Parliament check on the executive?

• Question time - PM and the government are made to directly defend their policies and it is effective due to the immediacy of it so they can't always hide behind the promise of reports
• Debates and speeches - MPs can raise their concerns as well as their constituents' to challenge the government to make amendments during the 2nd or 3rd readings of bills
• The executive and majority of the legislature are from the same party so MPs prioritise party loyalty more often than holding the executive accountable - whips further reduce the independence of MPs
• Government can often control the agenda of the HOC and can limit the power of the opposition by choosing how much time to spend discussing certain bills. Time constraints on things like question time and certain debates mean it can be difficult to make their voices properly heard
• Select Committees examine specific departments in detail and time in Parliament is set aside for committee business - committees in the Lords have the benefit of expertise (Life Peerages Act 1958)
• Lack of opposition unity means different parties with different criticisms but due to the limited time, only the main opposition gets heard
• Judicial review helps ensure that laws are obeyed - separation of powers means the executive can't influence the standpoint of the judicial
• Lords don't have much power over the Commons as they have to comply if a policy was in the party manifesto due to the Salisbury Convention which is only a convention so it can and has been broken as the Lords grow more assertive
• Media allows the general public to participate via their MP or directly scrutinise the government