Parliament (2) Key Words

• Parliament: the British legislature made up of the House of Commons, House of Lords and the monarch.
• Bicameral: a legislative body made up of two chambers
• House of Commons: the primary chamber which is directly elected by voters
• House of lords: the second chamber which is not directly elected by voters.
• Backbenchers: MPs or Lord’s who don’t hold any government office
• Fusion: the PM is part of parliament
• Representative government: gov takes place through parliament where decisions are made by elected representatives of the people (MPs).
• Responsible government: it is accountable to parliament for its actions and accountable to the people through elections.
• Party whip: an official appointed by the party leader whose role is to maintain party discipline and loyalty, to inform MPs about parliamentary business and act as a communication between backbenchers and party leaders
• Speaker: organise the parliamentary business and maintain order and discipline in the House of Commons
• Confidence and supply: right to remove gov and grant or withhold funding. Also used to describe a type of informal coalition agreement
• Salisbury convention: the convention whereby the House of Lords does not delay or block legislation that was introduced in a government‘s manifesto.
• Parliamentary privilege: the right of MPs or Lords to make certain statements within parliament without being subject to outside influence.
• Legislative bill: proposed law passing through parliament
• Public bill committees: responsible for looking at bills in detail
• Select committees: responsible for scrutinising the work of government, particularly individual gov departments.
• Legislative bills: proposed law passing through parliament
• Private bills: if an organisation requires to take action that the law currently forbids
• Private members‘ bill: presented by individuals or groups of MPs or peers (backbenchers).
• Public bills: most bills are public, they are presented by government and are expected to be passed without too much obstruction.
• Consent: the idea that a proposed law or decision by the government is formally consented to by the people (as they are elected in).
• Chancellor of the exchequer: in charge of finance, present their budget to the commons.
• legitimise: MPs representing the people
• Primary legislation: has to go through all parliamentary procedures
• Statutory instruments: most common secondary legislation
• Act of parliment: been through the process and has been passed
• White paper: a document outlining the main intentions and terms of a public bill
• Ping pong: when legislation goes back and forth between commons and lords.
• Free vote: MPs can vote how they wish not how their party wishes to vote.
• Scrutiny: parliament scrutinises legislation and a role of general scrutiny over the executive (PM and cabinet).
• Accountability: parliament requires the executive to explain and justify their actions.
• Delegate model: an individual selected to act on behalf of others on the basis of clear instructions
• Trustee model: once elected they are free to decide how to vote based on their own judgement of an issue and what action to take
• Constituency representation: expected to protect and advance the collective interests of the constituency they represent e.g. those involved in post mastered scandal went to their local MP.
• Party representation: not elected for their personal beliefs and qualities but because they represent a political party.
• Descriptive representation: legislature mirrors the society it represents, parliament should be a microcosm of society.
• Conventions: an unwritten tradition that is expected
• Salisbury convention: HoL can’t vote against legislation in the government’s manifesto and only delay others for up to a year
• Confidence and supply: right to remove the government and to grant or withhold funding or used to describe a type of informal coalition agreement
• Legislation: when laws are made, amended or passed