Parliament

• A parliament is an elected assembly responsible for passing legislation.👍
• Bicameral legislature is a legislature that is divided into two chambers or houses.👍
• House of Commons is a part of parliament that scrutinizes government through committees.👍
• House of Lords scrutinizes government legislation and holds the government accountable.👍
• The Crown-in-Parliament has a constitutional role in opening and dissolving parliament and approving bills.👍
• Frontbenchers are right hand side of the chairman and are occupied by shadow ministers.👍
• Backbenchers, also known as 'rank and file', hold no ministerial role.👍
• Independents are members of parliament who are not affiliated with any political party.👍
• The main functions of parliament include passing legislations, scrutinizing the executive, and providing ministers.👍
• Passing legislation is an important function of parliament and the supreme legislative body in the UK has the authority to pass or amend laws.👍
• The House of Commons had exclusive power to consent to taxation bills and the lords aren't allowed to interfere.👍
• Most legislation is initiated by the Government and the Parliament has to react.👍
• Party whips are responsible for MP attendance and issue written instructions on how to vote. They can also enforce sanctions to party rebels👍
• Party rebels: Consistent rebelling can result in the whip to withdraw the MP and suspended them from the party.👍
• Parliament is powerful in amending legislations as the opposition is unified combined with 'rebels' of the government side, so this provides scrutiny.👍
• power parliament in bills: The government often holds a majority so they gain the vote (51%).👍
• Example of parliament power in amending legislation: In 2016, David Cameron was defeated when trying to extend Sunday trading hours, however, the Labour, SNP and conservative rebels joined up to defeat the notion.👍
• importance of HoL's - balances out the Government.
• The House of Lords can propose amendments to government or bill, and the government can accept or reject these amendments, which can sometimes lead to 'parliamentary ping-pong'.
• Different types of legislation: legislative bill, an act of parliament, a Government bill, private bill, a Hybrid bill, and a Private member bill.👍
• The Salisbury convention is called into question due to the 2005 General Election, where Labour got in with only a 35.2% of the vote, leading to a coalition government.
• importance of HoL's: can scrutinise bills without party bias, allowing effective scrutiny.👍
• constraints on HoC's: A minority government forms informal coalitions to remain in office, for example, Theresa May and DUP.👍
• importance in HoL's: has the power to remove the Government after 5 years in office.👍
• Constraints on the HoL's: and its power is limited by law and convention since the early 20th century.👍
• HoC’s more important: Commons gives consent to taxation and public expenditure, but the House of Lords cannot interfere with them.👍
• The Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 are laws to prevent the House of Lords from becoming too powerful.👍
• A bill becomes a law after it passes through the legislative process.👍
• HoC's remain supremecy: The House of Commons is the dominant house through convention and law, and when there is disagreement a strong government majority can overturn the House of Lords.👍
• HoL’s more important: If a government tries to remain in power for more than 5 years, the House of Lords has the power to call a general election.👍
• Cross-bench peers are not aligned with any political party, act as neutral figures, usually from a particular field of work, and are likely to assess a bill on merit rather than who has proposed it.👍
• After the reform in 1999: the Conservatives lost the majority in the House of Lords due to the removal of hereditary peers, no party has overall control of the House of Lords.👍
• Strength to bicameral system: provides scrutiny of bills and government, checks and balance.👍
• Weakness of bicameral system: some policies may not pass, the houses will disagree, gridlock may be caused in major issues👍
• Process of bill becoming law: 1. green, white papers 2. first reading 3. second reading 4. committee stage 5. report stage 6. third reading 7. opposite house 8. royal assent
• 1&2. green & white papers- proposals and discussion ,issued by government a statement policy
• 3. first reading- first round of voting, formal introduction in commons and lords
• 4. second reading- debated in house of origin lead to another vote
• 5. committee stage- committee stage pulled, represent government and offers amendments
• 6. report stage- amendments formally offered triggers a vote