followed ‘Coalition Agreement’ not one manifesto which had won a majority

Question 15

2. Salisbury Convention

Answer 15

¬ In practive
- Lords can propose reasoned amendments to gov bills at second reading, but not wrecking amendments that are designed to frustrate, reverse or destroy the bill
- some debate about whether the convention should apply to a minority gov, to a coalition agreement or at all since Lords reform of 1999

Question 16

1. Backbenchers

Answer 16

• MPs who don’t hold a position in government or as official spokesperson for opposition party
• usually vote with whip and support their party in votes
• usually loyal because…
  elected on party manifesto
  if ambitious, will wish to please PM or party leader to be promoted
• have become increasingly rebellious - whilst gov defeats are infrequent, govs often accept amendments and take other action to avoid defeat

Question 17

2. Backbenchers

Answer 17

• have great powers since Wright Reforms 2010 - MPs choose select committee members
• Backbench Business Committee choose topics or debate (on 35 days of the year)
• Speaker Bercow was a champion of backbenchers’ rights - calling more to speak and ask questions
• MPs are protected by parliamentary privilege which means they are not subject to the laws of slander when speaking in chamber

Question 18

1. Select Committees

Answer 18

• exist in both chambers
• designed to allow for scrutiny of executive and broadly shadow gov departments
• e.g., Education Select Committee scrutinises Department fo Education
• Lords Committees tend to have broader focus
• also have committees that look across whole of gov business e.g., Public Accounts Committee
• Committee membership broadly reflects the composition of Commons - gov with majority will have majority in committees
• have the power to send for persons, papers and records
• Committee members become experts in the area, improving debates overall

Question 19

2. Select Committees

Answer 19

• questioning in Committees often forensic and sustained - witnesses can prepare but don’t know what they’ll be asked
• reports are often well-publicised. governments must respond - although do not have right to act on committee recommendations
• some high-profile inquiries and reports e.g., PAC confronting large companies e.g., Google, Amazon, that had avoided tax
• Liaison Committee is made up of all the HoC select committee chairs
• PM appears before the committee annually, and the rigorous and forensic questioning is a stark contrast with PMQs

Question 20

Effectiveness of Select Committees

Answer 20

¬ Effective
- able to interrogate witnesses at considerable length with forensic questioning
- Select Committees provide alternative career path for politicians - committee chairs are well-paid
- become experts - improves questioning
- government MUST respond to reports
¬ Ineffective
- no legal power of summons - nobody is compelled to assist a select committee with inquiry (would be politically unwise for gov to not cooperate)
- gov has a majority in committees, so rarely challenges the government politically
- committees always seek to try and reach unanimous decision so findings tend to avoid controversy
- although gov must respond - doesn’t have to act

Question 21

The Opposition

Answer 21

• all MPs not a part of the governing party (or parties - coalition) sit on opposition benches
• largest of these parties is His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition which acts as a government-in-waiting, shadowing the gov
• Leader of Opposition sits opposite the PM, surrounded by shadow cabinet and other shadow ministers
• when gov has small or no majority, the opposition is able to exercise more influence than when faced with a government with a large majority
• while oppositions rarely force defeats on governments, even minority governments, they can try to appeal to the public as an alternative

Question 22

Ministers Questions

Answer 22

• ministers are compelled to come to the HoC and HoL for questioning by backbenchers
• there are regularly programmed times for questioning, and also the Speaker is able to grant an Urgent Question where the attendance of a relevant minister is demanded in relation to a serious issue of the day
• for MQs, the Secretary of State and a # of junior ministers reply to questioning both from backbenchers and from opposition spokespeople
• backbench MPs are unable to ask follow up questions
• for detailed responses, written questions are more effective than oral questions

Question 23

Prime Minister’s Questions

Answer 23

• PMQs is the most high-profile event in the HoC calendar most weeks
• the chamber tends to be full and is broadcast live on TV on Wednesdays
• backbench MPs get to ask one question to the MP
• every other speaker is a gov MP - usually asked friendly or ‘planted’ questions - allows PM to make announcement or attack line on opposition
• opposition leaders get to ask more questions than backbenchers
• Leader of Official Opposition can build argument over their 6 questions
• PM prepares for PMQs with their team, has great deal more resources at disposal than backbenchers (rarely seriously challenged)
• can sometimes lead to policy changes (gov stopped using premium-rate # for Universal Credit queries after PMQ from Corbyn 2017)
• PMQs often dismissed as ‘political theatre’