What is the role and significance of the opposition?

Question 1

1. Can opposition parties hold the government to account?

Answer 1

1. Usually not, unless the government’s majority is small.

Question 2

1. Give an example of a leader of the opposition, who was seen as an effective performer, but still failed to make a real impression on the general public.

Answer 2

1. William Hague was leader of the opposition in the period of Tony Blair’s first government, and he was defeated in the 2001 general elections.

Question 3

1. If attacks in the Commons don’t work, how might opposition leaders attack the government.

Answer 3

1. They will attack it through the media, where they reach a larger audience.

Question 4

1. What opportunities does the opposition have to hold the government to account?

Answer 4

1. They respond to the government programme, and they reply to the chancellor of the exchequer’s budget speech.

Question 5

1a. How many days are opposition parties allocated, to propose subjects for debate?
1b. How are these days split between the largest opposition party and the second-largest opposition party?
1c. In November 2015, what did the SNP use its allocation for?

Answer 5

1a. 20 days
1b. 17 days are given to the leader of the largest opposition party, and the remaining 3 days to the second-largest opposition party.
1c. To debate the Trident nuclear defence system, and to discuss the closure of HMRC offices.

Question 6

1. How does the government respond to the opposition’s proposed amendments?

Answer 6

1. They will cancel out the opposition’s amendments, by commending their own policy. Thanks to their majority, they will usually have no difficulty in carrying the amendment.

Question 7

1. What is ‘Short money’?

Answer 7

1. This assistance helps opposition parties carry out their parliamentary business, and it also helps with the running costs of the leader of the opposition’s office.

Question 8

1. What does ‘Short money’ compensate for?

Answer 8

1. Compensates for the fact that the opposition doesn’t have access to support from the civil service.

Question 9

1. What is the money supposed to be spent on?

Answer 9

1. It’s spent on policy research and on the salaries of staff that work for the opposition. Money isn’t supposed to go directly towards the parties headquarters.

Question 10

1. Which government cut ‘Short money’?

Answer 10

1. Following the 2015 general elections, the Conservative government cut the amount of Short money. They justified this by saying that all Whitehall departments’ were facing cuts.