Government and Politics Unit 2: Parliament

Functions of Parliament
1. Representation
  1. Where MPs must maintain the interest if the members of the constituency
    1. MPs are not always socially representative. For example there are a low proportion of women and ethnic minorities
    2. In the 2010 election, the Conservatives only got 36.1% of the vote, therefore the views of the people cannot be entirely represented in the Commons
2. Scrutiny
  1. The Government is scrutinised constantly by Parliament
    1. Select Committees are able to scrutinise the decisions made by the Government
3. Legislating
  1. The Government needs a simple majority (51%) within both Houses in order to pass legislation
    1. If they get this, it is passed to the Queen for her Royal Assent, and is passed into law
4. Deliberation
  1. Deliberation is when the two sides of the House of Commons have debates over major issues
5. HOL - Delay & Amend
  1. This is an ability of the House of Lords to delay legislation that has been put through The House of Commons
    1. But under the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, The Commons can overrule the Lords after a year of them delaying
    2. They can also make amendments to Bills and send them back to the Commons, but this may cause 'Ping-Pong' between the two houses
6. Redress of Greivances
  1. This is where the MP runs a weekly surgery to address the concerns of the constituents
7. Opposition
  1. This is where there is an opposition that calls the Government to account
    1. Prime Minister's Question Time is held every Wednesday in the Commons
      1. But these questions are already known by the Prime Minister, therefore this is not full scrutiny
8. Reserve Powers
  1. This is Parliament's ability to veto legislation that the Government has put forward
  2. They can also have the ability to dismiss a Government through a vote of no confidence
    1. This has only happened once in recent times with the dismissal of James Callaghan (Labour) in 1979
9. Accountability
  1. As Government is drawn from Parliament it is accountable to the decisions that are made
    1. This is shown at Prime Minister's Questions, where the PM is held accountable to his actions by the opposition
Parliament consists of two chambers: The House of Commons and The House of Lords
1. House of Commons
  1. Consists of 650 members that are elected in the General Election
    1. Each represents a different constituency
      1. They need a simple majority in their constituency in order to gain a seat in the House of Commons
        The party with the most seats in the House of Commons can create a Government as they have a majority in the House
        This means they can pass legislation quickly
        Tony Blair passed a new piece of legislation every 3 hours because of his huge majority in 1997-2005
  2. A speaker presides over precedings
    1. MUST BE NEUTRAL
2. House of Lords
  1. This chamber is unelected and is appointed partially by the Prime Minister
  2. They provide expertise for certain areas
  3. They don't have a huge impact on decision making but legislation needs to go through the Lords before it can be put into law
  4. Consists of 92 Hereditory Peers after the House of Lords Act 1999
    1. This was due to the Wakeham Report in 1999

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Government and Politics Unit 2: Parliament

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