DISCLAIMER: all information in these module reviews are taken from our own notes and research so please do not cite this in your work. This summary also includes notes from my course provided textbook, 'Constitutional and Administrative Law' by Roger Masterman and Colin Murray.
Welcome to the fourth instalment of our Module Reviews!
In January leading into February, the focus will be on Public Law. For today's review, the topic featured is 'Institutions of Government'. This topic has been split into two parts; today's will address the House of Commons and the House of Lords (the Houses which make up Parliament), while last weeks looked at the Monarchy and the Executive. If you would like to read through last weeks review, please click here.
Parliament
Parliament is made up of two houses, both of which will be discussed below separately. These two houses are the House of Lords and the House of Commons. I have made a brief list below of some general but important facts about Parliament:
Parliament is where primary legislation (law) is drafted, scrutinised and made.
Petitions by the public can be brought to Parliament and debated.
Parliament can scrutinise and hold to account the Executive through various scrutiny mechanisms (see below).
Under s.7 Parliament Act 1911, each Parliament lasts for a maximum of 5 years.
Scrutiny Mechanisms
Parliament has access to multiple scrutiny mechanisms to ensure the checks and balances of aspects of government:
Parliamentary Questions – these are questions which enable MPs to acquire information from ministers about aspects of government policy. You may be aware of Prime Minster’s Questions which takes place every Wednesday.
Select Committees – these are a selection of committees which oversee the operation of a government department. They work in both Houses. The results of these inquires are made public and may require a response from the government. Some of these committees are departmental specific, such as the Defence Committee, however there are ones which cross departmental boundaries including the Public Accounts Committee.
Opposition days – these are twenty days in the parliamentary calendar when opposition parties control the agenda.
The House of Commons
The House of Commons is one of the Houses that makes up Parliament.
In the House of Commons, there are 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) who are elected at a general election through a ‘first past the post’ system. Each MP represents a different constituency with each of these constituencies having roughly the same number of electors (s.16 Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000). Under s.1 of The Representation of the People Act 1983, all British citizens in the UK who are over the age of 18 can place one vote for a certain candidate standing in their [the citizen’s] constituency. For the controversy surrounding prisoners voting in the UK, see this House of Commons briefing paper analysing the debate over the voting rights of prisoners since May 2015 and the case of Hirst v United Kingdom (no.2) (2005).
The current governing party in The House of Commons is the Conservative Party after the general election in 2019. In the 2017 general election, the Conservative Party also formed a government, however they had to find support from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to do so. This is because a hung Parliament is when no single political party wins a majority in the House of Commons. As a result, the Conservatives had to secure the support of the DUP to obtain a majority in the House of Commons.
In the House of Commons, there is an individual known as the Speaker. The Speaker is the chief officer and highest authority of the House of Commons and must remain politically impartial at all times. They are elected by other Members of Parliament and must resign from their political party upon election. Their role includes, amongst others, suspending MPs who are deliverability disobedient and calling MPs to speak during Commons debates.
The House of Commons play a key part in the legislative process. They can present Bills and also debate and approve Bills proposed by the House of Lords. Bills of major constitutional importance conventionally start in the Commons.
The House of Lords
The House of Lords is the second House that makes up Parliament.
This House is the secondary chamber in Parliament and is unelected by the public. As part of Parliament, the House spends most of its time considering Bills (draft laws) and its approval is required alongside the House of Commons for a Bill to receive Royal Assent. As an unelected chamber, the House of Lords has undergone some serious reform throughout its history to combat criticisms. I have listed some of the most important reforms below:
The Parliament Act 2011 removed the power of the House of Lords to be able to veto a Bill and instead allowed them to delay a Bill by up to two years.
The Parliament Act 1949 reduced this delay time further form two years to one year.
The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the ability of most hereditary peers (Lords who have simply inherited their title) to sit in the House of Lords. Specifically, it reduced the number of hereditary peers to just 92. This Act also established an Appointments Commission which recommends life peers. These are peers which are non-party political and often an expert in their certain field.
The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 removed all sitting judges, known as ‘Law Lords’, from the House. In its place, the Supreme Court was created.
If you are interested in seeing the current make-up of the House of Lords, the UK Parliament website has a summary on the Lords membership here.
The Salisbury Convention
The Salisbury Convention is a constitutional convention. It is a convention which means that the House of Lords will not oppose any Government Bills which the elected government mentioned in its election manifesto.
‘The Salisbury Convention was designed to protect the non-Conservative government from being blocked by a built-in hereditary-based majority in the Lords. It was not designed to provide more power for what the late Lord Hailsham rightly warned was an elective dictatorship in another place against legitimate check and balance by this second Chamber.’ - Lord McNally, HL Debs, vol.668, col.371 (26 Jan 2005).
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