UK GOVERNMENT-THE STRUCTURE AND ROLE OF PARLIAMENT

Who is the Prime Minister?

The leader of the largest single party in parliament and the head of the executive branch who is responsible for formulating policy and ensuring that laws are adequately executed

How do they become Prime Minister?

By being the leader of the party who won the most seats in the General Election and so for the most part they always command a majority of seats in the Commons

How can the prime minister demonstrate his power?

-Through their use of whips to coheres their party’s MPs

-They appoint the ministers( POWER OF THE PATRONAGE)

Give an example to show the power of the whips?

Sarah Wollaston was unable to be part of the public bill committee for a health and social care bill in 2011 as she wouldn’t commit to the whips that she would stick to the government agenda

Who is the speaker?

Essentially they are the chair of the House of Commons and the Lords attempting to try and keep order ensuring as many MPs as possible from the range of parties can speak in debate

What are their roles?

-Enforce the rules for debate and they can suspend MPs who break these rules for varying periods of time

-To maintain impartiality and remove party allegiances

-Represents the House of Commons in its dealings with the monarch, the House of Lords, and outside bodies

Give an example of the speaker maintaining order in debates?

During the Commons session in 2016, Labour MP Dennis Skinner accused David Cameron of dodgy dealings regarding his late father’s offshore investment fund (Blairmore Holdings), which had been revealed in the Panama Papers leak. He called him ‘Dodgy Dave’ a statement which John Bercow told him to retract but when he refused he was suspended from the House for a day under Standing Order 43.

Give an example of where the Speaker perhaps is not impartial?

In 2019, Bercow refused to allow a third vote on Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement unless it was "substantially different" from the previous two( Erskine May)
This was based on a 1604 convention, which had rarely been enforced. Critics said Bercow was bending obscure rules to frustrate Brexit.

Give an example of when the PM represented Parliament

In 2022 When Queen Elizabeth II died, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle represented the House of Commons at the Accession Council where King Charles III was formally proclaimed as the new monarch. The Speaker was present alongside the Prime Minister Liz Truss , senior judges, and other key figures, marking Parliament's role in the constitutional transition.

Who are the Whips?

These are the people in charge of discipline and ensuring that the party’s MPs stay loyal and vote they way the government want them to normally through gentle persuasion techniques

What is a three line whip?

This is when the prime minister indicates he wants all this MPs to vote a certain way

Give an example of when the whip is removed from an MP

In 2019, 21 Conservative MPs defied the government by voting in favour of a bill to block a no-deal Brexit (the Benn Act). This bill aimed to force Boris Johnson to request a Brexit extension if no deal was reached with the EU to .As a result, the Conservative whip was withdrawn from all 21 MPs. This meant they were expelled from the parliamentary Conservative Party, and could no longer sit as Tory MPs.

Give an example of when MPs do still rebel against legislation despite whips

In 2019 Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement was brought to the House of Commons for a third time. The Conservative government issued a three-line whip — the strongest instruction for MPs to vote in favour of the deal.

But despite this, 34 Conservative MPs rebelled and voted against the deal, contributing to its third defeat.

Why was Theresa May’s ( The executive) power limited in this case?

In the 2017 general election, May lost the Conservative majority she inherited from David Cameron she had to rely on the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) through a confidence and supply agreement. In addition to the divisions in her party with the hard Brexiteers and Remainers.

Who is the leader of the House of Commons?

This is a position appointed to individuals by the PM and their job is to see that the executive’s perspective of the commons runs smoothly and that bills are properly timetabled

What are three roles of the Leader of the Commons?

-Acting as lord president of the council

-Managing Government Business

-Acting as liaison between parliament and government

What is the Lord President of the council?

a senior position in the UK government, historically one of the most important constitutional offices with largely ceremonial roles eg.announcing a new monarch

Give an example of the leader of the HOC using this role

In 2022 Penny Mordaunt chaired the Accession Council for King Charles where he was officially declared king, read the proclamation aloud to the Privy Counsellors and took part in the public ceremony from the balcony of St James’s Palace

Give an example of where they manage government business

In 2020, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was the Leader of the House at the time, played a pivotal role in ensuring Brexit passed smoothly, he scheduled and coordinated votes on the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill and ensured that Parliament could address the numerous amendments and issues arising in the wake of the UK leaving the EU.

