How Well Does Parliament Perform Its Various Functions Essay Example

How Well Does Parliament Perform Its Various Functions Essay Example How Well Does Parliament Perform Its Various Functions Essay How Well Does Parliament Perform Its Various Functions Essay Parliament is designed to keep the executive accountable ; therefore it goes about this by assorted agencies of authorities examination. such as Prime Minister’s Question Time. In add-on. Parliament is expected to execute a legislative map. making the procedure of a measure going a jurisprudence after undergoing many phases between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Finally. Parliament is besides required to be representative of the state. with constituencies making a strong local nexus between the electorate and their MP. As Parliament is required to size up the executive. each hebdomad there is Prime Minister’s Questions giving backbench MPs the opportunity to set the Prime Minister under force per unit area and inquire him/her difficult inquiries. Often this hebdomadal meeting is a conflict between the party in authorities and the resistance for illustration on 29th February 2012. Ed Miliband criticised the alliance authorities on the topic of the NHS reforms when he reported that Nick Clegg’s support of the reform varied depending on the day of the week as the Liberal Democrats had allegedly sent out different messages about the Health and Social Care Bill for England. However MPs of the authorities have been known to size up their ain party leader. particularly if they are non content with the work in their constituency. Although. since Tony Blair reduced Prime Minister’s Question clip to merely one time a hebdomad. the inquiries posed are non answered exhaustively as there is non much clip. this besides allows for fewer inquiries to be asked. Furthermore. many Prime Minister’s have been able to ease through Prime Minister’s Questions as they had a big bulk like Tony Blair. This meant that there were non adequate size uping MPs on the resistance ; therefore the function of examination was non carried out so far. However. Prime Minister’s Question clip is non the lone beginning of Parliamentary examination as since 1979. each governmental section has had a choice commission who can name for persons. documents and records . ensuing is more unfastened authorities. which in bend reduced the power of the executive. Choice commissions are based in Portcullis House are made up of backbench MPs. of different parties therefore they are non party specific. Furthermore. the Liaison Committee besides now calls the Prime Minister to reply inquiries twice a twelvemonth. It has been said that select commissions have been a major factor in opening up the authorities over the past 20 old ages. for illustration in July 2007. the constitutional personal businesss commission decided that following a series of contentions. the function of the Attorney General in the ground forces was not sustainable’ and should be reformed. Nevertheless. the choice commissions consist of backbench MPs ; therefore they frequently reflect the workings of the authorities. Additionally. as the members of choice commissions are non experts in different Fieldss of cognition. they lack the expertness and power to significantly damage or question the authorities. The House of Lords besides play a cardinal function in examination as it has one power that the House of Commons does non: the upper chamber holds the power to protract the life of parliament beyond the normal five twelvemonth maximal term. for illustration the life of the Conservative authorities elected in 1935 was prolonged several times before stoping in 1945. Furthermore. the House of Lords’ cardinal function is to reexamine and amend the statute law passed from the House of Commons. As the House of Lords is more independent than the House of Commons. with a broad scope of cognition from many different Fieldss. the upper chamber is willing to stand up to the House of Commons. therefore get the better ofing the authorities ; Blair was defeated over three hundred times since his landslide triumph in 1997. This besides allows the upper chamber to detain measures for up to a twelvemonth to let for clip for amendment. for illustration in 2004. the Fox Hunting measure was delayed. But on the other manus. the Lords are merely able to detain a measure for one twelvemonth ; therefore they have no power to halt a measure wholly. particularly if there is a bulk in the House of Commons. In add-on. authorities can merely overrule the House of Lords. as on the 3rd juncture that a measure is rejected by the Lords. the elective Parks can coerce it onto the legislative act books against the Lords’ will. therefore by making a Parliament Act. However. examination is non the lone function of Parliament. as most people recognise it for its legislative map. to do statute law legitimate as the primary jurisprudence doing organic structure. As Parliament is moving on behalf of the electorate. the House of Commons has become the more dominant chamber in Parliament. Although measures can get down in either chamber. the Commons is where the bulk of statute law is introduced. and it passes over 100 measures each twelvemonth. However. the measures do non merely travel through to the Royal Ascent easy. the House of Lords bases in topographic point to reexamine and amend the white documents sent through from the House of Commons. for illustration the amendment of the Terror measure in 2005. Furthermore. the Lords are besides able to reject measures that it redeems unsuitable for illustration the old Labour government’s proposal of national ID cards. The input from the House of Lords into the jurisprudence devising procedure is highly valuable as it consists of experts in many different Fieldss including medical specialty ( Lord Winston ) and concern ( Lord Sugar ) . On the other manus. there are many defects to Parliament’s legislative map. Although the Salisbury Convention prevents the Godheads from barricading every piece of statute law that the Commons effort to base on balls. it basically means that if the party in power proposed a piece of statute law in their pronunciamento. they will acquire the measure through comparatively unopposed. While this seems harmless. it reflects that fact that if a authorities has a big bulk. the bulk of its proposals will be passed. taking to elected absolutism. Besides. every bit far as the Godheads can detain and reject measures from the House of Commons. they can be overruled by the usage of the Parliament Act. they are besides limited by the fact that they can merely detain statute law for up to a twelvemonth. Finally. as a representative democracy. is it necessary that Parliament is representative. therefore in the House of Commons. 650 MPs are elected to stand for single constituencies. making a strong nexus between the electorate and the administration of the state. besides established by MPs’ surgeries every Friday in their local constituency. This ensures that everybody is represented. In recent old ages. a larger attempt has been made to vouch that the House of Commons reflects a just word picture of our society. hence presently 22 % of MPs are adult females and 27 are cultural minorities. including a choice of female cultural minorities. for illustration Diane Abbott ( Labour ) . the first black female MP. This has lead to David Cameron’s A List of preferable campaigners. as he attempts to pull an ncreasing figure of female campaigners who are besides cultural minorities. Not merely does the lower chamber carry out a representative map. but besides the Godheads are known for stand foring the national involvement. As they are non elected. the Lords are less portion political than the Commons as 186 Godheads do non place themselves with a party. so sit on the crossbenches. Additionally. the Lords are appointed for their expertness in many different Fieldss. therefore they derive from many different walks of life. However. although Parliament efforts to be progressively representative. the First Past the Post electoral system produces a really unrepresentative House of Commons. as the figure of seats does non straight correlate to the figure of ballots ; this is clear as in 2005. Labor gained 35 % of the ballot yet managed to accomplish 55 % of the seats. In the 2010 election. the Broad Democrats had 23 % of the ballot. but merely gained 8. % of the seats in the House of Commons. this is besides true for UKIP. as they achieved over 1 million ballots. but they did non acquire a plurality in a individual constituency. doing failure to win a place in the House of Commons. In add-on. besides the figure of adult females in the House of Commons is increasing. it still merely stands at 22 % . which is non proportionate of the electorate. the deficiency of proportionality is besides true when it comes to the mean age of MPs. as it presently stands at 50. Finally. although the MPs are all elected. powe r still lies in the custodies of unelected people – the Lords. The Lords are. on norm. a batch older than the MPs. increasing the unrepresentative characteristic. but there are still 92 familial Godheads who are non even appointed for their great cognition and expertness. taking to the inquiry of pointless power. All things considered. Parliament holds a great trade of duty. nevertheless there are many restraints on the sum of power Parliament can keep. therefore it is unable to transport out all of its maps to full grade. For illustration. although the House of Commons deficiencies representation. it is more likely that MPs will be older as they have more political experience and therefore are respected more.