Functions of Parliament- Lesson 4

7/28/2019 Functions of Parliament- Lesson 4

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Functions of Parliament

These are the functions of Parliament:1. Legislation: Parliament makes laws. It has supreme legislative power in the

UK, it can make, unmake any law it wishes as expressed in the principle of

Parliament sovereignty. It can not be challenged Parliaments authority. Devolved

assemblies and local assembles can only make laws because Parliament allows

them to. Parliament passed the Scotland Act 1998 to devolve some powers to the

Scottish Parliament.

Private members bills are put forward by MPs and peers. Sometimes the

government supports the bill. An example is David Steeles Abortion Act of 1967

was supported by the government.

However the effectiveness of Parliament role as a legislature has been questioned.

Although the number of private members bill passed increased, the number of

private members bill approved is small.

Also, party control of the Commons means that the government bills are rarely

defeated and most amendments affect the details of legislation, not its principles. It

is therefore more accurate to say that legislation is passed through Parliament

rather than by Parliament.

The lords play a subordinate role in the legislative process. It is a revisingchamber that cleans up bills not property scrutinized by the Commons.

2. Recruitment of ministers: Parliament acts as the major channel ofpolitical recruitment. In the UK, all ministers are must be peers or MPs. Before

they become front-benchers, they cut their teeth on the backbenchers. This enables

them to engage in debate, asking parliamentary questions and sitting in

committees. ALSO, it enables them to understand how government works.

However, the effectiveness of Parliament as a source of recruitment and training

has been questioned.In recent years ministers have been previously personal advisors to former minister

or prime minister. The recruitment of ministers has been increasingly drawn from

many working from business and other sectors. For example, Ed Miliband, the

current Labour leader was previously a personal advisor to Gordon Brown. This is

partly because many Mps who build their career in Parliament have limited

experience and skills to run a governmental department. Although, they may learn

speechmaking skills but they lack management skills which is vital in running a

governmental department.

3. Scrutiny and oversight: Parliament does not govern but check orconstrain the government of the day. Many therefore argue that Parliaments mostimportant function is to call the government to account, forcing ministers to

explain their actions. This ensures a responsible government. It ensures that


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unnecessary discrimination does not take place and minorities are not unfairly

discriminated against and that laws will clear in their application.

In this sense, Parliament acts as a watchdog, exposing any mistakes made by the

government. Parliamentary oversight is underpinned by the convention of

collective responsibility and individual responsibility.

However the effectiveness of Parliament to scrutinize the government has been

questioned:

If the government of the day control the majority party, it makes it difficult for

Parliament to scrutinize the Parliament. The majority party tends to support

the government, not scrutinize it.

Question time is often weak and ineffective. It has been reduced to once-a-

week therefore making it harder for Parliament to hold the ministers especially

the prime minister. Prime ministers question time has degenerated into a

party-political battle between the prime minister and the opposition leader. It

generates more heat than light.

Although select committees are seen more effective than Question time, they

have some disadvantages. These include:

- The government has a majority on the each of these committees (the

committees reflect the composition of the House of Commons)

- They are appointed by the whips, which ensure that loyal backbenchers

sit on key committees and tends to be appointed to the most important

committee chairs.

- Select committees have no executive power. They only criticise

government, they cannot government policy.

4. RepresentationParliament is the key link between government and thepeople, reflected by the principle of parliamentary democracy. The

representative function is mainly carried out by the elected House of

Commons and operates through a relationship between MPs and constituents.

The Burkean view of representation suggests that MPs use their own

judgement in acting on behalf of their constituents. MPs often weigh up their

partys attitude to the issue such as Iraq war against what they perceive to be

in the nations interest.

However, the doctrine of mandate, by contrast, suggests that MPs serve theirconstituents by toeing the party line. They are elected to represent their party

and its manifesto, thus they are expected to toe the party line. Nevertheless

there are exceptions, for example during the 2005 general election a large

number of Labour candidates openly state that they did not support the Iraq

invasion.

MPs also are expected to represent their constituents whenever they are

involved in government policy. For example, the proposal to set up asylum

seekers centres in rural area in 2004-05 was opposed by MPs which affected

their constituencies. They set up a successful campaign to reverse the policy.

During the 2006-07 debates on the possible introduction of casinos, many MPsopposed it because their constituents were concerned that it will attract crimes

in the particular area. (Adjournment debates, early day motions and ten


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minute rules are protected for MPs to raise questions concerning their

constituents).

However, the effectiveness of Parliamentary representation has been

criticised:

- The House of Lords is still unelected, therefore it undermines thedemocratic responsiveness of Parliament.

