UK Parliament

• Bicameral means there are two chambers. (House of Lords and House of Commons)
• Public Bill Committees are ad-hoc committees made of party-whip-chosen MPs who scrutinise bills and hear evidence.
• Select Committees are groups of MPs or Lords (or both) who investigate specific issues. They hold government offices to account. They are chaired by backbench MPs.
• The Bill of Rights 1689 established the principle of parliamentary sovereignty - Parliament has supreme authority.
• Parliament Acts: 1911 took away House of Lords' power to veto, only delay legislation, 1949 reduced delaying powers to one year.
• Functions of the House of Lords: scrutiny, revise legislation, and debate.
• Functions of the House of Commons: scrutinise government, debate, vote on legislation, representation, vote of no confidence to dismiss a government, and accountability.
• The House of Lords have no power over finance and cannot scrutinise government departments the same way the House of Commons can.
• 3 types of legislation: public bills, private member bills, and private bills.
• After the second reading, the bill is referred to a Public Bill Committee for further scrutiny. A new public bill committee is established for each new bill and committees and named after the relevant bill.
• The Backbench Business Committee determines what issues should be debated on the one day a week allocated to backbench business. The chair must be an opposition member and they are given 35 days a year to control parliamentary business.
• The Liason Committee consists of the chairs of all departmental select committees. Twice a year, they question the PM on aspects of government policy.
• The opposition are given 20 days a year to choose the debate subject.
• The House of Lords Act 1999 removed all but 92 hereditary peers from the House of Lords.
• Party-whips encourage and sometimes possibly even cajole their MPs to support the party line. On especially important issues, a 'three-line' whip is issued, which requires MPs to attend a vote (division) and to vote as demanded by the leadership. If MPs refuse, they may have the party whip withdrawn from them, which means that they lose their membership of the parliamentary party.
• The Speaker of the House of Commons is supposed to be impartial. They do not engage in political debate. Their role is to ensure that Parliament functions as effectively as possible.
• Public Bill Committees vote on party lines and always have a government majority, which may impact on the objectivity when offering amendments to a bill.
• Adjournment debates take place at the end of each day's sitting. MPs can apply to the speaker to ask a minister a question. They are limited to 30 minutes and are rarely attended by many MPs.
• Early day motions are motions introduced by MPs urging debate on a specific issue.
• If an MP believes that an issue needs a minister to address it at once, they can apply to the speaker to ask an urgent question. If the speaker decides that this will serve the public interest, the minister is required to explain to the House of Commons 'what the government is doing on the issue raised'.
• Party whips influence the selection of Public Bill Committee members, who are instructed to vote according to the whip on proposed amendments to the bill.
• Backbench rebellion occurs when a significant number of MPs refuse to follow the party line. This can happen because of disagreement over policy or personal ambition.
• Private Members Bills are often seen as a way for backbenchers to raise their profile within the party.