1. Jan 13 - Parliament Agenda: Notes: Parliament PMQT HW:
Finish the UK Chapter
Take out:
Notes
Pen/Pencil
Queens Speech Worksheet

2. Parliament The Westminster Model
In the 1200’s Parliament became the official gathering of feudal barons summoned by the King whenever he required their consent to special taxes
By the 15th century they gained the right to make laws

3. Only power to delay legislation: A chamber of revision
The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Assembled
Only power to delay legislation:
Suspensive veto
A chamber of revision
Types of Peers (618 seats)
Law Lords – until 2009
Life Peers (appointed by the Crown on recommendation of the PM)
Hereditary Peers
Church of England
Cross Benchers

4. Hereditary: Elected by Party
By Party Strength
Party
Life Peers
Hereditary: Elected by Party
Hereditary: Elected
Hereditary: * Royal
Bishops
Total
Conservative
150 39 9
198
Labour
212 2
216
Liberal Democrat 67 3 72
Crossbench
173 29
206 26
Other** 12 14
TOTAL
614 75 15
732
By Type
Men
Women
Total
Archbishops and bishops 26
Life Peers under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 22 1 23
Life Peers under the Life Peerages Act 1958
457
145
602
Peers under House of Lords Act 1999 90 2 92
TOTAL
595
148
743
Wakeham Commission
Most Hereditary Peers were stripped of their right to speak or vote in 1999
I'm in the House of Lords because my forebears got pissed with Pitt and wallowed with Walpole," said the seventh Earl of Onslow in a burst of alliterative bluntness in He might have added that, had it not been for the cunning Conservative Cranborne, there would be no hereditary peers left in the Lords. Viscount Cranborne - whose family had sat in the Lords since the time of Elizabeth I – brokered a deal with Labour in 1998 to protect some of the hereditary peers from constitutional reform. By threatening all-out war on Labour's legislative programme he orchestrated a compromise to save 92 of them. The 759 contenders were given a maximum of 75 words to argue their case. One wrote just three: Sedeo ergo sum - I sit therefore I am. – from The Guardian
NB Excludes 11 peers who are on leave of absence.

5. Virtual Tour! House of Lords

6. Parliament Explained 5: Debates in Parliament. London: Parliament, Printed Resources. Parliament Education Service, Mar Web. 29 Dec <

7. The Honorable Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament Assembled
646 MPs
Called the Commons because MPs represent a commune or community
NOT because they are commoners
Each serves about 65,000 people in Single Member Districts
MPs serve a maximum of 5 years, but there isn’t a fixed election cycle
PM can dissolve Parliament
Technically the Crown does this

8. The Prime Minister (PM)
PM is the head of government
People don’t vote for the PM
Citizens vote for their MP in their district
David Cameron represents Witney
Majority Party of Parliament picks the PM
Presidential (US, Sep of pwr) v. Parliamentary (UK, Fusion of pwr)
Witney shown within Oxfordshire, and Oxfordshire shown within England

9. The Cabinet The cabinet contains the PM and roughly 2 dozen ministers
Ministers members from Parliament (Commons or Lords)
Fusion of Executive and Legislative powers
Not fixed positions or portfolio
Foreign Office (Sec St)
Home Office (AG)
Chancellor of the Exchequer (Treas)

10. What does it do? Key functions of the Cabinet:
Key functions of the Cabinet:
Responsible for policy making
Supreme control of government
Coordination of all government departments
There is a collective responsibility
Checks on the power of PM/ Cabinet

11. House of Commons Vote of No Confidence Backbenchers Shadow Cabinet
Elections follow no-confidence or dissolution in one month
Backbenchers
MPs with little seniority – only seats for 346
Shadow Cabinet
Safe Seat

12. House of Commons Speaker
Chosen by majority after consultation with the minority
Doesn’t eat in the HoC dining room or attend official party functions
Similar to the monarchy in they are above the system

13. PM LO Press Gallery Speaker Backbenchers Clerks Shadow Cabinet Cabinet
Seating arrangement?  what encourage? Direct interaction, tables interfere with direct physical confrontation, which the arrangement seems to promote. Encourage 2 sided debate. Side by side means discussion and negotiation with allies is difficult (more party leader role). Govt sits side by side so should show agreement. Speaker less central role.
Cabinet
2 swords-lengths apart
Government
Loyal Opposition

14. Members move into special division lobbies Doors are locked
An Introduction to Parliament. London: Parliament, Printed Resources. Parliament Education Service. Web. 29 Dec <
Called ‘Division’
Lasts for 10 minutes
Members move into special division lobbies
Doors are locked

15.
MPs submit to Speaker, shuffled.
Question #1
Leader of Op – 6
LibDems – 2

16. Whitehall: The brains of the operation (and the Bureaucracy)
The PM, Cabinet and senior level civil servants determine policy
Successful policy goals must be translated into policy
This is completed by half a million civil servants
draft legislation, prepare briefs, permanent secretaries
Labor created NPM (New Public Management) to streamline the Bureau
It is now more transparent, accountable and efficient
In many countries such as Nigeria, personal connections and informal networks play a large role in policy making and implantation. How different is the British system? The US?

17. Judiciary Courts have NOT had judicial review (now, nonbinding)
But 1 system for Scotland, 1 for England and Wales, another for Northern Ireland.
Law Lords: Old final court of appeal
Supreme Court of the UK – separated from the parliamentary process (Oct 09)
Final court of appeal
12 independently appointed judges (Justices)
Pressures from above (EU mostly) required the UK to look into this – European Convention on Human Rights especially
The Supreme Court hears appeals from the following courts in each jurisdiction:
England and Wales
The Court of Appeal, Civil Division
The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division
(in some limited cases) the High Court
Scotland
The Court of Session
Northern Ireland
The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland 17

18. QUANGOs: Quasi Autonomous Non Governmental Organizations
They perform a specific function of the government (often at a very local level)
Unitary system!
Education, job training, health, housing
Take advantage of private-sector expertise and efficiency
Non-elected
Became popular in the 1970s and have increased in both scope and power
The point is to get all of the interested parties together at one table and create the rules
British Potato Council