- The FPTP voting system undermines the effectiveness of

representation in the House of Commons.

- MPs and Peers are larger unrepresentative of large society.

5. LegitimacyParliaments final function is to promote legitimacy. Whengovernments govern through Parliament, their actions are more likely to be

seen as rightful and therefore obeyed by the public. Although the

government enjoys a mandate from the electorate, it is still important that its

authority to legislate is underpinned by Parliament. Therefore, for any law to

be implemented it requires parliamentary sanction. This is effectively granting

popular consent indirectly. Parliament is in short making legislation

legitimate.

- Parliament stands for the public, being a representative assembly.

- Parliamentary approval is based on the assumption that the

governments actions have been properly scrutinized and debated with

any problems and weakness uncovered. For example, the Lordscarried out an amendment excluding the Church of England from the

Act designed to end discrimination against old, gay and disabled

people, during the amendment process of the Equality Bill.

6. Accountability in modern democracy accountability is crucial to preventoppressive governments. At election times, the government is directly

accountable to the people. Then in 2010, the Labour party popularity ratings

dropped from 36.2% to 29.7%. This shows that the people delivered a

negative verdict on Labours performance. However, between elections

Parliament must force the government to account for its actions. This is done

in many ways:

- It means forcing the government to justify for its policies by explaining

why it was developed and what are their effects.

- It may mean criticism of the government policies. This is mainly the

job of the opposition.

- For the opposition accountability may pave the way to introduce

alternatives to government proposals. This represents a more positive

form of criticism.

- Parliament makes have to uncover mistakes done by ministers in

policies developed.


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Individual ministerial responsibility- this doctrine suggests that everyminister is individually responsible for all the activities of their department

and personal conduct. They face criticism or maybe asked to resign. In the

past, ministers resigned even if civil servants made a mistake. However, this

principle has eroded in recent years. The most common example is in 1982

when Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington resigned over the Falkland invasion.The British forces were unprepared for the invasion. More recently, Estelle

Morris resigned in 2002 over the poor performance of her department. In the

same year, Stephen Byers was forced to resign as Trade and Industry

Secretary after his personal advisers were accused of behaving

unprofessionally.

On the other hand, in recent years ministers are more likely to hold on to their

positions when serious errors are revealed. In the 1990s, Home Secretary

Michael Howard suffered many embarrassing criticisms over his running of

prisons. Also, Defence Secretary Geoff Goon refused to resign despite

problems with inadequate equipping of British Forces in the 2003 Iraq War. In

practise it is up to the prime minister whether a minister takes the rap. Once

a minister lost the confidence of his/her prime minister, s/he is likely to be

sacked.

Nevertheless, most ministers resign over personal conducts. In 2004 Home

Secretary David Blunkett resigned following a major parliamentary and media

campaign against him. This was partly because a parliamentary inquiry

exposed that his office is linked to the speeding up of visa application made by

his partners nanny. In the 1990s, the era of Tory sleaze forced the resignation

of many Tory ministers. For example, Neil Hamilton, a junior minister,resigned over the cash-for-questions scandal. It is against Parliamentary rules

to accept money to raise awareness of an outside groups interests.

It is more difficult form ministers to resign over political errors than personal

conduct. In practice, Parliament has more influence over the former than the

latter. It is therefore more difficult to assert individual ministerial

responsibility effectively and has become difficult to assert that it is effective.

In practice, ministers accept responsibility for mistakes instead of resigning or

embarrassment for the government as a whole.

It should be pointed out that Parliament doesnt have the power to remove aminister from office, only the prime minister can. It can only pressure a

minister into resignation. Nevertheless, Parliament can remove the

government as a whole through a vote of no confidence. However, MPs

especially from the governing party are naturally reluctant to precipitate a

general election in which many of them may lose their seats.

In the end, accountability stops short of resignations and involves normally

investigation and criticisms.


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How Parliament call ministers to

account?

1. Questions to ministers: Prime Ministers Question Timeis when MPs ask the prime minister questions (one notifiedand one unscripted). PMQs tend to be dominated by clashesbetween the prime minister and the leader of the oppositionwho asks 4-5 supplementaries. Question Time also extendsto other ministers, forcing them to answer oral questions fromMPs. Each governmental department features in a four weekcycle. Ministers have an unfair advantage (receives help fromcivil servants).Example: In 2010 the Health Secretary Mike OBrien was

criticised for an insufficient funding for health-careparticipants in the London Olympic games.

