pol

• Backbenchers


  All MPs who aren't in the government/shadow cabinet
• The vast majority of MPs are backbenchers
• Rebellions


  Backbenchers of the governing party can exert influence by rebelling against government bills to defeat the government and prevent a law being passed
• The frequency of government defeats has increased a great deal since 2010, in large part due to governments having smaller majorities/being coalitions
• Government defeats


  • Theresa May was defeated thirty-three times when she had a minority government
  • May suffered the worst defeat in modern political history 432-202, with 118 Tories voting against) on 15 January 2019, when her government tried to get Parliament to approve its Brexit Withdrawal Agreement
  • Boris Johnson was defeated twelve times in just 6 months when he had a minority government and four times in 3 years when he had a majority government
  • On 15 September 2021, an opposition day motion from the Labour Party calling on the government to cancel a planned £20/week cut to Universal Credit was passed 25-30 after the government told its MPs to abstain
• Some of the most serious rebellions aren't recorded as the government drops its proposals rather than suffering a defeat
• Proposed legislation withdrawn due to threat of rebellion

  • In April 2024, it was reported that the government had paused its plans to introduce the Criminal Justice Act, due to at least 40 conservative MPs threatening to rebel and defeat the bill
  • The bill intends to give the police the power to forcibly move on rough sleepers and introduce 'nuisance prevention orders' against those who create an "excessive smell" or are "looking like they are intending to sleep on the streets"
  • High profile backbenchers including Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Caroline Nokes had indicated their intention to rebel
• When the government has a significant majority in the House of Commons, rebellions are much less likely to be successful and are therefore a great deal less common
• Government majorities limiting rebellions

  • Tony Blair was defeated just four times in his 10 years in office
  • Despite being very unpopular, Sunak has been defeated just once since being Prime Minister
• In the 2022/23 parliamentary session, the government introduced 56 bills. Of these, 43 (76%) received royal assent by the end of the session
• Successful government legislation


  • Illegal Migration Act
  • Online Safety Act
• Party ties and power of patronage

  Backbenchers from the governing party want to retain their seat and hope one day to serve in government, so they want to demonstrate their loyalty to the government and to the whips in particular by voting with the government and supporting the government in urgent questions and debates
• In the current Parliament, the vast majority of MPs have rebelled against the party line less than 2% of the time, with just 14 MPs rebelling more than 5% of the time and the highest percentage of rebellions being David Davis (Conservative) at 12.6% of the time
• If backbenchers prove to be disloyal, they have very little chance of rising up the career ladder in politics and may even be kicked out of their party and not allowed to stand at the next election
• Urgent Questions


  Allow backbenchers/the opposition to question ministers on matters of urgency and public importance. The Speaker decides whether to grant Urgent Questions and if they do, a government minister (a particular government minister can't be called) is required to attend the House of Commons to answer it immediately
• The use of Urgent Questions has significantly increased under Speaker Bercow and Speaker Hoyle
• Lindsay Hoyle has averaged around 0.6 Urgent Questions per day
• Urgent Questions


  • On 30th March 2023, there was an Urgent Question in relation to Junior Doctors strikes that asked the government what they were doing to resolve the situation
  • In April 2018, Amber Rudd had to answer an Urgent Question posed by Shadow Home Secretary Dianne Abbot about deportation targets in the Home Office and her handling of the Windrush scandal, which led to Rudd's resignation soon after
• Debates


  Allow backbenchers to scrutinise the government, put issues on the political agenda and put pressure on the government to address them
• The Backbench Business Committee is important in allowing backbenchers to choose the topic of debates. They often choose topics with cross party support that the government would be hesitant to debate
• Backbench Business Committee debates

  • On 11 January 2024, Conservative Backbencher David Davis led a Backbench Business Committee debate on Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Provision and Funding in the House of Commons
• Public Bill Committees


  Committees with between 16 and 50 MPs that scrutinise legislation passing through the House of Commons, where backbenchers can propose amendments
• For especially important bills, especially finance bills, this scrutiny is done by the whole of the House of Commons
• Private Members' Bills


  Bills proposed by backbench MPs through entering a ballot, Ten Minute Rule Bills, or presentation
• Successful Private Members' Bills

  • The Abortion Act 1967, which legalised abortion
  • The Assault On Emergency Workers Act 2018, introduced by Labour MP Chris Bryant
• 16 of the Private Member's bills introduced by ballot at the start of the 2022/23 session (the most likely method of getting a PMB passed) were successful
• Successful Private Members' Bills in 2022/23

  • The Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Act
  • The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, which ensures that all tips are guaranteed to workers
• Governments have a majority in Public Bill Committees and will usually defeat amendments they don't support
• The vast majority of bills passed are Government Bills, rather than Private Members' Bills, whilst Private Members' Bills have very little chance of success if they aren't supported by the government
• In the 2022/23 parliamentary session, 297 Private Member's Bills were introduced, of which just 24 (8%) received royal assent by the end of the session
• The government has control over most of the Parliamentary timetable and has in recent years increasingly rushed legislation through the House of Commons, therefore limiting effective legislative scrutiny from backbenchers
• Rushed legislation


  • The recent Illegal Migration Bill was granted just 2 days of scrutiny in the Committee of the House
• Urgent Questions


  The Speaker decides whether to grant them, and if they do, a government minister is required to attend the House of Commons to answer it immediately
• Urgent Questions


  • They can be significant in allowing backbenchers/the opposition to question and scrutinise the government over important issues
  • Their use has significantly increased under Speaker Bercow and Speaker Hoyle
• The increased powers of backbenchers through the Wright Reforms and the increased use of urgent questions

  Has had a limited impact in decreasing the dominance of the executive over Parliament
• The Backbench Business Committee does give backbenchers greater control over the parliamentary timetable, but this is still dominated by the executive due to its majority in Parliament, as is the legislative process
• Urgent Questions and debates may be able to raise the profile of an issue and get it on the agenda, but they are much less likely to get any action taken or influence government policy
• The executive's dominance over Parliament hasn't decreased since 2010, as it still continues to dominate the parliamentary timetable and legislative process
• Select Committees are still made up of a majority of governing party MPs, which can be seen as limiting their ability to hold the government to account
• New Labour's reforms to the House of Lords limited the executive's dominance over Parliament, as they made the House of Lords more independent and professional and therefore more effective at holding the government to account and voting down legislation