The Role of Parliament
- Created by: belle-madeleine
- Created on: 25-08-17 23:56
View mindmap
- The Role of Parliament
- The House of Commons
- Composition
- MPs have to win their seats
- Elected by first-past-the-post
- 650 MPs
- Based on parliamentary constituencies
- MPs are representatives of a party
- Most MPs are categorised as backbenchers whilst a minority are frontbenchers
- MPs have to win their seats
- Powers
- Supreme legislative power
- Can make, unmake and amend any laws
- Can remove the government of the day
- A government that is defeated in the Commons on a major issue has to resign or call a general election
- Supreme legislative power
- Composition
- House of Lords
- Composition
- Life peers
- Entitled to sit in the Lords for their own lifetimes
- Hereditary peers
- Inherit their title
- Only 92 are permitted
- Lords Spirtual
- Bishops and archbishops
- 26 members
- Appointed by the prime minister
- Recommended by the Church of England
- Life peers
- Powers
- Can delay bills passed by the House of Commons for up to a year
- Possess some veto powers
- Delay general elections
- Can sack senior judges with permission from both Houses
- Composition
- Monarchy
- Appointing a Government
- The Queen chooses the prime minster
- Opening and Dismissing Parliament
- The Queen opens Parliament through the State Opening at the beginning of the parliamentary year
- The Queen dismisses Parliament to allow for a general election to be held
- The Queen's Speech
- Delivered at the beginning of each parliamentary session
- The Royal Assent
- Final stage of the legislative process
- The Queen signs a bill to make it an Act
- A formality
- Appointing a Government
- Functions of Parliament
- Legislation
- Can make and unmake laws
- Bulk of Parliament's time is spent considering the government's legislative programme
- Government bills are rarely defeated
- Legislation is passed through Parliament
- Representation
- Link between government and the people
- Operates through the relationship between MPs and their constituents
- House of Lords is unelected and it carries out no representative role
- Scrutiny and Oversight
- Check or constrain the government of the day
- Force ministers to explain their actions and justify their policies
- Question Time is weak and uneffective
- Recruitment and Training of Ministers
- Ministers are recruited from a limited pool of talent
- Few ministers have experience of careers outside of politics
- Legitimacy
- Legislation
- How Laws are Passed
- Preparatory Stages
- Outlined in a white paper or a green paper
- Bills are published in a draft for prelegislative scruitiny
- First Reading
- Bill introduced to Parliament through the formal reading of its title and setting a date for its second reading
- Second Reading
- A full debate that considers the principles
- Committee Stage
- The details are considered line by line
- Report Stage
- Committee reports back to the full House of Commons on any changes
- Third Reading
- Replicates second reading
- Preparatory Stages
- Social Background of MPs
- Social Class
- Middle class
- Professional or business background
- Manual working class is under-represented
- Gender
- Women are under-represented
- Ethnicity
- Ethnic minorities remain under-represented
- Age
- MPs are middle aged
- Education
- Better educated
- Graduates
- Private schools
- Sexual Orientation
- 32 gay MPs
- Social Class
- How Parliament Calls Ministers to Account
- Question Time
- Prime Minster's Question Times
- MPs ask one notified question and one supplementary question
- The leader of the opposition can ask four to five supplementary questions
- Select Committees
- Scrutinise government policy
- 19 select committees which shadow each major government department
- Carry out inquiries and write reports
- Debates and Ministerial Statements
- Government policy can be examined through legislative debates
- The Opposition
- The second largest party is given privileges is debates, at Question Time and in the management of parliamentary business
- Written Questions and Letters
- Information is provided to MPs via written answers
- Question Time
- Parliamentary Governement
- Government and Parliament are interlocking
- Based on fusion between the executive and the legislative branches if government
- Government is accountable to Parliament
- Governments are formed as a result of parliamentary elections
- The personnel of government are taken from Parliament
- Government can dissolve Parliament
- Differences between Parliamentary and Presidential Government
- Parliamentary
- Fusion of powers
- Formed through parliamentary elections
- Overlap of personnel
- Government removable by legislature
- Flexible-term elections
- Cabinet government
- Separate head of government and head of state
- Presidential
- Separation of powers
- Governments are separately elected
- Separation of personnel
- Legislature can't remove governement
- Fixed-term elections
- Presidentialism
- Presidents are both head of government and head of state
- Parliamentary
- The House of Commons
Comments
No comments have yet been made