The Structure and Role of Parliament

• House of Commons has 650 MPs, elected at least every 5 years, dominant house under 1911 and 1949 Parliament Acts
• House of lords has 778 total, 86 Hereditary Peers, 25 Senior Church of England bishops
• The House of Lords lacks any democratic mandate, which is reflected in its lack of powers.
• Life peers: This was made possible by the the Life Peerage Act 1958. Most peers are life peers, often nominated by the leader of political parties.
• 1999 House of Lords Act reduced hereditary peers to 92. Before this was around 700.
• Life and Hereditary peers are knows as the Lords Temporal.
• 25 Bishops in the House of Lords known as the Lords Spiritual.
• A large amount of independent peers sit. They are known as crossbenchers and no one party has held a clear majority since 1999.
• MPs can ask questions, both written and oral, of government ministers. The most well known is Prime Ministers Questions (PMQs)
• Debates in both chambers allow members to air views
• Select Committees investigate and scrutinise actions
• Bills go through various stages including scrutiny.
• Parliament has the final say in all new legislation.
• The Prime Minister is the most important person in parliament and nearly always command an overall majority in the House of Commons. A Prime Minister with a clear majority can usually rely on getting what they want.
• The Speaker keeps order in the House of Commons, administers the rules, suspending those who break them, makes sure as many MPs from all of the different parties have the chance to speak in a debate, and by tradition renounces any party allegiance on taking up the post to ensure impartiality.
• The Leader of the House of Commons is a cabinet level post and is essentially that of the government's business manager and is their job to see from the executive's perspective that the commons runs smoothly and that bills are properly timetabled.
• Whips are in charge of keeping part discipline and ensuring as far as possible that MPs stay loyal and vote the way that their leaders dictate.
• Scrutiny happens through :MPs can ask questions, both written and oral, of government ministers - The most well known is Prime Ministers Questions (PMQs); Debates in both chambers allow members to air views; Select Committees investigate and scrutinise actions; Bills go through various stages; Parliament has the final say in all new legislation; Vote of No Confidence.
• Burkean Model: Your MP has no formal responsibility for the interests of others but, having been ‘entrusted’ with a particular responsibility, their actions should be responsible and accountable.
• Delegate model: Has the authorisation to act on behalf of others, while being bound by clear instructions.
• Mandate theory: MPs are in their position to represent and carry out their party’s policies and manifesto.
• First reading: formal introduction of the bill by the reading of the title by the relevant minister, no vote or debate at this stage
• second reading: main debate on principles takes place in commons chamber, very rare for the government to defeat the bill at this stage
• Committee stage: bills sent to public bill committees to consider the bill line by line and suggest any amendments to the bill, unlikely for major changes to happen to the bill as government always has majority, PBCs only last the lifetime of the bill
• Report Stage: any amendments agreed in committees are put in front of the commons and then either accepted, rejected or changed as well as putting forward any other amendments to the bill
• third reading: final debate on the amended version of the bill, no more amendments are permitted at this stage
• Legislative process is repeated in the House of Lords if the bill makes it through all of the stages in the Commons
• Green paper - government document setting out the issues and options for legislation, a discussion document
• white paper - government document setting out the detailed plans and proposals for legislation
• Private Members' Bills allow MPs to draft and present their own bills, some of which make their way into new law
• Ballot Bills have the best chance of all PMBs of being debated fully and being passed as law. Backbenchers can enter a ballot every year with 20 names drawn out. Some MPs bring up what they think are important issues whilst some want to amend existing legislation. These issues are usually bills which government does not have time or does not wish to debate it.
• Ten Minute Rule bills are policy aspirations which can be talked about for 10 minutes after Question time. They are an opportunity for backbenchers to raise issues of concern, especially in their own constituencies rather than proposing legislation. Party whips decide the slots for 10 minute rule bills
• Presentation Bills are introduced by any MP during a Friday sitting after the Ballot Bills. The MP presenting the bill cannot give a speech and they are not debated. They are usually used to address discrete and non-controversial policy issues and to resolve abnormalities in the law. They are the least useful out of all PMBs with no debate or speech.
• Burkean (trustee) Theory - theory that argues elected officials are purely representatives of their voters and once elected are entirely free to act in the interests of their electors as they see fit.
• Delegate theory - elected official authorised to represent and act as a mouthpiece for their constituents
• scrutiny of the executive - process where opposition MPs ask questions and critique government actions to hold the government to account
• Parliamentary Privilege - Exemption of MPsand peers from the laes of slander and contempt of court in order to uphold the principle of free speech within parliament. This does not apply beyond Westminster and does not grant MPs or peers immunity from procecution for criminal offences.
• Emergency debates can be granted with permission of from the speaker and has to be a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration. If granted, MPs have 3 minutes to present the issue to the House.
• Payroll vote - describes a group of voters who currently hold a government post like a junior minister, minister or parliamentary private secretary, and are guaranteed to vote in support of the government
• One of the most effective ways of holding the government to account is through parliamentary questions which are either written or asked in the chamber during question time sessions, with the most important being Prime Minister's Question Time.