The role and function of Parliament House of

The role and function of Parliament House of Commons House of Lords Functions of Parliament

House of Commons n n n All MPs win their seat in the same way The HOC consists of 646 MPs (not fixed and varies depending on the constituency) Each MP is elected by a single-member parliamentary constituency using the FPTP voting MPs are almost always representatives of a party and are subject to a system of party discipline (only 2 independents in 2005) Most MPs are categorised as backbenchers while a minority are categorised as frontbenchers

Powers n n The HOC is politically and legally the dominant chamber of Parliament There is a difference with formal powers of the HOC enshrined in law and the constitutional theory: 1. HOC has supreme legislative power: in theory the 2. The HOC alone can remove the government of the day: Commons can make, unmake and amend any law it wishes with the House of Lords only able to delay. The legal sovereignty exercised in practice by the Commons (subject to higher authority of EU Laws and treaties) Convention of collective responsibility. A government defeated in the Commons on a major issue or a matter of confidence is obliged to resign or to call a general election

House of Lords n n Complex: Four distinct bases for membership of the House = four types of Peers Controversial: None of these peers are elected. They stem from HOL Act 1999 which removed most of the previously dominant hereditary peers n Why didn’t the Labour Government like Hereditary Peers?

Life Peers n n n Entitled to sit in the Lords for their own lifetimes They are appointed under the Life Peerages Act 1958 Appointed by the PM with recommendations by opposition leaders Since 2000 a number of so called “people’s peers” were appointed on basis of individual recommendations made to HOL Appointments Commission. Life peers dominate the work of the Lords numbering 600 out of 721

Hereditary Peers n n These peers hold inherited titles which also carry the right to sit in the Lords. Descending order = Dukes; Marquises; Earls; Viscounts; Barons (and female equivalents) Once there were over 700 but since 1999 only 92 permitted to sit. These 92 were elected by all hereditary peers in the “unreformed” HOL

Lords Spiritual n n n These are Bishops and Archbishops of the Cof. E Collectively referred to as Lords Spiritual (other peers collectively known as Lords Temporal) 26 in total Traditionally appointed by PM on basis of recommendations by Cof. E G. Brown wants this power to be transferred from the PM

Law Lords n n Technically known as “Lords of Appeal in the Ordinary” 12 Most senior judges in the UK Entitled to sit in Lords but their judicial work is carried out through the Appellate Committee of the HOL They will work in the Supreme Court from 2009

Powers n n n Lords can delay bills passed by the Commons for up to one year. Lords cannot delay “money bills” and cannot delay bills by the so-called Salisbury convention “a government’s manifesto pledges” Lords possess veto powers not overridden by Commons: 1. 2. 3. n The extension to the life of Parliament (delays to general elections The sacking of Senior Judges which can only be done with consent of both houses The introduction of secondary legislation Highest Court of Appeal in the UK: through the Law Lords they can hear appeals from the Court of Appeal or in major cases from lower courts. (power now subject to European Court of Justice)

Functions of Parliament n n n n n Provides personnel for the government Training Representational Legislative Legitimating Financial Debating Scrutinising of the executive Judicial Benefits of Westminster model of Parliament