Unelected chamber, members gain membership through appointment or inheritance, includes life peers, lord spirituals, and hereditary peers
House of Lords Act passed by Labour, removed most hereditary peers
1999
Review and Revision by House of Lords
Scrutinize Bills passed by the Commons, focus on non-controversial and technical aspects of legislation
Restrictions on the power of House of Lords
Parliament Acts restrict their legislative powers, cannot veto legislation, can only delay most types for one session of Parliament, any "money bills" can be held up for only a month
Salisbury Convention
Lords won't oppose legislation promised in the governing party's most recent election manifesto at second reading, convention not legally binding
Parliamentary Sovereignty is at the core of the UK constitution, and it rests primarily with the House of Commons
Functions of Parliament
Making law, Representation, Furthering democracy, Scrutinising the government, Redressing Grievances
Structure of UK Parliament
Bicameral, with the House of Commons and House of Lords, Speaker presides over debates in the House of Commons, there are select committees, PMQs, and debates
Executive and Legislature Interaction
The Executive (Government) derives its authority from the Legislature (Parliament), the Prime Minister and majority of government ministers must be members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords
Executive Supremacy
The balance of power has shifted toward the executive, the Government has the power to decide when new bills are introduced and influences their content, the Government has a reliable majority in the Commons due to the party system, enabling them to pass legislative proposals and maintain control over the legislative process
Recently, the power dynamics between the executive and legislature have shifted, this could be seen in the passage of Brexit-related legislation, when Parliament seized control of the legislative agenda from the executive
Functions of Parliament
Legislation
Recruitment of Ministers
Legitimacy
Representation
Scrutiny
Opposition
Legislation
Parliament makes laws
Parliament is the supreme legislature in the UK, in that it can make and unmake any law it wishes, as expressed in the principle of parliamentary sovereignty
Parliament is not restricted by a codified constitution, and no other law-making body can challenge Parliaments authority
MPs and Peers who win an annual ballot are allowed to present their own private legislation
First reading and second reading involves parliament in the introduction of a proposed bill and full debates
Committee stage is when public committees look at the details of the bills and make most amendments
Weakness Legislation
The bulk of Parliaments time is spent considering the Governments legislative programme. Only a small number of private member bills are initiated by backbenchers, and these are only successful if they have government support
Party Control of the House of Commons means that government bills are rarely defeated, and most amendments affect the details of legislation, not its major principles. It is more accurate to say that legislation is passed through parliament rather than by Parliament
Recruitment of Ministers
Members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords fill government posts
There are with maximum of 109 paid ministerial jobs, with a limit of 95 from the Commons
All ministers, must be MPs or Peers. Before they become frontbenchers, they 'cut their teeth' on the backbenchers. The advantage of this is that by participating in debates, asking parliamentary questions and sitting on committees, the ministers of the future learn their political trade. They gain and an understanding of how government works of how government works and of how policy is developed
Recruitment of Ministers
Ministers are recruited from a limited pool of talent; mainly the MPs of the largest party in the House of Commons
Parliamentarians may acquire speechmaking skills and learn how to deliver sound bites, but they do not gain the bureaucratic or management skills to run a government department
Fewer and fewer have ministers have experience of careers outside of politics
Legitimacy
Parliament 'stands for' the public, being a representative assembly. When it approves a measure, this makes it feel as though the public has approved it
Parliament approval is based on the assumption that the government's action have been properly debated and scrutinized, with any weaknesses or problems being properly exposed
When a government gains a strong majority in the House of Commons it can enjoy a mandate to carry out its manifesto
Legitimacy
Being non elected the House of Lords has no democratic legitimacy
Respect for Parliament has been undermined by scandals involving such as 'cash for questions' and 'cash for peerages
Representation
Parliament is the key link between government and the people, reflected in the fact that the UK has a system of parliamentary democracy
The representative function of Parliament is carried out by the elected House of Commons and operates through the relationship between MPs and their constituencies
MPs must represent the interests of their own constituency whenever they are involved in government policy or with a ministerial decision
Representation
An MP can openly say they do not support a particular aspect of their Party's policy, which may result to resignation
As the house of Lords is unelected, it carries out no representative role and undermines the democratic responsiveness of Parliament
The 'First Past the Post' voting system undermines the effectiveness of representation in the House of Commons
MPs and Peers remain socially unrepresentative of the larger society
Scrutiny
Parliaments role is to check or constrain the government of the day
Parliaments most important function is to 'call the government to account, forcing ministers to explain their actions and justify their policies
Scrutiny involves inspection, and where it is necessary, amendments may be proposed
Detailed scrutiny is carried out by legislative committees of both Houses
Scrutiny
As the majority of the MPs in House of Commons are from the governing party, their role is t support the government of the day, not to scrutinize and embarrass it
Question time is often weak and ineffective. Oral questions seldom produce detailed responses, and are used to embarrass ministers than t subjects them to careful scrutiny
In select committees, the government has a majority on each of these committees (the committees reflect the composition of the House of Commons)
Individual committee appointments are influenced by the whips, which ensure that loyal backbenchers sit on key committees
Select committees have no executive power. At best they can criticize government; but they cannot change government policy
Opposition
It is now by practice to appoint a shadow cabinet with other shadow ministerial positions
By convention, members of shadow government occupy the Bench facing the government front bench
At prime ministers questions time, the leader of the opposition has a privileged position, being permitted by the speaker a maximum of sixe interventions
Members of the opposition have the opportunities to either criticize government policy or highlight alternative policies
Opposition
Being a minority power, it has no veto
To veto power, legislation and policies it needs to be joined by other parties (if the government has no overall majority and a hung parliament