Give an example of where they act as liason

In 2021, Mark Spencer facilitated communication between Parliament and Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government during debates on COVID-19 restrictions. As tensions rose over the government’s response to the pandemic, Spencer served as a key figure in managing MPs' concerns, especially from backbenchers

Who are the people included in the frontbench MPs/ Gov payroll?

The Cabinet-These are the most senior decision makers who head major departments like Health, education etc and the PM , chancellor exchequer and home secretary etc

Minister of state- Senior ministers just below Cabinet level eg. Minister of State for Schools

Parliamentary Under Secretaries- Junior ministers responsible for more specific areas within a department. eg.Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Sport.

Extras- Parliamentary Private secretaries/ Trade Envoys and Special Mission Advisors = 176 people

How are the frontbenchers held to account?

-All ministers have to public endorse a policy the cabinet has voted for( Collective ministerial responsibility)

-Have to stay loyal to PM who appointed them( power of patronage)

-They are scrutinised by select committees

Give an example of collective ministerial responsibility

In 2018 Boris Johnson resigned as Theresa May’s home secretary as he couldn’t agree with Theresa May’s chequers plan which proposed a softer Brexit which kept the UK closely aligned with the EU on matters of goods as he believed he betrayed the referendum result and turned the UK into a vassal state

Who are Backbench MPs?

MPs elected by the people who are not ministers

What are the limits on backbench MP power?

They could have the whip removed if they don’t tow the party line and they have no real control of the agenda

Who are the peers?

These are the members of the House of lords which is broken down into three groups: Hereditary Peers( limited to 92), Lord Spirituals and Life peers who are appointed by the PM there =829 members right now

Why is the governments power limited in the HOL?

Majority of peers are are appointed for life, so they don’t have to worry about elections, public opinion, or party loyalty to keep their position. This gives them freedom to speak their mind and vote based on conscience or expertise, not party pressure.

How many bills did Blair and Brown lose in the commons compared to the Lords?

-They lost only 7 times in the commons between 1997 and 2010 compared to 400 times in the House of Lords

What needs to happen for a bill to become law in the UK?

Passes though both houses and then receives royal assent

What is the official opposition?

This is the largest opposition in the House of Commons that is not the government with shadows of the official gov eg. shadow cabinet etc

What powers do the opposition have?

-They can amend legislation that is introduced to the house

-They can vote against bills

-Opposition Days

-Can be in select committees to scrutinise the executive

What are the three ways in which the executive can assert dominance over parliament?

-Controlling government agender

-Ease of passing legislation via majority

-Use of skeletal bills to avoid scrutiny

What do they mean by controlling government agender?

The executive dominates most of the parliamentary timetable, meaning it decides which issues are debated and when.

Give an example of when the executive can control the government agender

Under Tony Blair’s government a guillotine motion was used to restrict debate on the Terrorism Act 2000 which was a controversial act that expanded police powers around allowing terrorism suspects to be held for 7 days and the banning of organisations linked to Terrorism, hence leading to less debate on some of the more sensitive parts of the bill

How are often were Guillotine motions used by Blair?

How long did it take for Blair to lose a vote in parliament?

-Under Blair (1997–2007), over 80% of government bills were subject to programme motions

-Given his 179 seat majority it took up till 2005 for him to lose his first vote in parliament with him passing 330 bills up till then

Give an example of how large majority helps with passing legislation?

After the 2019 general election, Boris Johnson’s Conservative government gained a large 80-seat majority. This allowed him to pass the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 to enable the UK to leave the EU on the 31 January swiftly. The bill implemented the Brexit deal with little opportunity for MPs to amend it with the large majority meaning that the government could avoid concessions to other parties or rebel MPs

What are skeletal bills in relation to secondary legislation?

Skeletal bills are a mechanism via which parliament can pass broad laws , thus leaving certain parts of the bills up for definition through secondary legislation which can increase their power

Give an example of where skeletal bills are used?

