parliament & executive relations

parliament holding executive to account - minister’s questions

• Questions are asked of government ministers by MPs and HoL Peers

• Ministers’ questions take place on a rota during the parliamentary week, where ministers answer questions from backbenchers about their department

  • Ministers’ questions put pressure on government ministers to know all of their department’s work

parliament holding executive to account - prime minister’s questions

• PMQs take place for 30 mins every Wednesday when the HoC is sitting

• MPs ask the PM questions on important issues

• The leader of the opposition asks the PM 6 questions before MPs ask questions on any government affairs

advantages of prime minister’s questions

• PMQs provides direct answers from the PM to questions asked by MPs and is an important way of holding the PM accountable for the government’s work

• The PM must be briefed in detail on major issues which are in the interests of the public as they do not know the questions which will be asked in advance

disadvantages of prime minister’s questions

• It could be argued that PMQs is more about political point scoring than effective scrutiny of the PM and government - ‘Punch and Judy’ politics

  • Speaker John Bercow called PMQs a “shouting match every Wednesday lunchtime”

• MPs from the government’s party will ask the PM planted questions to make the government and the PM appear strong in front of voters, which reduces the time available for genuine scrutiny

  • EX: PM Cameron’s aides were found to be sending emails to MPs with questions for them to ask at PMQs

parliament holding the executive to account - select committees

• Departmental select committees scrutinise government department work and scrutinise ministers in detail through a longer style of questioning than in question time

  • EX: Nick Hurd, the Home Office Minister, was questioned by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on the support that was being provided for people affected by the Grenfell Tower fire

advantages of select committees

• Select committees closely scrutinise individual government departments

• Select committees publish reports on issues which the government is expected to respond to within 60 days

  • The government published a response to a report calling for apprenticeship reforms by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Education committees

disadvantages of select committees

• Select committee scrutiny can be ineffective at holding the government to account when ministers are unhelpful in providing evidence when questioned

  • EX: in 2016, Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary at the time, was accused of “waffling” by the committee chair of the foreign affairs select committee during questioning

parliament holding executive to account - voting and backbench rebellions

• Backbenchers in the HoC and HoL can control the executive by voting against government-backed bills

• In the HoC, backbench rebellions can take place, where MPs of the party in government can vote against their own party’s legislation to prevent the executive from introducing laws

advantages of voting and backbench rebellions

• The HoC has blocked government legislation through successful backbench rebellions

  • EX: MPs voted against the government by 309-305 votes, with 12 Conservative MPs voting against its party’s government, in favour of giving Parliament a vote on a final Brexit deal

• The HoL has caused the government to change its policies by voting against the passing of legislation

  • EX: the government was defeated 38 times in the HoL from 2016-17

disadvantages of voting and backbench rebellions

• Voting against the government is a less effective control on the executive if there is a large majority in parliament for the party in government

• Backbench rebellions can be difficult if three-line whips are in place - if an MP defies the whip they may be expelled from their party, but keep their seat and have to sit as an independent MP

• The HoL can only delay legislation passing, and propose amendments, rather than stop it passing into law - the government is able to veto any delays by the HoL

parliament holding the executive to account - votes of confidence

• A vote of no confidence motion can be put down by the opposition party in the HoC where MPs vote on whether they have confidence in the government

• The PM can put down a vote of confidence in their government in an attempt to restore authority in parliament if their own MPs vote against the government on a key issue

• If the government loses a confidence vote then, by convention, the government resigns

advantages of votes of confidence

• Votes of confidence have take place and been successful in removing governments from power

  • EX: PM James Callaghan lost a vote of no confidence in 1979 which caused him to step down as PM and call a GE, which he lost

• Votes of confidence can be successful in restoring government authority

  • EX: John Major called a vote of confidence in 1993 because MPs were opposed to his government’s support for the Maastricht Treaty

disadvantages of votes of confidence

• Votes of no confidence are unlikely to succeed if the government has a majority of MPs in the HoC who would not vote to remove their own party’s government from power

executive dominance over parliament - elective dictatorship

• An elective dictatorship is where the executive dominates the legislature - this occurs most notably when the executive has a large majority in Parliament

executive dominance over parliament - control over legislation

• The government uses party whips to pass its bills through the HoC by instructing backbenchers to vote in favour of its legislation

• The government controls Parliament’s timetable, so it can decide what Parliament debates and votes on

executive dominance over parliament - parliamentary sovereignty

• Parliament has legislative sovereignty, meaning it has the ultimate power to pass legislation into law

• If the government has a majority in the HoC, which it often does, it can pass most of its bills into law

  • The HoC has more power than the Lords to pass legislation, with the HoL unable to completely block it

debate - executive DOESN’T dominate parliament

• If there is a small majority or a minority government, Parliament can block or delay executive legislation

  • EX: Theresa May’s minority government (2017-19) suffered a historic Commons defeat on her Brexit withdrawal agreement, losing by 432 votes to 202 in January 2019, demonstrating that executive dominance is not guaranteed

balance of power - select committees

• Select committees reforms by the Wright Committee in 2009 gave select committees more power

• Select committee reforms included reducing the number of committees and giving MPs voting power to choose select committee chairs

• The Backbench Business committee was formed by select committee reforms - the committee schedule in the HoC on topics suggested by MPs rather than the government

balance of power - military action

• The government has increasingly consulted Parliament over military action, choosing to put proposed action to the HoC for debate and a vote

  • EX: The government sought Parliament’s approval for military action against the Syrian regime in 2013, which Parliament voted against

  • EX: Parliament voted in favour of military action in Iraq in 2014 and Syria in 2015

  • EX: However, in 2018, Theresa May chose to launch airstrikes in Syria without consulting Parliament first

balance of power - HoL voting

• The HoL, where the government does not have a majority, has often delayed government bills from passing

  • EX: In 2017, the government was defeated in the HoL over its bill to enable people in apprenticeships and under the age of 20 to qualify for child benefits

balance of power - government dominance

• The government is rarely defeated in Parliamentary votes and often passes its legislation into law because of its majority in

Parliament and use of party whips

• EX: Blair’s majority government was only defeated 4 times during its 10 years in power

• The government has a ‘payroll vote’ of MPs who have roles in the executive, from senior to junior positions, who will usually vote in support of government policies in Parliament