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Summary Parliament Essay Plans
- Module
- UK Government
- Institution
- PEARSON (PEARSON)
Essay Plans for Parliament including examples and case studies to support statements.
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Evaluate the extent to which Parliament may be considered an ineffective institution:INEFFECTIVE: EFFECTIVE:
The House of Lords can’t provide democratic legitimacy as it Although they are not elected through elections, HoL contains
isn’t elected or accountable. This means that they have no many people of different expertise and job fields. This allows
real power to scrutinize legislation- Commons can ignore it. them to represent certain areas of the public. Furthermore,
2017- the Lords attempted to add amendments to the Article HoL isn’t threatened by party whips as they are life peers-
50 bill to trigger the exit from the EU which guaranteed EU more likely to speak out for minorities without fear of
citizens’ rights for those already living in the UK. This was repercussions. Baroness Tani Grey-Thompson (former
swiftly overturned by the Commons) Paralympian and wheelchair racer) used her experiences to
make speeches and contribute to debates relating to sports,
wheelchair services and hotel facilities for people with
disabilities.
When there is a clash between party policy and the interests The house of commons can vote down legislation and trigger
of groups and causes, party loyalty usually wins. Yvette a vote of no confidence. This allows them to hold the
Cooper (Labour) went to great efforts to stop a No Deal government to account This was the case for 2019 Theresa
despite 69.26% of her constituents in Normanton voted leave. May- 48 MPs were not pleased with her Brexit policy so sent
letters of no confidence. This triggered the vote and while she
won the support of 200 conservative MPs, a third of her own
MPs voted against her.
During the legislative process, legislative committees in the Departmental select committees are increasingly significant
commons are largely dominated by the government. When and effective in scrutinizing the work of the government. They
they review a bill, the government wants to introduce, they are investigate the work of each government department. Cross-
less likely to veto or amend it. this is mainly due to party party whips decide which committee chairs will be awarded to
whips- if they want to be successful, they must keep quiet. each party (party representation in the commons must be in
Party whip threatened Conservative MP Wakefield that he line with party representation). In 2018, the home affairs
wouldn’t get his school built if he didn’t vote a particular way. committee investigated the causes and issues surrounding
Although this doesn’t directly reflect the legislative committee- Windrush scandal. They were critical of the cultural changes
it shows the amount of power they wield. that led to rights being denied to British citizens and the home
office’s lack of knowledge or openness about the issue. They
recommended an apology and immediate reform of procedure
How significant are MPS in the UK parliament?
GREAT SIGNIFICANT LIMITED SIGNIFICANCE
Many independent-minded MPs put their beliefs and There are not many independent-minded MPs since they
principles above party interests. 2017-2019 parliament- simply do as the party whips tell them to do in hopes of
backbench MPs showed how significant they could be in having their loyalty rewarded by promotions or ministerial
blocking government measures. September 2021- labour office- it is hard to be an MP and not give in to such luxuries.
MPs called an opposition day motion on the government to Party whip threatened Conservative MP Wakefield that he
cancel a planned $20-per-week cut on Universal Credit. wouldn’t get his funds for his secondary school built if he
didn’t vote a particular way that the Tories wanted him to. He
joined LibDems but many others wouldn’t.
Since 2010, parliament have become more willing to defy the Backbench MPs are powerless in the face of the domination
government and select committees are becoming more of the party frontbenchers. They have little to no influence on
effective in calling the government to account. The public legislation and don’t bring the party to account. Many
accounts committee investigated serious and organized committees can scrutinize but don’t have enough power to
crime in 2019. Was critical of the Home Office’s attempts to hold the government to account or force them to change
move the focus of policing from street-level criminals to things. As they do not hold office or any form of seniority,
organized crime. This led to Priti Patel announcing $750 backbench mps can only raise opinions during the debates in
million to recruit 6000 more police officers to combat street the commons and have little to no power in decision-making.
crime and a pledge to recruit 20,000 more by 2023. In 2018, the home affairs committee investigated the causes
and issues surrounding Windrush scandal. They were critical
of the cultural changes that led to rights being denied to
British citizens and the home office’s lack of knowledge or
, openness about the issue. They recommended an apology
and immediate reform of procedure but it hadn’t been
implemented.
MPs have long breaks to catch up on constituency work so Many MPs are unknown to their constituency, so it is hard to
there is a strong connection between the people and the see how significant they are in upholding the constituency-
parliament- their voices are always heard and constituencies MP bond. This is especially when an MP goes against their
play an important role. constituent to represent their own opinion. Yvette Cooper
Cheryl Gillan (MP for Chesham and Amersham) spoke about (Labour) went to great efforts to stop a No Deal despite
her doubts on the value for money of the HS2 rail line. She 69.26% of her constituents in Normanton voted leave.
spoke about the environmental destruction that it would
cause in her constituency.
Evaluate the view that although the House of Lords has less power than the House of Commons, in practice it exerts more
influence on government decisions.
AGREE DISAGREE
The government does not have a majority in the lords- they Commons is more powerful than lords- can reject a bill whereas
are aware they may face deceit in the lords and are more lords don’t have the power to veto a law. Rees-Mogg filibustered the
likely to face amendments to legislation. The Brexit bill in sustainable livestock bill which eventually was not considered and
2019, Theresa May wanted to put in place was rejected- led dropped. This is something the lords can’t do.
to her resigning
Party loyalty is weak in the lords rather than the commons- Salisbury convention- they can’t stop a piece of legislation if it is in
they are less likely to listen to party whips because most are the party manifesto
life peers- can’t get rid of them and may need them for other
votes.
Unelected peers are immune patronage- used to keep front Government can reverse defeats in lords- reaffirm original wording
and back benches in line. They are there for life and don’t in the commons the lords will usually back down in. on the other
need help/ reinforcements hand, once defeated in the commons, the government have to
accept it.
Evaluate the view that the House of Lords needs a major reform:
YES: NO:
It is unelected- no democratic legitimacy so has no right to This would just give us legislative gridlock as it would be a
scrutinise or make decisions rival to HoC- for it to be successfully bicameral, one house
has to be more democratically legitimate than the other.
Party leaders are influential as they appoint peerages- unfair Works well with peers who have expertise in other fields-
influence. In 2021, it was found that 16 tory treasurers over valuable and don’t want to replace with career politicians.
the last two decades had donated more than 3 million Baroness Tani Grey-Thompson (former Paralympian and
pounds and been offered a seat. wheelchair racer) used her experiences to make speeches
and contribute to debates relating to sports, wheelchair
services and hotel facilities for people with disabilities.
They do not have enough power to hold the government to Allows for better scrutiny as the peers are permanent so the
account-limited by the Salisbury convention. They cannot party whips don’t have much control over them- represent the
block manifesto items which they may disagree with and can people better. It is more in-depth scrutiny of proposed bills.
only delay acts for a year- govt can still push through in October 2015, the Lords voted against secondary
legislation legislation that would have reduced level of tax credits given
to low income families.
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