2.2 - Parliament

The 3 Functions

  1. Legislation - passing, ammending and repealing laws (sovereign legislative branch)

  2. Scrutiny and Accountability - checking that the executive branch operates in the best interest of the nation (PMQ’s and urgent questions)

  3. Representation - the UK is a representative democracy where elected representatives make political decisions on behalf of citizens

HoC is more powerful than HoL → called asymetrical bicameralism

The House of Commons

made up of 650 MPs, each representing a constituency, expected to represent it

main powers:

  1. Legislation - drafts and passes primary legislation (e.g. Coronavirus Act 2020 passed in response to Covid-19)

  2. Scrutiny - holds the govt. to account through questions, debated and committees (e.g. Public Accounts Committee criticised the govts. handling of HS2)

  3. Representation - Mps raise constituency issues in Parliament (PMQs used to highlight local concerns)

exclusive powers:

  1. Control of finance - all money bills originate in Commons (e.g. Rachel Reeves delivered her 2025 budget to Commons)

  2. Confidence - Commons can remove a govt. through a vote of no confidence

The House of Lords

life peers (appointed based on nominations by the PM and opposition leaders)

hereditary peers (inherited title through family line - limited to 92 due to HoL Act 1999) → seen as unlegitimate

peers such as Lord Biggar was an Oxford professor → expertise leads to better legislation

the Lords have limited powers compared with the Commons:

  • Parliament Act 1911 means Lords cannot block, amend or delay financial legislation

  • Parliament Act 1949 means Lords can only delay other legislation for 1 year → Commons can pass laws without the Lords’ consent (Hunting Act 2004)

  • the Lords have no power over military interventions whereas Commmons do

but, the Lords have a major role in amending legislation and scrutinising:

  • Lords are responsible for ammending legislation proposed by Commons

  • the committee stage in the Lords happens in the chamber, producing much better scrutiny than public bill committees in Common

  • each govt. department has its own question time in Lords → peers can hold executive to account

Lords has more influence?

  • from 2021-2022, executive lost 128 votes in Lords, and just 1 in Commons

  • FPTP’s tendency to produce majorities in the Commons means the Lords is the only check on executive dominance

Commons has more influence?

  • Commons has been home to every PM since the beginning of 20th century

  • most govt. ministers are MPs, rather than peers

  • Commons has direct access to the PM through PMQs