In 2020 the government passed the Coronavirus Act 2020 in response to the Covid Pandemic which spanned over 300 pages and did not specify specific rules but instead gave ministers broad power to do things like prevent public gatherings, statutory instruments were used under emergency procedure to introduce new rules like a national lockdown with parliament only given the chance to debate them weeks later if at all.

What are three ways in which the official opposition can challenge the government in the House Of Commons

-They can scrutinise the PM at PMQs

-Set the agenda on opposition days

-Presenting Alternative Policies

Give me an example of how PMQs can scrutinise the government?

During PMQs session between 2020 and 2021 Starmer directly criticised the governments handling of the PPE criticise raising concerns about shortages of protective equipment for NHS nurses and the over 100 nurses who had died by 2020 mainly due to lack of PPE equipment .He also directly questioned the governments transparency, including delays in publishing scientific evidence behind lockdown decisions.

What is a binding vote?

What are the limitations?

-A parliamentary vote whose outcome legally or politically obliges the government or Parliament to take a specific action

-The government controls what bills get timetabled for debate and so can ensure unpopular bills don’t go down to binding votes

How often are the opposition days?

20 days per parliamentary session known as Opposition Days for official opposition and 17 for other parties

Give an example of the use of opposition days

In 2022, Labour used an Opposition Day to call for a binding vote to force the government to publish documents relating to Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget, which had caused economic chaos. Though the government initially resisted, the pressure added to Truss’s collapse in credibility and contributed to her resignation just weeks later on the 20th October 2022

Give an example of the opposition presenting alternative policies

In Labour’s 2017 general election manifesto they presented alternative policies including the raising of the top rate of income tax from 45% to 50% for earnings above 130,000 and the abolition of tuition fees which allowed labour to raise the number of seats they had to 30 and so reducing the conservative majority to just 8.

Give an example of when the opposition voted against the government

In 2019, the Labour-led Opposition voted against Theresa May’s first addition of the Withdrawal agreement, contributing to its historic defeat by 230 votes—the biggest government loss in Commons history. This forced May to go back to the EU for changes especially around changes to the controversial Irish Backstop which along with 2nd and third failures of the bill led to her subsequent resignation

Why might the power of the opposition be limited?

-They don’t have a majority so hard to pass votes against government

-Constantly under the eye of the media to be seen as a credible alternative with the media more focused on internal divisions than policy ideas

-No resources

What are three ways in which backbench MPs can influence the legislative process?

-They can introduce new legislation via a Ten Minute Rue Bill

-They can vote against the passage of a bill

-They can control parliamentary agenda in some cases

What is a Ten Minute Rue Bill?

These are Private Member Bills introduced in the Commons which allow a backbench MP to make their case for a new bill in a speech lasting up to ten minutes via going to the public office 15 working days before they decide to introduce the bill

Give an example of the Ten minute Rue Bill being used

The Ten Minute Rule Bill was used in 2013 by a backbench MP to initiate the HS2 building process which then became law in 2017 passing all parliamentary stages. The Act authorized 140 miles of new high-speed rail line between London and the West Midlands

Why do Ten Minute Rue bills not hold as much weight

They are introduced by backbench MPs who are not supported by the government because they are not part of the executive — meaning they don’t help run government departments or set the official legislative agenda and so the things they may support are bound to not be in line with what the government wants to do and so aren’t given time or space

What does it mean for backbench MPs to vote against the passage of a bill?

If enough backbench MPs unite they can stop the government from passing bills or even at the very least add certain amendments that fall in line with their interests

Give an example of backbench MPs voting against the passage of a bill

In 2019 when Theresa May wanted to pass her European Withdrawal Agreement through parliament in 2019 having negotiated it with the European Union she suffered the heaviest defeat of a British PM in the democratic era, losing by a majority of 230 with 115 conservative backbench MPs voting against it

Why may this not work all the time?

-All MPs are whipped to vote a certain way( Boris Johnson removed the whip from 21 of the MPs including Nicholas Soames( a Churchill relative) when they tried to prevent a no deal Brexit)

-Most governments have a majority so voting against will have no effect(Tony Blair had a 179 seat majority which allowed him to pass 3000 pieces of legislation over his 10 years as prime minister)

What is the parliamentary agenda?

