House of Commons

• 650 members each elected from a constituency
• Nearly all MPs in the UK represent a political party.
• Backbench make up the majority
• Frontbenchers are more senior; they are ministers and party officials appointed by the PM
• Normally around 90 front bench on governing side and 50 opposition front bench
• MPs do much of their works in committees; main types are select and legislative committees
• Party Whips appointed who work under chief whip ensure party loyalty, informing leadership and informing parliamentary business
• The speaker maintains order and discipline in debates
• Proceedings presided over by the speaker who must be elected by all other MPs
• Exclusive powers:

  • examination and approval of the financial affairs of the government
  • complete veto of legislation in certain circumstances
  • select committees examination of government departments
• 1911 Act: House of Lords powers were significantly reduced and they could not block legislation making the HoC more powerful
• 1949 Act: Powers further reduced and the lords could only delay primary legislation for up to a year
• When a government is defeated in a vote of no confidence all members must resign from government for example Jim Callaghan in 1979
• The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee considers all secondary legislation and decides what proposals might cause concern
• In 2015 the Lords voted against a peice of secondary legislation that would have reduced the level of tax credits paid to low income families. This action forced the gov to amend the legislation.
• Scrutiny of the Government:

  • PMQs every wed for 30 mins
  • forcing gov to justify its policies and decisions
  • Departmental select committees
  • Can refuse to pass legislation e.g. April 2016
  • Vote of no confidence
• Parliamentary backbench business committee: established in 2010 and provides backbencher MPs with 35 days a year to control parliamentary business.
• Petitions committee: created in 2015 to schedule debates on petitions that reached 100,000 signatures.
• Adjournment debates: take place at the end of each day’s sitting, MPs can ask ministers questions but are limited to 30 minutes and are rarely attended by many.
• Early day motions: introduced by MPs urging debate on a specific issue but most don’t reach House of Commons
• Emergency debates: MP may request where they will have 3 minutes to debate.
• Urgent questions: MP can apply to the speaker to ask an urgent question
• The opposition:

  • leader receives a minister’s salary and takes part in all official ceremonies
  • privilege of asking the most questions at PMQs
  • 20 opposition days
  • “government in waiting”
  • must call gov to account
  • often seek to defend sections of society they feel are being ignored
• The opposition should:

  • ensure gov justifies its legislative programme
  • create public debate
  • prepared (in waiting gov)
• Select committees were established in 1979, most committees have 11 members and they scrutinise the role of gov rather than the whole house
• Departmental select committees: scrutinise gov departments and hold ministers to account. Cross party whips arrange seats proportional to party representation within the commons
• The Liasin committee was created in 2002. Made up of all the chairs of Departmental Select Comittees and meet with the PM twice a year but not had a significant impact
• The Backbench Business committee was set up as part of the wright reform (2010) and determined what issues should be allocated on the 1 day a week to back bench MPs
• Public Accounts committee (PAC) has arguably the most influence. Its role is to examine the public finances and its chair is always a member of the main opposition party.
• Select committees are effective:

  • depth of research
  • array of sectors
  • full time staff
  • work across all parties
  • increasing media attention
• Select committees are not effective:

  • inconsistent quality due to lack of MPs involved
  • small time allocation in parliament
  • fewer reports debated
  • rarely follow up issues
• Backbenchers in the commons general purpose + functions:

  • legislating and scrutiny of the front benchers and representation.
  • taking part in debates and voting in divisions
  • speaking in general debate
  • speaking in backbench debates
  • scrutinising proposed legislation at committee stage
  • attending constituency events + holding surgeries
  • listen to grievances of the constituents
• Backbenchers in the Commons have no influence over legislation like the front bench and fail to effectively bring gov to account.
• Backbenchers in the Commons are not significant if unknown in their constituency
• Backbenchers in the Commons can be significant when willing to put their principles over narrow party interests e.g. Mhairi Black (youngest member of the Commons) who is very active
• Constituency representation strengths:

  • every MP represents the interests of constituents
  • non partisan role
  • redress grievances e.g. victims of the post office scandal consulted their constituency representatives
• Constituency representation weaknesses:

  • interests of a constituency may run counter to gov policy e.g. fracking for conservative MPs and expansion of Heathrow across rural England.
• Representation of groups:

  • interests of sections of society
  • pressure groups try to recruit MPs to their cause
  • campaign groups write in to MPs to gain support
  • MPs form cross party groups e.g. the elderly, sex equality and islamophobia
  • political parties
• National debate:

  • from time to time it stands above party politics
  • often called to debate these issues e.g. Covid—19
  • party allegiances are set aside
• Social representation:

  • dominated by white males over 50
  • dominated by disproportionately large number of privately educated MPs