Parliament

Parliament

Parliamentary & Presidential Government
1. Parliamentary
  1. Parliament is in the highest source of political authority
  2. The government must be drawn from parliament e.g HOC or HOL
  3. No strict seperation of powers between legislature and executive
  4. Government must be accountable to parliament
2. Presidential Government
  1. Legislature and executive have seperate sources of authority
  2. The president is not part of the legislature
  3. The president is directly accountable to the people
  4. Clear seperation of powers
  5. Codified constitution to seperate powers
Parliamentary Sovereignty
1. Parliament is the source of all political power
2. Parliament may restore itself any powers that have been delegated
3. parliament may make any laws it wishes
4. Not bound by any previous laws passed previously
5. Cannot bind it's successors
The Structure of Parliament
1. The bicameral division of parliament
  1. HOL
  2. HOC
  3. The Queen and parliament
2. Plenary Sessions
  1. When all of the HOC & HOL meet
  2. Issue examples: War in Iraq, tuition fees, budget debates
3. Legislative Committees
  1. Most are public bill committees
  2. Grants power to MP's and peers
4. Committees of the whole house
  1. Amendment of bills, considered by everyone
  2. Rare
5. Department select committees
  1. Just parliament
  2. Draw conclusions from proposals
6. Other select committees
  1. Deal with domestic issues
  2. e.g Public accounts committee checks parliament is spending correctly
Functions of Parliament
1. Legitimation
  1. Traditional role to provide consent
  2. Government's ability to legislate is underpinned by parliament
  3. Parliament makes legislation legitimate
2. Scrutiny
  1. Close inspection, amendments may be proposed
  2. Parliament represents many sections of society
  3. Doesn't involve gridlock
3. Opposition
  1. only applies to parties that are currently not in government
  2. Involves forced justification
  3. Hope to expose weaknesses of the government's position
4. Accountability
  1. Forcing justification
  2. Potential critisism
  3. Responsibility
5. Financial control
  1. Approval, also exposing
  2. Renewed every year, e.g the budget
  3. 'Public accounts committee'
6. Representation
  1. Representing the people
  2. Representing different sections of society
  3. Represent party
7. Redress of grievances
  1. Constituent to go to MP
  2. MP's expected to raise issues in the HOC
8. Private members' legislation
  1. Annual ballot for MP's and peers
  2. Proposals almost always blocked
9. Deliberation
  1. Holding debates on a vital issue
  2. Critical decisions on the nation's future
10. Reserve powers
  1. The ability to veto government legislation
  2. The ability to dismiss government
11. Delay
  1. Cannot deny only delay
  2. Can delay for up to a year
  3. HOL can defy more
12. Amendment of legislation
  1. Every HOL amendment must be confirmed by HOC
  2. If there is a disagreement the bill will jump backwards
House of Commons
1. Strengths
  1. Has ultimate power to remove a government from office
  2. MP's can veto legislation
  3. MP's can force legislative amendments
  4. MP's can call ministers to account
  5. Each constituency can be represented by their MP
  6. Various interests are represented by MP's
  7. Small groups of MP's can have an impact
2. Weaknesses
  1. Government usually have majority so can dominate MP's
  2. Party whips
  3. MP's have insufficient time to call government to account
  4. MP's have a limited role developing legislation
  5. HOC lacks women and ethnic minorities
  6. Government is increasingly ignoring parliament
House of Lords
1. Strengths
  1. Many members are independent from party whips
  2. Peers represent widely
  3. Can delay legislation and therefore force compromises
  4. Has more effective time to construct debates etc
2. Weaknesses
  1. Unreformed it lacks democratic legitimacy
  2. Cannot veto anything long term and is limited by law
  3. Proposed amendments can be overturned by HOC
  4. Limited role in developing legislation
  5. Face problems with holding government to account
HOL Reform
1. For
  1. More democratic
  2. Will eliminate any corrupt practices
  3. Will help with PR
  4. Will allow smaller parties to be represented more
  5. Brings more people into the political process
  6. Membership can be controlled to ensure representation
  7. Can bring more independents into the political process
2. Against
  1. Can create deadlock if literally just a mirrored HOC
  2. Too many elections may lead to voter fatigue
  3. More powerful second chamber may lead to a less decisive government
  4. May be dominated by parties with 'party hacks'
  5. Could lead to corruption if too much power is given
  6. Might lack legitimacy and public support

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