Refers to the schedule of business or the list of topics, bills, and issues that are set to be discussed, debated, and voted on in Parliament during a specific period

What is the backbench Business Committee ?

A Committee created in 2010 to give backbench MPs control over the parliamentary agender It schedules around 35 days per year of debating time exclusively for issues proposed by backbench MPs

Give an example of the Backbench MPs controlling parliamentary agenda

In 2019 backbench MPs used time allocated by the Backbench Business Committee to debate the government’s decision to prorogue (suspend) Parliament for five weeks amid the Brexit deadlock, 70 MPs spoke across the 90 minute debate which culminated in the Supreme Court ruling prorogation unlawful

What is the main counter to this?

-The government controls roughly 80% of Commons debating time

What are three powers of the HOL?

-Expertise and revision Role

-Voting power

-Scrutinising the executive

What does Expertise and revision role mean?

Given the lords expertise they can shape legislation beyond partisan politics

Give an example

In 2018 the House of Lords science and technology committee launched an inquiry into the ethical, social and economic concerns of AI and produced a report with over 19 recommendation for a new national AI approach Following the report the government launched the AI sector deal in 2019 investing over 1 billion into AI research

Give an example of the voting power of the Lords

In 2015 George Osborne proposed major cuts to working tax credits which would have reduced income for many low paid families. Though the commons passed the cuts via a statutory instrument the Lords voted it down in a 307-277 vote to delay cuts until the government responded with a proper full impact assessment with Osborne later dropping the cuts entirely

Why was parliament able to override the Lords Vote?

Then why don’t the lords reject more of these bills if they are used so much?

-Normally with a typical bill the government can just use the parliamentary acts after a year of delay but with secondary legislation this is not possible ( 3000-5000 of these are passed per year)

-Via convention the lords rarely blocks legislation with them having only done so 7 or 8 times since 1945

What does it mean to scrutinise the executive?

Carefully examine and question the actions, decisions, and policies of the government through investigations and other forms of oversight to hold the government to account

Give an example of the Lords Scrutinising the executive?

In 2004 Tony Blair’s labour government introduced the Identity Cards Act to enforce compulsory National ID cards following 9/11. The House of Lords amended the bill over 50 times across its passage and forced the government to water down key provisions with act being eventually passed in 2006 after 2 years of Lords delay and then removed by the 2010 coalition government due to same issues held by the Lords

What are three limitations of the House of Lords?

-Lack of Democratic legitimacy

-Conventions

-Secondary Legislation

What does democratic legitimacy mean?

The lords is an unelected body of power which gives it limited power to veto legislation as shown by the Parliamentary Acts of 1911 and 1949 they can only block legislation for a year which gives the government increased confidence against lords opposition

Give an example of this in practice

Even though the Lords made 10 amendments to the Safety of Rwanda Bill in 2024 focusing on protecting individuals eg. minors and safety from human trafficking these were all rejected by the House of Commons despite the parliamentary ping-pong that occurred with the Lord’s even reinstating the amendments 3 more times, they eventually passed the Act unamended.

Give an example of when the commons used the parliamentary acts to pass legislation

In 2004 the Hunting Act was introduced which banned the hunting of wild mammals with dogs in the UK . Between 2001 and 2004 the House of Lords rejected the bill 3 times with stalemate continuing until the government used the 1911 and 1949 Acts to bypass the Lords for only the fourth time in History

What convention limits the power of the Lords?

The Salisbury convention which means the Lords cannot vote on a bill that is putting into action a party’s manifesto

What is a good example to show how convention limits the Lords

In the conservative- liberal democrat bill called the Welfare Reform Bill of 2012 they Introduced a limit on the total amount of benefits a household can receive Intended to encourage employment and although the Lords raised concerns and proposed amendments, they did not reject or block the bill outright as it was a key part of the coalition manifesto

Counter?

They may not always follow convention as in the identity cards act of 2006 they voted against it as they did not believe had a democratic mandate to lead given the low voter turnout

What will be the example for skeletal Bills?

Covid 19