Parliament

Parties

The sovereignty of parliament forms one of the central basic principles of the British political system (see also system of government). To this end, the political system in Great Britain is unique in that it does not follow the principle of sovereignty of the people. The following text addresses the most striking features of the British parliament and its two chambers. Another section discusses the principle of parliamentary sovereignty and asks whether the Queen of England would have to sign her own death warrant, should Parliament so wish [...to the discussion text].

Parliament

The British parliament is made up of two chambers, the lower house (House of Commons) and a upper house (House of Lords). Elected representatives (MPs) from the ruling and opposition parties sit in the lower house. On the government benches a distinction is made between those holding public office and those that do not (the backbenchers). The leader of opposition receives a state salary and is known as "Her Majesty's Leader of the Opposition". Parliamentary sessions are ruled over by the speaker, who is chosen out of the centre of parliament by parliament. The speaker is not always a member of the ruling party, for even the government's own backbenchers are keen to make sure that the office of speaker is performed in the interests of all Members of Parliament and not only those of the government.

As in other democracies, the social composition of the lower house does not reflect that of the population. Most MPs are aged between 40 and 60 and male. In 1997 the number of women MPs doubled to 120 (101 Labour, 13 Conservatives, 3 Liberal Democrats; two members of the Scottish National Party and the speaker; Betty Boothroyd, Labour). All in all, 18 percent of MPs. The number of MPs with a university education increased across all parties in 1997 (66 percent in the Labour Party, 81 percent in the Conservative Party and 70 percent of Liberal Democrats). People with a middle class background dominate all parliamentary parties. As far as the professions are concerned, the Labour Party boasts a high number of teachers, the Conservatives lawyers. As for the economy, the parliamentary Labour Party can draw on salaried workers and regular workers, while the Conservative Party is represented mainly by company directors.

The job of Parliament

[Houses of Parliament in London]

The main task of parliament is legislating and controlling the government. The role of the opposition is limited in both of these areas. The government largely sets the agenda, its members make up the majority of parliament and hold the chairmanship of most committees, as well as determining the amount of time to be spent discussing proposed laws in Parliament. Individual MPs have hardly any personnel. There is a lack of space and information. For these reasons the opposition sees its role as one of criticizing the government and portraying itself as a government in waiting. It appoints members to a shadow cabinet, who are responsible for challenging their government counterparts. The opposition is hardly in a position to play a constructive role in the making of legislation and this is not expected form it.

Parliamentary committees are set up ad hoc to offer advice and amendments to proposed legislation. They meet following the second or third reading of a proposed law in Parliament either as a small group of MPs or as a committee of the whole house. In the case of the latter, the speaker leaves his/her chair and Parliament is turned into a giant committee. The opposition is allowed to set the agenda for 20 parliamentary sessions per year, especially in connection with the budget. There are also written and verbal opportunities of control in the form of questions and debate with government ministers during question time.

In Great Britain, committees of experts are formed to help ministers with their work, but these work outside of the legislative process. These follow the workings of their ministries and compile reports on current issues. The efficiency of these committees, however, is limited. This is because direct control by the ruling party makes them largely dependent on the willingness of government to provide the necessary information. The right of the government to withhold inside information from Parliament and the public and to instigate legal proceedings against those leaking information has been a tool used widely in the past. Tony Blair's declared aim was to make government more transparent. The planned Freedom of Information Act is aimed at improving access to government information for individual citizens, and might help expert committees (select committees) to perform their political control function more effectively in future.

The Upper House

The upper house of parliament is made up of over 1000 non-elected representatives. Around two thirds of lords are hereditary peers. The lords who play an active part in politics have largely been appointed. In 1958 a new system of peerage was introduced, whereby new members became life peers and could not pass on their title. A distinction is also made between the spiritual lords made up of bishops and archbishops of the Anglican Church and the temporal or worldly lords. These include the members of the royal family and the Law Lords. The Law Lords are highly respected judges, who have been knighted and given a seat in the House of Lords. The Law Lords are qualified to take part in judicial business in the House of Lords and they represent the nation's highest court for legal appeals, be they in civil or penal law.

Since 1911 the right of veto for the upper house has been restricted to suspending law. This veto does not extend to financial matters. Since 1949 the power of the upper house to suspend law has been restricted to a maximum of one year. The upper house forms an opinion on all proposed legislation coming from the Commons and often offers some valuable improvements to their detail. The lower house has the power to reject all amendments proposed by the upper house with a simple majority. A system of joint committee procedure does not exist between the two houses.

Tony Blair's government has set out its stall to "democratize" the upper house and - in a first step - to abolish the right of hereditary peers to vote in the upper house. Whether or not a second chamber containing members appointed by prime ministers has a chance of political survival is questionable. An alternative might be offered by regional chambers, in which representatives of regional parliaments such as the ones in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland could make a political contribution to the British system of government.

[Taken and translated from: Roland Sturm: Regierung und Verwaltung; in: Informationen zur Politischen Bildung 262, "Großbritannien", Bonn BpB 1999]

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