Parliament is sovereign, and so is
Threats to Parliamentary Sovereignty: 1) 1973 1956 1965( 1973, 1956, 1965 ), EU laws 2) Practical Legal Political( Practical, Legal, Political ) sovereignty given to government in recent decades 3) Referendums lead to semi-entrenchment entrenchment democratic deficit( semi-entrenchment, entrenchment, democratic deficit ) 4) Executive ECHR( Executive, ECHR ) is treated as supreme despite not being binding on Parliament 5) Devolution is semi-entrenched entrenched( semi-entrenched, entrenched )
The current speaker of the House of Commons is
House of Commons Functions
Legitimisation
Legislating
Delaying
Scrutinising secondary legislation
Holding government to account
Scrutiny of legislation by Public Bill Committees/legislative committees
Representing constituencies
National debates
House of Lords Functions
Scrutiny of legislation
Types of Bills: ❌ - proposed by organisations (local authority, church) and considered by committees ❌ - proposed by individual or groups of MPs/peers (rarely pass, bring issue to Parliament's attention) ❌ - proposed by government and expected to be passed quickly
1: ❌ 2: ❌- Bill announced 3: ❌- MPs debate bill, vote 4: ❌- Sent to relevant Public Bill Committee (government majority in committee) 5: ❌- Commons as a whole approve changes 6: ❌- 'Ping Pong', the Bill is passed to HoL for same process 7: ❌
Parliamentary Immunity Parliamentary Privilege MP Impunity( Parliamentary Immunity, Parliamentary Privilege, MP Impunity ) - MPs/peers cannot be prosecuted or sued for libel or slander for any actions which have taken place within Westminster
Expenses scandal in
Mhairi Black is an example of a proactive backbench front bench Party Whip( proactive backbench, front bench, Party Whip ) MP
Lord Adonis: Conservative Labour Crossbencher( Conservative, Labour, Crossbencher ), education military foreign aid( education, military, foreign aid ) expert Lord Dannatt: Conservative Labour Crossbencher( Conservative, Labour, Crossbencher ), education military foreign aid( education, military, foreign aid ) expert
6 arguments that the UK Parliament is effective
House of Lords is unaccountable
Increasing use of select committees
Parliament provides legitimacy
Party whips mean less opposition within parties
House of Lords has experts in many fields
No representation in House of Lords
Both houses check government power (particularly if Government is weak)
When there is a clash between party and interest group loyalty party loyalty usually wins out
Constituency representation
Many MPs support external causes
6 arguments that the UK Parliament is ineffective
MPs still lack expertise, knowledge, research back up and time to investigate
Legislative committees are whipped to ineffectiveness
Opposition Roles: ❌ at occasions (e.g. visits by foreign heads of state) To be ready to ❌ if they win an election ❌ of sections of society that are ignored ❌ government policy ❌ government shortcoming ❌ explain and justify its policies
- Examines public finances, chaired by Opposition member - 19 total, investigate departments. Governing party has majority in each - Calls the Prime Minister to account (appears before them twice a year) - Set up by Wright Reforms in 2010, 2011 investigated Hillsborough
