houses of the legislature

weaknesses of the house of representatives

• Direct scrutiny of the executive can only take place through standing committees - however, the president rarely appears before a committee to give evidence

• The legislative power of the House is limited because it has equal law-making powers to the Senate

  • Legislation introduced in the house often fails to pass into law because both Houses must agree on the final legislations

  • Increased partisanship in Congress has led to gridlock, because the Senate, House and presidency are controlled by different parties

weaknesses of the house of commons

• The government has too much control over the legislative process

  • The government uses party whips to ensure MPs vote along party lines

  • PMBs, which are introduced by backbenchers, often fail to become law

• Scrutiny of the government isn’t always effective

  • PMQs can often descend into ‘Punch and Judy’ politics

  • MPs are often given planted questions at PMQs to make the government appear strong in front of the public

strengths of the senate

• The Senate has strong scrutiny powers over the other branches of government

  • The senate has the power to confirm appointments to the judiciary and executive by a simple majority vote

  • The Senate has the power to try impeachment  in executive cases

  • The Senate has the power to ratify treaties which have been formed and negotiated by the president

• The Senate is more prestigious than the House, with Senators serving longer six-year in office and representing the whole state

strengths of the house of lords

• HoL is strong at investigating and debating important policy issues

  • Members of the HoL are experts in different policy areas and highly experienced

  • Legislative debate in the HoL is detailed and of a high quality

• HoL represents people in society who are less well represented in public life including people from different professional backgrounds and of different political views

weaknesses of the senate

• The Senate’s legislative power is limited because it has equal legislation power to the House

• The filibuster has been increasingly used in the Senate, to delay vote from taking place and stop the bill passing

  • 60 votes are needed to end the filibuster and vote on passing a bill which makes it harder to pass laws

• Direct scrutiny is limited to committees, which the president rarely gives evidence to

weaknesses of the house of lords

• The HoL has weak legislative power

  • Parliament Act 1949 stops the Lords from blocking legislation passing through Parliament

  • The Salisbury Convention prevents the Lords from opposing policies in the elected government’s manifesto

• The HoL is not elected and so it doesn’t directly represent citizens