Disadvantages of the legislative process

What are the 4 disadvantages of the legislative process

1. Not fully democratic

2. Lengthy process

3. Complexity

4. Government control

Expand on ‘not fully democratic’

• The Lords and the Crown are unelected and unaccountable. In reality, they’re subservient to the will of the executive who control the legislative programme.

• Individual MPs also have little discretion or independent influence because of the whipping system.

Expand on ‘lengthy process’

• The whole process can take months, if not years: the Consumer Rights Act 2015 took 14 months from first reading to Royal Assent.

• There’s often a delay in dealing with an issue after a report has been issued.

Expand on ‘complexity’

• Acts of Parliament are often very long and written in complex language which makes them difficult to understand.

• There’s rarely consolidation/codification of laws on a topic. As a result, there’s often the need to read more than one document to find the law on an issue.

Expand on ‘government control’

• Effective scrutiny of proposed laws is limited because the majority of MPs are from the government and will vote along party lines.

• Debates can be affected by political agendas rather than genuine debate about the need for new legislation.