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Summary UK Parliament
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Helpful notes and summary of UK parliament. Very good for exam season
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Origins and development of the UK parliamentAs the franchise was extended during the nineteenth century, the legitimacy of the elected
house of Commons grew at the expense of the unelected House of Lords. This influenced bills
such as the Parliament Act 1911 and 1949 which restricted HoL ability to delay bills.
Composition of House of Commons
- Democratically appointed chamber of Parliament. Each member of parliament
represents the interests of their constituency. There are 650 constituency
- Frontbench and backbench MPs: MP’s who have been invited by the PM to join the
government as senior justices, junior ministers or private secretaries which are all bound
to ministerial responsibility. The main opposition party has its own shadow frontbench
team, whose members scrutinise their government counterparts.
- Party whips: All parties appoint whips to maintain party discipline. Whips encourage and
sometimes cajole their MPs to support the party line. They also report back any potential
large scale rebellions that might encourage part leadership to modify its position to avoid
defeat. On especially important issues, Whips issue a three-line whip which requires
MPs to attend a vote and vote as their party has demanded. If refused, they can lose
their membership of the Party. In 2019, 21 MP had the party whip withdrawn for
supporting the HoC taking control of EU withdrawal negotiation.
- The speaker of the HoC: The role of the MP is to stay impartial and ensure parliament
functions as effectively as possible. They ensure the proper procedure is followed and
preside over a debate in the HoC. The speaker also have disciplinary functions and can
suspend MP’s for poor behaviour e.g. (SNP leader Ian Blackford).
- The leader of the official opposition: The role is to ensure that the government is
thoroughly scrutinised, while convincing the public that the official opposition is an
alternative government in waiting. The opposition can claim short money from public
funds to finance the leader of the opposition. Also allowed to ask 6 questions at PMQ.
They highlight any failures of policy and offer their own policy solutions. They can also
select a shadow cabinet, whose task is to hold the government to account and persuade
the electorate they could be trusted.
Main functions of the HoC
● Legislation: The HoC must agree to enact a bill if it is to become a law. If it decides not
to vote for the legislation then it will fail to pass. MP’s will have the opportunity to debate
the main principles of a bill at its second reading. Public bill committee: after second
reading a bill's details are considered and possibly amended by the committee. It is then
sent to the HoL. Once all appropriate stages have been through a bill receives royal
assent and becomes a bill. The committee is largely filled with a gov majority and they
vote on party lines.
, ● Providing ministers: The legislators and executives are fused- the legislature provides
the executive. Allowing the PM to select the gov from their backbenchers gives them
significant patronage power. This is likely to encourage conformity and reduce debate as
backbenchers support the government in the expectation of political advancement.
● Scrutiny and debate: MPs debate the gov legislative programme. This enables MPs to
weigh up the likely impact of Public Bills, which raised significant questions about the
extent to which the state can coerce its citizens on the claim of national security.
- Parliamentary bench committee: established in 2010 provides backbench MPs with 35
days in a year in which they can control parliamentary business (opportunity to debate
on areas the gov may have neglected). In 2021-22 some of the debates the committee
arranged included the Black History Month.
- The petitions committee: in 2015 was created to schedule debates on petitions that had
reached 100,000 signatures. E.g. In 2022 the committee arranged an important debate
on waiving visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees.
- Emergency debates: Under HoC standing order 24, an MP may request an emergency
debate. If the speaker allows, an MP can speak for 3 mins. In sept 2019, Letwin’s case
for an emergency debate on the HoC blocking a no deal Brexit.
● Representation: The 650 MP’s represent every part of the UK so that the interests of all
the British public are represented at Westminster. The highest proportion of women
(34%) and BAME (10%) MPs.
● Legitimation: Parliamentary bills require the consent of the HoC before they can be
enacted. Since 1911, the HoC has had the exclusive right to approve the Budget. A
convention has also been developed whereby the HoC should be consulted over
committing British forces to military action. However, since the 2003 Iraq War, PM’s
have allowed parliament to debate large-scale military commitments on the principles
that the representatives of the nation should legitimise such important decisions in the
life of the nation. In 2018 May decided to join US-led assaults on the Syrian gov without
consulting HoC.
- HOWEVER, May’s attempts to begin the process of Brexit without consulting HoC failed.
In the Gina Miller Case, the SC declared the PM couldn’t legally do this through the royal
prerogative.
The composition of the House of lords
- It cannot claim the democratic legitimacy the HoC carries. The 1911 Parliament Act
diminished the power of the HoL by removing its rights to veto legislation passed by the
HoC. In 1958 the Life Peerages Act gave the PM the authority to nominate life peers to
the lords, based on public service. In 1999 the Labour Gov removed the right of 750
hereditary peers to in the lords (agreed to compromise by keeping 92 hereditary peers).
As a result of this the HoL is composed of a mixture of life peers, hereditary peers and
bishops of the Church of England. Life peers are the largest groups and are nominated
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