parliament

what is the west Lothian question

whether mps from NI, Scotland and wales in the HoC should be able to vote on matters which only affect england (english mps cannot vote on devolved matters)

recall mps act

an mp may have to give up their seat if

-face imprisonment

-found guilty of fraud relating to their expenses

-suspended from HoC for 14 days

FTPA

election must take place every five years but an early election can be held if gov loses vote of no confidence or 2/3 of HoC votes for early election

how many ethnic minority mps in HoC following 2024 election

90

(increase of 24)

how many ethnic minority mps from each party 2024

labour- 66

con- 15

lib dem- 5

women in HoC 2024

40.5% of the commons

263 total women

education and sexuality in 2024 HoC

64 mps openly lgbtq

in labour cabinet only 2/25 were privately educated

what is parliamentary ping pong

when a bill goes back and forth between HoC and HoL

what is a division

a vote

strengths of HoC

-elected means more representative of the public

-can vote against a law as well as proposing one

-made up of many parties

weaknesses of HoC

-laws can be voted against due to party rivalries

-two party domination

-large majority=domination

strengths of HoL

-experts in certain areas

-able to examine small details of bills

-crossbenchers to reduce bias

weaknesses of HoL

-cannot say no to a bill

-unelected

-hereditary peers

strengths of e-petitions

-raise awareness and show discontent

-over 1400 have been chosen for parliament

-can prompt major parliamentary debates e.g. legalisation of cannabis

-raise an important issue

weaknesses of e-petitions

-debate in parliament will not always result in a law change

-no change in policy has come directly from an e petition

-do not always reach large audiences

strengths of FTPA

-GE must take place every five years

-removed PMs prerogative power to call a snap election when it is beneficial to them

-power of calling a GE remains with PM

weaknesses of FTPA

-Parliament are able to ignore FTPA by passing legislation

-not significant enough legislation to bar a PM from holding an election

strengths of recall of MPs act

-interjected more direct democracy into the political system

-had the chance to reform representative democracy

weaknesses of recall of mps act

-limited and criticised

-power remained with parliament not constituents

-not true direct democracy as the constituents themselves cannot issue a recall petition

what is a public bill committee

small group of mps focused on amending and improving pieces of legislation

what is a rebellion

when an mp defies the whip and votes the other way to how their party leader wishes

public bill committee

small groups of mps focused on ammending and improving legislation

what is an urgent question and who can grant them

-granted by the speaker

-requires a minister to attend HoC to answer questions from a mp

how many urgent questions were asked 2017-19

307

how do urgent questions aid scrutiny

-ensure a gov minister can always be held directly accountable

-means parliament cannot escape scrutiny on controversial issues

-parliament has some control over the political agenda

disadvantages of urgent questions

-ministers can get away with a response that does not fully answer the question

-speaker cannot force a particular minister to turn up

how significant are debates in the commons

-scheduled by the gov

-many take place outside the chamber meaning they get much less focus

-motions from debates are not binding

what are the opposition given to aid their scrutiny

-six questions at pmqs

-a shadow gov

-control of the parliamentary agenda for 17 days in each session

weaknesses of the ability of the oposition to scrutinise

-often blamed for their time in gov as a way to deflect scrutiny

-opposition debates are often only attended by the party in opposition

-large majority gov can simply ignore the opposition

what is a departmental select committee

-members are from all the major parties

-chair elected by the whole house

-responsible for overseeing the work of individual government departments

-gov must respond to committee reports within two months

jeremy hunt select committee chair

-chair of the health committee through covid

-put huge pressure on health ministers e.g. matt hancock

-focused on importance of training new nurses

-gained a lot of media attention

chris bryant select committee chair

-chair of standards and privileges select commitee

-influential in enquiring into the party gate scandal

-ensures the standards of mps are upheld

mel stride select committee chair

-treasury select committee

-powerful critic of truss economic plan

advantages of house of lords scrutiny

-significantly more time to scrutinise each bill

-appointed for life so dont need to worry about pleasing whips

-expertise in a particular field

(TIE)

examples of scrutiny in HoL

Lord West

expertise in the navy and military matters

out of his last ten contributions, six have been about military maters

HoL limits in scrutinising legislation

-lack of engagement

-lack of legitimacy

-constraint by convention

example of lack of engagement in HoL

since joining the lords in 2009, Lord Sugar has only voted in 26 out of 103 divisions

negative aspects of the lords

-unelected

-92 herediatary peers

-party donors

-can be skipped

-as high as 20% never attend

positive aspects about the lords

-no gov majority

-slow and technical scrutiny

-house of experts

what are early day motions

-submitted by individual mps to an online data base

-gauge interest around a particular issue

-unlikely they will ever be formally debated

what are private members bills

-public bills initiated by mps or lords who are not apart of gov

-submitted title of bill and what it would do

two ways of introducing a PMB

-7 PMBs per year randomly drawn and given a days debate

-ten min rule where a ten min speech gan be given about the bill in order to gauge interest around it

13 fridays per year PMBs get priority over gov bills but most have a very small audience and don’t gain momentum

what are backbench business committees (BBCOM)

-committee decides on the behalf of backbench mps which issues ought to be debated in the commons

