Lecture notes
Lecture notes Law (LLb)
- Module
- (LLB)
- Institution
- University Of Winchester (UoW)
everything you will need in detail to cover the parliament module in public law
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Parliament- Elections and fixed-term parliaments act 2011
- The “life” of a parliament
- The house of commons
- The house of lords
- Primary legislative procedure – when the commons & lords disagree; EVEL
- Delegated legislation
- Scrutinising government
1. Fixed- term parliaments act 2011
- Legally, parliament is not a permanent institution
- Until 5th November, this was the 57th parliament of the united kingdom
- Parliament is summoned by the monarch; and exists until it is dissolved according to the fixed-
term parliaments act 2011
- It is dissolution which triggers elections
- When parliament is dissolved, all seats are vacant.
- It means that currently there are no mps
1.2 dissolution
- used to be a prerogative power, exercised by the queen on advice of the PM
- fixed term parliament act 2011; s1(2) set that the date of the next election after the passing of
the act was 7th may 2015
- s1(3) later elections are the first Thursday in may in the 5th calendar year following that in which
the previous general election was held.- next election would have been due on 7th may 2020
- s2(1)- (2): 66% method happened- when at least 66% of MPs by number of seats (434) vote in
favour of the motion- “ that there shall be an early parliamentary general election”. – Theresa
may used this method in 2017.
- In 2019: johnson tried three times
- Early parliamentary general election act 2019.- s1(1) “an early parliamentary general election is
to take place on 12 december 2019 in consequence of the passing of this act” – s2(2) “that day is
to be treated as a polling day appointed under section 2(7) of the fixed- term parliaments act
2011”
- Ironically passed by more than 66% of MPs but could be passed by a simple majority of MPs
- FTPA 2011- no confidence method
- S2(3)-(5): no confidence method – MPs passes the motion; “that this house has no confidence in
her majestys government”. – 14 days pass without the common passing the motion. “that this
house has confidence in her majestys government”
- What happens during those 14 days? Cabinet manual
- Boarder effect on confidence? – if the government kept losing in the commons, it could request a
dissolution. – if the opposition thought it would win an election, it would table a motion of no
confidence.
Summary
- Default: parliament is dissolved every five years
- Unless- 66% of MPs vote for an early election – no confidence method is used or an act of
parliament is passed.
- Reform? Conservative 2017 general election manifesto
General election
- UK split up into 650 constituencies, each returns 1 MP at the election. Candidates stand in a
constituency. Candidates with the most votes in that constituency wins. Candidates may (usually)
represent a particular political party.
Appointment of the prime minister
- Personal power of the royal prerogative
- The prime minister is appointed by the queen
, - The convention is that the government must be able to ‘command the confidence’ of the house
of commons
- the prime minister “holds office unless and until they resign”
- the prime minister on resigning should usually recommend who the queen should appoint as
their successor
- election… if they government retains an overall majority, they continue in government
- if the government has lost their majority and another party has an overall majority – the prime
minister in office will resign and the leader of the party will be invited to ‘form a government’.
- They then start to assemble a cabinet
- The prime minister remains in office, until they resign.
- The prime minister can in theory wait until parliament meets, and test the confidence of the
commons on a no confidence motion. But the prime minister is expected to resign when they are
unlikely to be able to command the confidence of the commons.
- The political parties can start negotiations between themselves. – the queen does not get
involved
- In these situations, there are essentially three questions
- 1. A single- party minority government, who tries reach agreement with other parties on specific
issues.
- 2. A single- party minority government, supported by a single party agreement. Conservative-
DUP agreement in 2017.- “confidence and supply”
- 3. A formal coalition, with ministers from more than one party, and will usually have a majority in
the house of commons.
If the prime minister resigns
- The party will hold a leadership election according to the rules of that party
- The outgoing prime minister will remain unitil the leadership election has completed. – this can
be several weeks
- The outgoing prime minister resigns, and the queen sends for the winner of the leadership
contest.
2. The life of a parliament
The new parliament
- When parliament is dissolved, the queen will make a royal proclamation setting the date when
the new parliament will meet. All MPs take the oath, and the house of commons the speaker is
elected.
- State opening of parliament shortly afterwards; only occasion when all three elements of
parliament meets; commons, lords, monarch
The queens speech
- The centrepiece of the state opening of parliament is the queens speech. (loyal address)
- The government sets out their legislative priorities for the following year or so.
- There is then several days of debate and a vote approving the queens speech. – this is first test
to see whether the government has the confidence of the house of commons
Sessions and prorogation
- Parliaments last a maximum of five years. This period is split into series of sessions.
- The power to end a session of parliament is known as prorogation, and is a royal prerogative
power.
- A bill will need to have completed its passage through parliament by the end of session;
otherwise it is lost.
- Each new session is open with another state opening of parliament and a queens speech.
3. House of commons
The speaker
- Arguably the most important member of the house of commons
- Maintain order during debates
- Ensuring that procedural rules are complied with
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