WEEK : 3The Legislature

Joy Johnson

Readings

• Morrison essential public affairs for journalists Ch 2

• Peter Dorey Policy Making in Britain• Governing with a Coalition, Bogdanor Ch 6/7• Anthony King The British Constitution• Developments in British Politics, Heffernan,

Cowley & Hay Ch 3• Coalition Agreement • The Politics of Coalition, Hazell and Young, Ch

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Issues for this week

1. Composition and role of the Commons2. MPs backbenchers 3. Reforms of the Commons4. Role of the Lords 5. Reforms (incl. Est. Supreme Court)6. Stages in both houses for passage of a

Parliamentary Bill7. Who are the key players?8. What are the procedural events in both Houses

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FUNCTIONS OF LEGISLATURES

EXECUTIVE

PARLIAMENT

Support governmen

t

Provide ministers

Consider legislation

Scrutinise decisions

CITIZENS

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EXECUTIVE – LEGISLATIVE RELATIONS

Majority status + Party discipline = Executive dominance

• Hung parliament – coalition government

• Minority government - whipping MPs to get votes through

• Minority government – confidence and supply

• No confidence vote

•

Absence of party discipline Bargaining with MPs for support

(Britain in mid-19th century)

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THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENT

• Provides link between electoral preferences and government decisions

• Coalitions within the Coalition• When there is majority government means

opposition MPs have little power• Constraint on government is from own

side• Where government depends on coalition

building, legislature tends to be stronger viz a viz the executive (but is it?)

MP’s Expenses scandal

• Rocked Parliament

• Rebuild trust

• Reform of the House of Commons

• Reduce the power of the whips

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Reform of the House of Commons

• members and chairs of select committees now elected by fellow MPs not appointed; reduced the power of the whip.

• Deputy Speaker and chairman of ways and means elected – not only deputises for the speaker but takes the chair for the budget statement.

• 2 other deputy speakers – one Tory one Labour

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Speakers’ team

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Definition of Ways and Means

• The phrase 'ways and means' comes from a committee of the House of Commons which used to consider the 'ways and means' of raising tax revenue for the Government.

• Nowadays, the Chairman of Ways and Means is a senior MP who is also one of the Speakers' three deputies

• The Budget debate is always chaired by the Chairman of Ways and Means.

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Speaker – order order

• Controls the Chamber• Tensions

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Attempting to control the House

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14139499

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11937671

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SELECT COMMITTEES

Background Established in 1979 Public Accounts Committee; Foreign Affairs

Committee Number of reports: 1979-83 = 193 1987-92 = 323 1997-01 = 472Weaknesses Cannot compel attendance of ministers/officials Reports not mandatory Lack resources

Reform - Membership now elected Whatever reality the media refer to them as powerful

Select committees

• Shadows government departments

• Has the power to call for witnesses and papers

• Evidence taking in public

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Foreign Affairs select committee

• Dr. David Kelly questioned on whether he was the source for the BBC journalist on government dossier on Saddam Hussein

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Most humble day of my life

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/interactive/2011/jul/19/rupert-murdoch-hearing-interactive-presentation

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2012/may/01/rupert-murdoch-select-committee-video

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BSkyB bid and special adviser

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/video/2012/apr/26/permanent-culture-secretary-news-corp-video

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Revising legislation

• Public Bill committee (formerly standing committees) scrutinises and amends Bills as they progress through the stages before becoming Acts. Can be bypassed with agreement of the Speaker and become Committee of the Whole House

• (p37 Morrison)18

Business in the House

• The main business in the Commons is usually a set-piece debate on some area of government policy, often involving a series of motions and orders, or a stage of a new bill

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Business in the House

• Business questions to the Leader of the House on Thursday morning

• Government business• Some opposition days• Ministers summoned to the House to

answer questions outside of regular question time

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Urgent Questions

• MPs can apply to the Commons Speaker for permission to ask an Urgent Question in the House that same day.

• Recent example – executive pay • http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/

2012/january/urgent-question-on-executive-pay/

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Statements to the House

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/house_of_commons/default.stm

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Passage of a Bill

• A bill is a proposal for a new law, or a change to an existing law

• It can be introduced in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords.

• Once a bill has been examined and debated and both Houses agree on the content, it is then presented to the Queen for approval.

• Known as Royal Assent• Once given Bill becomes an Act of Parliament

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Passage of a Bill

• Readings in the Commons Chamber – 2nd reading opportunity for debate

• Scrutiny – committee stages report stages

• Guillotine• 3rd and final reading• See diagram below

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Business in the House

• http://services.parliament.uk/calendar/#!/calendar/Commons/MainChamber/2012/9/13/events.html

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Useful link

• http://www.parliament.uk/business/commons/

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Key actors

• The Speaker• Leader of the House• Chief Whip• Chairs of Select Committee• Usual channels (conversation

between govt and opposition)

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Non elected actors

• The Serjeant at Arms is responsible for security and keeping order within the Commons part of the parliamentary estate.

