Reforming Parliament

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  • Reforming Parliament
    • Reforming the House of Commons
      • Commons Reform Under Blair
        • 1997 and 2007
        • Affected the Lords
        • Once-a-week Prime Minister's Questions
          • 1997
          • Halved the number of occasions that the prime minster stood before the commons
        • Liaison Committee scrutiny
          • 2002
          • Twice a year the prime minster appears before the committee
          • Scrutinised by senior, experienced and expert backbenchers
        • Freedom of Information Act
          • 2000
          • Easier access to government information
        • Wider constitutional reforms
          • Devolution
            • Responsibility for domestic legislation in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is in hands of devolved bodies
          • Human Rights Act
            • Courts have to protect individual rights
          • Referendums
            • People have control over constitutional reforms
      • Commons Reform Under Brown
        • Parliament would be consulted on the power to declare war, dissolve Parliament, recall of Parliament, ratify treaties, choose bishops and appoint judges
        • House of Commons Reform Committee
      • Commons Reform Under Cameron and Clegg
        • Fixed-term Parliaments
          • Prevents prime minsters from calling general elections at favourable times
          • Reduces the size of government majorities
          • Changes of government more frequent
        • Referendum on AV
          • Rejected in 2011
          • Boost representation for third parties
          • More hung Parliaments
        • Recall of MPs
          • A recall petition can be triggered if an MP is sentenced to prison or suspended from the Commons for at least 21 sitting days
          • A by-election would then follow if the petition is signed by at least 10% of eligible voters
        • Public initiated bills
          • Ability to suggest topics for debate through e-petitions that secure at least 100,000 signatures
        • Public reading stage
          • Giving the public an opportunity to comment on proposed legislation online
        • Backbench business committee
          • 2010
          • Determines the business before the House for one day a week
    • Reforming the Lords
      • The Defects of the "Unreformed" Lords
        • The majority of peers were heredity
        • The Lords exhibited a strong and consistent bias in favour of the Conservative party
      • Stage 1: Reform of the Lords
        • Stage one was to remove hereditary peers
          • Stage two was to replace the House of Lords with a revised second chamber
            • The Wakeham Commission was set up to propose stage two reform
              • In 2000, they recommended having an appointed second chamber
                • Minority of peers elected
                • Wide-range opposition
            • Joint Committee of both Houses was given the task of developing the proposal
              • In 2002, they presented seven options
                • Wholly appointed
                • Wholly elected
                • All options were rejected
            • Jack Straw placed nine proposals for reform in 2007
              • He gained approval from the retention of a bicameral parliament to the removal of the remaining hereditary peers
                • No legislation emerged
            • Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition
              • They wanted to bring forward proposals for a wholly or mainly elected second chamber
              • The cross-party committee was chaired by Nick Clegg and was charged with developing a draft bill by 2010
                • It didn't emerge until 2011
                • It failed
          • Hereditary peers were reduced from 777 to 92
          • The removal of these peers and the appointment of Labour life peers rid Conservative bias
      • The Future Second Chamber?
        • An elected second chamber
        • An appointed second chamber
          • Or a combination of the two
            • An elected second chamber
    • Bicameralism
      • Practice of breaking up legislative power through the creation of two chambers
      • Partial bicameralism
        • Two chambers that are unequal
        • Second chamber has restricted popular authority or because it has reduced legislative power
      • Full bicameralism
        • Two co-equal legislative chambers
    • For or Against an Elected Second Chamber?
      • For
        • Democratic legitimacy
          • Popular consent delivered through competitive elections
        • Wider representation
          • Two elected chambers would widen the basis for representation
        • Better legislation
          • Popular authority would encourage the second chamber to exercise greater powers of legislative oversight and scruitiny
        • Checking the commons
          • Only an elected chamber can properly check another elected chamber
        • Ending executive tyranny
      • Against
        • Specialist knowledge
          • Chosen on the basis of their experience, expertise and specialist knowledge
        • Gridlocked government
          • Two co-equal chambers would be a recipe for government paralysis
        • Complementary chambers
          • Can carry out different roles and functions
        • Dangers of partisanship
        • Descriptive representation
          • Elected peers may have popular authority but it is very difficult to ensure they resemble larger society
  • An appointed second chamber
    • Or a combination of the two

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