-35 days per year for debates approved by the committee

-chair of BBCOM must be from the opposition

-enables further scrutiny of the gov

example of a BBCOM initiated debate

oct 2010 on the victims of contaminated blood

some years later gov opened public enquiry

when were select committees introduced

1979

what were the wright reforms 2009

-chairs of select committees had to be elected by all mps

-chairs of select committees to be paid another 18,300

-members of select committees elected by a vote of mps in their party

positive aspects of PMQs

-adversarial and hard to predict

-engaging and unique

-televised

-empowering for backbenchers

-forced to discuss difficult issues

negatives of PMQs

-no real detail

-excessive pressure

-scripted

-whips planting questions

what caused the coalition rebellions

-many conservatives resented cameron for not winning the election and wanted to send a message

-cameron had to keep both the left of the lib dems happy and the right of the conservatives

rebellion rate during camerons coalition

2010-2015 there was a rebellion in 44% of votes

by end of 2015 60% of con and lib dem mps had rebelled

how did the whips respond to the coalition rebellions

-most rebellions were small and it was rare for them to be from both sides

-whips had to deal with two parties at once

-particually intense at start of coalition

-rebellion became addictive

biggest rebellion during coalition

81 mps demanded a referendum on leaving EU

syrian airstrikes 2013 rebellion

-should uk become involved in syria

-defeated by 13 votes

-many tory mps joined with labor to vote against involvement in syria

-3 line whip used but still lost

-showed that parliament is sovereign

may brexit deal rebellion

-brexit was highly divisive and may could not unite her party

-deal rejected by 230 votes (largest in gov history)

-huge rebellion

-displays the mass strength of parliament

johnson brexit deal rebellion

-backbench mps and tory rebels tried to force through a no deal brexit bill

-21 mps rebelled and all had the whip removed (no longer part of con party)

-showed johnsons power and the measures he was willing to take

johnson covid rebellion

-stricter covid rules through covid passes

-not supported by con party

-99 rebelled

-second biggest tory rebellion

-highlighted weakness of leadership and divisions within the party

what are statutory instruments

legislation which allows amendments to be made to acts without parliamentary approval

what is negative procedure for statuatory instruments

SI is showed to parliament after it has already been signed into law - can be annulled if a motion is passed within 40 days (no time given to debate this)

what is affirmative procedure for SI

SI is showed to parliament as a draft and only becomes law after a vote

why are SIs damaging for scrutiny

don’t allow for parliamentary approval - not legitiamate

absence of debate can cause them to become poorly drafted

no chance for scrutiny

aspects of covid scrutiny

-opposition couldnt criticise

-increase in gov power

-reliance on SIs which bypassed scrutiny

how many covid related SIs used the negative procedure

187 out of 262

4 advantages of PMQs

forces development of policy

makes PM directly accountable to parliament

shows whether or not you have the backing of your party

pm and opposition can advertise themselves to the electorate

increase in time for the leader of the opposition

4.1% to 11.5%

strengths of e petitions

-effective ways of raising awareness

-more than 1400 have been chosen for debate

-raise a topic issue

weaknesses of e petitions

-debate in parliament does not mean change in law will follow

-no changes in policy have come from e petitions

strengths of FTPA

-general election every 5 years

-removed pm royal prerogative power to hold a snap election at a time it was convenient for them

weaknesses of FPTA

-parliament is sovereign and can avoid FPTA

-not significant enough legislation to bar pm from holding election

strengths of recall of mps act

-more direct democracy

-member of commons can be forced to give up their seat

weaknesses of recall of mps act

-power remains with parliament rather than constituents

-limited in scope

2024 general election ethnic minorities

90 elected

increase of 24

66 labour mps from ethnic minority background

2024 general election gender

women make up 40.5% of the commons

263 women in commons

46% women in cabinet

2024 general election lgbtq+

64 mps in commons

2024 general election class

92% of labour cabinet were state educated

compared to 19% in sunak cabinet

west lothain question

should mps from NI, Scotland and wales who sit in commons be able to vote on issues which only affect england (english mps cannot vote on devolved matters)

what is input legitimancy

how did you get the job

what is output legitimancy

does it do a good job

arguments FOR house of lords reform

-unelected so democratic defeciet

-hereditary peers

-lack of diversity (in 2023 only 29% were women and 6% ethnic minorities)

-cameron appointed 247 peers, many of which were party donors

-total reform may be unpopular and take too long

-danger of creating a second house which is too similar to the commons

arguments AGAINST lords reform

cross benchers cancel out any party loyalty

can spend 3x longer scrutinising bills

reduced power of whips enhances scrutiny

lack of majority in lords often combats large majority in commons

second house must be different to the commons

more collaborative and productive atmosphere

changes as a result of the wright reforms

-select committee chairs are no longer chosen by party whips - now chosen by the whole house

-introduced BBCOM

-a petition which reaches 100,000 signatures will be considered for debate in parliament

positives of the time the Lords can spend scrutinising

can spend 3x longer scrutinising bills

agriculture bill 2020 was considered by the lords for 96 hours compared to 32 hours in the commons

positive of the lords legitimacy

gov is regularly defeated in the lords- 114 defeats in Johnsons first parliamentary session

negatives of the lords legitimancy

Cameron appointed 247 peers, many of whom were party donors

lack of diversity- in 2023 only 29% were women and 6% ethnic minorities

92 hereditary peers

negatives of HoL expertise

2021 Crudas was made a Lord and within 3 days gave the Con party 500k

2010-2015 62 peers claimed £362k in expenses despite not having voted in a single division