2. Select Committees: They have the power to questionministers, their civil servants and any witness from externalorganisation. Sometimes the chairmen of Select Committeesare held by the opposition which shows its ability to beindependent from the government. However, the governingparty tends to have a large number of MPs in selectcommittees. There are 19 (DSCs) shadowing each work of

government departments.Example: In 2010, the Defence Select Committee was headedby James Arbuthnot a conservative MP. It published a reporturging future governments to learn the lessons of the Iraq andAfghanistan war to plan a post-peaceful society.

3. Debates and ministerial statements: Governmentpolicy can be examined through legislative debates andthrough emergency debates. These are held by the Speaker.Adjournment debates allow backbenchers to initiate debatesat the end of the parliamentary day. Ministers are alsorequired formal statements to Parliament on major policyissues.Example:In July 2010, an adjournment debate on HousingBenefits was held.

4. The Opposition: on opposing days opposition partieschoose the subject for debate and use these as opportunitieseither to criticize government policy or to highlight alternativepolicies. There are 20 opposing days per parliamentarysession.


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Powers of Parliament

Reserves Powers: Parliament enjoys two powers that israrely used. These are the ability to veto governmentlegislation and to dismiss a government. The House of Lordshas vetoed down many government legislation. The Lordsvetoed the governments plans to extend the period ofdetention of terrorists suspects without trial to 90 days.

The threat to dismiss a government can force the governmentto act a responsible and responsive way. However, when agovernment controls a large majority in the Commons, it isunlikely to happen. Nevertheless, it is comforting to note thatParliament has a way to get rid of arbitrary governments.Anexample of this is James Callaghans Labour governmentwhich lost a vote of no confidence in March 1979.

Specific Lords Powers: the Lord has two powers notenjoyed by the Commons. The Parliament Act of 1949 givesthe Lords the power to delay a bill for next year. This is

unlikely to occur in the Commons because MPs are whipped tosupport government legislations. The Lords, however, has thefreedom to defy the government. The purpose of delay is toforce the government to think again and so ensure that thereis sufficient support for a proposal. Secondly, the delayprovides Parliament enough time to amend the proposal.Example:the Hunting Dog Act was delay for the next year bythe Lords.

The Lords has more opportunity to amend legislations thanthe Commons. The former has greater political independencethan the Commons. Also, the Lords amendment has the effectof delaying legislation. But each amendment must beapproved by the House of Commons. However, if both Housesdisagree, a bill is passed back and forward (causing ping-pong), which tends to frustrate the government.Example: the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act had been declaredunlawful under the ECHR. This forced the government toreturn the legislation to Parliament in a modified form. But theLords decide to add some critical amendments, preventingthe Home Office from detaining suspected terrorists without

trial. The legislation was passed back and forth until thegovernment agreed on a compromise.


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The Functions of Parliament

Functions LimitationsPrivate members legislation The House of Lords is not elected.

The Commons is seen to be dominated by the executive

and therefore not independent.

The electoral system means the Commons is not

politically representative of the electorate.

Little time is devoted to private members legislation.

Government is easily able to kill any bills it opposes.

It is difficult for MPs and peers to gather enough

support to force bill through.

Deliberation Both Houses lack enough time consider bills

thoroughly.

Standing committees are whipped so fall under

government control.

Calling government to account Collective government responsibility makes it difficult

to examine government decisions. The opposition lacks the administrative back-up of the

government. Skilful minister and civil servants can

evade questioning by MPs and peers.

MPs and peers may lack expertise and knowledge.

The power of patronage prevents governing MPS and

peers being too hostile or inquisitive. Therefore,

governing MPs are like to scrutinize the government

less effectively.

There remains a good deal of government secrecy,

especially in the field of defence, security and foreign

policy.

Financial control Parliament is traditionally not expected to challenge the

government seriously in this area.

House of Lords has no jurisdiction at all.

Representation The FPTP voting system makes the Commons largely

unrepresentative.

The House of Lords is unelected.

Both houses are socially unrepresentative, especially in

terms of women or social and ethnic background.

Redress of grievances

Reserves powers MPs of the governing party are reluctant to use reserve

powers for fear of precipitating a general election in

which they may lose their seats or their party may lose


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power.

Scrutiny of proposed legislation. Legislative committees are whipped and rarely defy

government.

Delaying (House of Lords) The Parliament Act limits this power to one year.

Amending ( House of Lords) Proposed amendments must be approved by the House

of Commons, where government dominates. This is

partly because the House of Lords is not elected but the

Commons are, therefore it is only the Commons who

can make legislation legitimate.

Documents

Functions of Parliament- Lesson 4