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6 functions of Parliament - Coggle Diagram
6 functions of Parliament
Legitimisation
The Royal prerogative powers aren’t approved by the parliament, which reduces their legitimacy. Fixed term parliament act gave parliament more influence, reducing prerogative powers.
Secondary legislation is made by ministers, not debated in parliament. They have been controversial as they’re not debated at all or very little, so not scrutinised.
We elect MP's to represent our views, so they're legitimate
Removal of most hereditary peers have made the house more legitimate, so they’re more confident in disagreeing with the government.
Scrutiny
Pre legislative scrutiny is when a bill is published in draft form to a select committee for it to scrutinised. However the recommendations can be ignored and their use hasn’t been consistent.
Individual ministerial responsibility states that ministers are responsible for the actions of their departments
Question time allows ministers to be questioned once every 5 weeks.
PMQ allows the PM to be questioned once a week
Representation
FPTP makes it easy to tell who represent us
There are disagreements on how representation should work
Some say MPs should only act in the interests of their constituency.
Some say MPs should make their decisions independently, without their constiituencies' opinions
some say that MPs should fully follow the party line as the electorate voted for that party the most
Legislation
3 types of legislature: policy making legislature, policy influencing legislatures, legislatures with little or no effect on policy. The UK is one of that influences
Filibusters are when an MP talks for a long amount of time to stall the discussion and prevent a vote. This can be prevented by a closure motion, in which the Mps vote. However this is difficult as it requires 100 MP’s to support it which doesn’t always happen.
Recruitment
Ministers have to be either a peer or an MP, as is tradition
Even though cabinet positions can be given to peers legally, they aren't by convention so Gordon Brown was criticised for it
Debate
A debate is an official discussion of a motion proposed by an MP/peer. Substantive motions have reached a decision, while neutral motions don’t.
Debates ensure that statutes are scrutinised thoroughly, they allow members to draw attention to issues
Adjournment debates are debates that have been raised by a backbench MP, who submit their name beforehand and are then selected randomly from a ballot. The MP is given 15 minutes to make their point and a government minister has 15 minutes to reply.
Emergency debates take place after QT, an MP is given 3 mins by the speaker to make a speech. If the speaker is convinced that the issue is worth debating, it’s debated the same day or the day after if it’s urgent. They have been used more than ever since 2010.