Parliament

parliament- the british legislature made up of the house of commons, house of lords, and the monarch 

house of commons- the primary chamber of the UK legislature, directly elected by voters 

house of lords- the second chamber of the UK legislature, not direclty elected by the voters, but rather appointed by the servign government, have life long peerage 

backbenchers- MPs who do not have a senior position, eg a ministerial or shadow ministeral position. They occupy benches in the debating chamber behind thier leaders, their main impact is to represent their constituencies, they are also expected to support the leaders of their respective parties 

opposition- the official opposition is the second biggest party in the parliament, currently the labour party, its role is to critisise the government and to oppose many of its legislative proposals, it also seeks to present itself as an alternative government, the shadow government 

Commons 

-650 members 

-326 needed to form government 

-if an MP dies or retires they hold a by-election in their consituency 

-majority of MPs are backbenchers, 3/4 

Lords 

-no upper limit to how many members it can have 

-around 800 peers 

-hereditary peers, life peers, and lords spiritual (bishops) 

passing legislation 

-commons and lords, parliamentary ping pong, lords cannot veto fiscal bills, can only delay regular bills for one year, parliment can still pish through legislation, eg terrorism prevention act passed in 18 days, 12CR3

scrutiny of the executive 

-commons and lords, questions to ministers, select comittees, debates, written or roal questions, deabtes in the lords are often reviewing commons decisions/bills etc 

providing ministers 

-commons and lords, convention is that ministers should sit in one of the two houses, parliament acts as a reqruiting ground for future ministers, whips propose ministers, awarding of a peerage is often used as a way to get certain people into the lords so that they can be a minister, most ministers are from the commons, few from the lords 

public bill- the most important type of bill that can be debated in parliament, brought forward by government ministers to chage public policy 

private bill- much ess ocmmon, sponsored by an organisation such as a company or local authority, a group affected by such bill has the right to petition parliament against it 

hybrid bill- characterisitics ofboth public and private bills, affects the general public as well as more specified areas 

private members bill- affecst the whole population, introduced by an individual backbench mp or a member of the lords, much less likely to become law, often get stopped in the 12CR3 process, however some landmark bills have passed through this process 

1- first reading                               4-report stage                                  7-royal assent 

2-second reading                          5-third reading 

3-committee stage                        6-same proccess in the next house 

-parliamentary privalege, ensures freedom of speech in parliament, cannot be sued for libel for example 

-backbench buisness committee, backbenchers decide what gets debated in parliament, not exclusively but for some topics, eg they go through online petitions and see if its worht debating in parliament 

-a number of backbench rebellions against government measures 

-increase in the use of urgent questions, able to scrutinise the frontbenchers and ministerial leaders 

-introduced in 1979, select commitee to scrutinise the policy, administration and spending of each government department, also several non departmental committees eg public accounts commitee, liason commitee

-each commitee has a minimum of 11 backbenchers composition reflects the commons majorities 

-is respected because its evidence based, hearings are televised, air issues of public interest 

-scope of committes work has widened, hold preappointement hearings, long serving members accumulate lots of expertise, have a direct influence on government policy, for example, in 2014 the *** office took back control of the passport office after a study by the home affairs selecte commitee 

-prime minister 

-the cabinet 

-government departments 

-executive agencies (DVLA) 

Structure of departments 

-secretary 

-junior ministers 

-palriamentray undersecretary 

-proposing legislation 

-proposing the budget 

-making policy decisions 

-royal prerogative powers 

-award honors, appoint ministers and senior office holders 

-grant legal pardons, grant and withdraw passports 

-take action to maintain order in an emergency 

-sign treaties 

-declare war and autherise the use of armed forces 

-initiation of legislation ,secodnary legislation (make changes without acts of parliament) 

Individual- 

-the principle by which ministers are responsible for their personal conduct and that of their departments, if their department or themselves amke a mistake, the minister must resign, even if it wasnt thier fault eg Amber Rudd Windrush scandal 

Collective 

-the principle by which ministers must support cabinet decisions or leave the executive if they cannot agree on propositions or actions eg ministers resigned in protest the the iraq war, ministers resigned and withdrew support from thatcher resulting in her downfall 

factors affecting pms choice of minister 

-the importance of including individuals with ability and experience 

-establishing authority and silencing oposition 

-rewarding loyalty and key allies 

-maintaining a balance between different factions within the governing party, currently remain and leave 

-meeting the expectations of diversity 

-the management and skills of the prime minister 

-the prime ministers ability to set the agenda 

-the use of cabinet committees and informal groups to take decisions 

-the development of the PMs office and the Cabinet office 

-the impact of wider political and economic situations 

-appointment, reshuffling and dismissal of ministers, management of cabinet, icluding charing meetings, controlling agenda and setting up its conclusions 

-leadership of the largest party, in the house of commons, responsibility over the structure of government, including governemnt departments 

-providing national leadership and representing the UK in international affairs, direction of government policy, with a special responisibilty for economic and foreign policy and for decisions to use military force 

Limits 

-the extent to which the governing party and cabinet are united, the popularity of the prime minister and size of the governing parties majority 

-the personality and leadership style of the prime minister, the impact of external pressures such as the state of the economy and unforseen crisis in foreign affairs