Parliament

• Bicameral system: A system of government in which the legislature is divided into two houses (commons + lords)
• longest serving members are the mother/father of the house
• In September 2014 Hasard reports went online
• Joint Functions: approval of legislation, hold government to account and debate political issues
• Commons functions: representing constituents, vetoing legislation (extreme circumstances only) and removing illegitimate governments
• Lords functions: delaying legislation (a year), representing various intrests in society and amending legislation
• Lords: no set number of members, neutral Lord speaker, 92 hereditary peers and 26 spiritual, no 1 party has a majority, crossbenchers who are not affiliated with any party and legislative not departmental committees
• Commons: Government makes up front bench and controls parliamentary agenda, 650 MPs (1 for each constituency), lesser MPs are backbenchers, senior members make up opposition front benches, legislative/departmental committees and whips who enforce partyline
• Government is made up of 100ish ministers peers and MPs who oversee civil servants doing practical work
• Monarch has to be politically neutral, they sign off new acts, open parliament and meet with the PM each week for an "audience"
• Backbenchers are non-shadow cabinet members and can be part of select committees
• Parliament monitors government, releases info and suggests changes to legislation
• Official opposition will lead PM and M Qs and a shadow cabinet
• Whips: MPs/HoL members appointed by each party, they help organize parties and make sure members are aware of votes/debates. Keep track of rebellions and make sure MPs vote with the PM
• Whips HoL: pass info between government and members , if a government doesn't have a minister in HoL whips act as spokespeople for the party.
• Committees made up of a parliamentarians (backbenchers) scrutinize government departments, check details of laws and discuss with experts + the public to shape their inquiries
• Since 2000, peerages are given out by the HoL appointment commission, an independent nonpartisan public body who recommends and vets nominations to ensure high standards.
• Peers can be suggested by PMs when they resigned and recommended by parties from "political list" which are unlikely to be denied.
• MPs: Bob, hold surgeries, attend dinners, ministers, whips, vote, revies laws, propose bills (The abortion act 1967 was introduced by Liberal MP David Steel as a Private Member's Bill.), debate, question government and participate in committees (Procedure and Privileges Committee).
• Peers: pass laws, consider policy and question government
• Legislation Evaluation: +

  • Governments can be defeated (May defeated 14x in 2018 on Eu withdrawal Bill)
  • Governments with "working majorities" have to work to ensure a baking (May only had 13 person magority)
  • Not a dictatorship (Blair was defeated for the 1st time by backbenchers in 2000s over 90 day terror suspect detention)
• Legislation Evaluation: -

  • Most govs have majorities (Blair lost no votes between 1997-2005, coalition only lost twice between 2010-15)
  • a unified opposition is required to defeat government
  • undermines the effectiveness of parliament
  • parties control political careers and so their is an incentive to vote inline with them
• Scrutiny & Debate: +

  • Business committees gives MPs more power to shape agenda
  • Parliament now engages more with issues of the day
  • PMs are reluctant to take military action without parliaments approval (Cameron defeated on Syria in 2013, success in 2015 however Sunak didn't do the same with Yemen)
• Scrutiny & Debate: -

  • Whips controls/curtails MPs independence
  • Government has a majority which weakens scrutiny
  • PMQs: media slideshows and Lords provide weak scrutiny
  • Limited time for genuine debate (filibustering) (Brexit deal passed)
• Representation Evaluation: +

  • commons is democratically elected
  • Free Votes
  • HoL is not dominated by 1 party like commons
• Representation Evaluation: -

  • FPTP distorts the representations of Parties
  • elections are focused on parties not candidates
  • lords are unelected and unrepresentative
• Burkean Model= MPs decide what they think is best for constituents as they have entrusted them
• Delegate Model= MPs are "mouthpieces" of their constituents in parliament
• Doctrine of the mandate= Mps should represent their party
• Select committees investigate the work of the governments departments. (propositions, actions, misconduct, amending policy and conducting reports)
• Select Committees: In 1997 there were 20 standing departmental committees existed, made of 11-14 backbenchers in a distribution which reflects the party balance in commons.
• Select Committees: MPs apply to be in committees and are than randomly selected. A small number of them are elected by committee members.
• Select Committees: In 2010 most chairs were elected by the house, due to reforms. No whips or government ministers are involved, as they have to act independently.
• Case study: Privileges Committee (Boris Johnson)

  Conclusion/Reports:

  1. Bojo deliberately mislead the commons
  2. Bojo deliberately mislead the committee
  3. Bojo leaked part of the report in advance
• Case study: Privileges Committee (Boris Johnson)

  Conclusion/Reports:

  4. "Impugning" (dispute the truth) the committee

  5. a "campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation" of the committee
• The committees recommendation was that Bojo should be suspended for 90 days from parliament (he resigned anyway)
• Committee Powers:

  1. 
     
  2. Interview witnesses (lying means resignation convention?)
  3. It can be hard to obtain info from ministers/civil servants
  4. The government is not obligated to act on their findings
• Detailed scrutiny of legislation comes from the public bill committee. General scrutiny is also conducted in plenary Lords and Commons sessions. Success: Amazon, Google & Starbucks over tax evasion in 2013.
• Public Bill Committee:

  • formed ad hoc (when needed/necessary)
  • formed to debate and amend legislation
  • membership is in proportion to % of MPs by party
• Public Bill Committee:

  • strengthened in 2007
  • commons committee of selection choose membership
  • amendments that are contrary to government's majority wishes are rarely accepted