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Clerk of the House

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Black Rod

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House of Lords

• Revising Chamber• Scrutinises bills line by line• Can result in ‘Ping Pong’ when a Bill

goes between Commons and the Lords

• Shouldn’t usurp the business of the Commons

• Parliament Act

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Lord Speaker

• The Lord Speaker elected by peers. • She or he is elected for five years -

and can serve no more than two terms.

• presides over the proceedings of the Upper House

• cannot call Members to order or select who speaks

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Constitutional crisis averted but Lords now more

assertive

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Archaic terms brought back to life

• Constitution reform bill on electoral reform and reducing the number of MPs saw archaic terms brought back to life

• Coalition accused Labour opposition of ‘filibuster’

• Labour accused coalition of political ‘gerrymandering’

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LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

1st READING

2nd READING

COMMITTEE

REPORT

3rd READING

1st READING

2nd READING

COMMITTEE

REPORT

3rd READINGROYAL ASSENT

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NON-ASSENTING HOUSE OF LORDS?

Lords amend Bills 2007-08: 29 defeats (eg. 42 day period of

detention without trial)

If Lords amend a Bill … Government backs down; or Rejects amendment Nuclear option: Parliament Act War crimes (1991) Euro Parliament

elections (1999) Age of consent (2000) Fox hunting (2004)

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POWER RELATIONS WITHIN PARLIAMENT

Commons dominant over Lords

Executive dominant over legislature Blair not defeated in 1997, 2001 parliaments But defeated four times in 2005 parliament:

- Terrorism Bill - Incitement to Racial & Religious Hatred Bill

Government dominant over Opposition Of 170 ‘sitting days’, just 20 controlled by

opposition

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PARLIAMENT’S (WEAK) SCRUTINY ROLE

“Scrutiny of government by MPs and peers is neither systematic nor rigorous. The quality of information provided to Parliament by ministers and civil servants is variable. Parliamentary inquiries have a poor record in locating responsibility for failures by the executive, ensuring that government acts upon them and following up recommendations for improvement.”

Greg Power, ‘Making Government Accountable’ (2001)

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EFFECTIVENESS OF PARLIAMENT IN GAINING

INFORMATION

Effective

Not effective

Balance

Prime Ministers Questions

8% 71% -63%

Opposition debates 23% 47% -24%

Department Questions 25% 40% -15%

Ministerial statements 45% 20% +25%

Written Questions 41% 16% +35%

Select committee hearings

84% 3% +81%Source: Rush (2005), Tab 9.14

SUMMARY

Formally, parliament is ‘sovereign’ In practice, executive dominant over

legislature But is legislature weaker today?

- Concessions forced by backbenchers - Assertive House of Lords - Better scrutiny, via Select Committees

large government majorities exacerbate executive dominance

Coalition work in progress 42

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STRENGTHENING THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

Select Committees Increase their staffing/budgetsOne day per week for reports to be

debated

Opposition Increase in funding for opposition to

enable greater research

Sources: Power (2001), Norton Commission (2000)

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REFORM OF HOUSE OF LORDS

1911 Veto became delay

1949 Delay reduced to one year

1958 Life peers introduced

1999 Hereditary peers removed (except for 92)

2000 Royal Commission on Lords Reform2012 Clegg concedes defeat and abandons House of Lords reform

New Labour

• House of Lords reform – Tony Blair abolished hereditaries (except 92 elected by their peers)

• The rest appointed• Parties seeking parity to avoid defeat

in the Lords

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WAKEHAM’S PROPOSALS

PowersRetain the ‘suspensory’ veto; no ‘absolute’ veto

CompositionWakeham concerned about direct electionSo most members to be appointed; minority (c15%) to be elected

Lords in full ermine

• Proposals for wholly or partly elected second chamber

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Reform of Lords (2)

• Coalition agreement) to produce a wholly or mainly elected second chamber, using proportional representation (PR) system.

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Reform of House of Lords

• Debate on sovereignty – primacy of the House of Commons

• Outside experts lost if there were to be elections

• Unlikely opponents• Clegg defeated – Cameron too much

opposition from his own backbenchers wouldn’t support

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQtwcV4TbLs

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David Steel’s Bill

• Possibility of limited reform of the House of Lords

• former Liberal Democrat Leader Lord Steel currently going through Parliament.

• allow peers to retire, ban those who were imprisoned from returning to the red benches and give the authorities tougher powers to suspend members....

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Separation of Powers

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Supreme court

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00dhn80

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Issues

• Consequences of the coalition

• Has the nature of the House of Lords changed

• has reform of the Lords hit the buffers

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Next week

• Role of the Prime Minister

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