c Legislature

9 House of Commons (Lower House)

 Currently 650
 Three main functions
c Pass laws
c Give the state finances but authorizing tazes
c Review government policy and public administration
 Arena for policy debate
 Outcome of debates is almost always known
 Rarely has the House of Commons decided to fire a PM
c 1924: Ramsay Macdonald
c 1979: James Callaghan during the Winter of Discontent
9 House of Lords (Upper House)
 Currently about 740 members
 Hereditary peers (nobility)
c Title will be passed on
c Currently hereditary members of the house of lords cannot vote
nor speak on the floor
 Life peers
c Formally appointed by Queen on recommendation of PM
c For their lifetime ONLY, title will not be passed down
 Archbishops
c Total of 26 senior bishops
c Always have of Canturbery and York
 Law lords
c Court justices, also are peers
c ³The final appeal hearings and judgments of the House of Lords
took place on 30 July 2009. The judicial role of the House of Lords
as the highest appeal court in the UK has ended. ³
c http://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/about-lords/lords-
types/law-lords/
c The 12 Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (the Law Lords) are the first
justices of the 12-member Supreme Court and are disqualified
from sitting or voting in the House of Lords. When they retire from
the Supreme Court they can return to the House of Lords as full
Members but newly-appointed Justices of the Supreme Court will
not have seats in the House of Lords.
 Powers
c Amend and delay legislation
c Redrafting legislation
 Legislation
c Hereditary lords cannot vote or speak (?) It says legislation was
introduced, but not if it was passed
 c 1999: House of Lords Act
9 Hereitary peers comes down to 92
9 All other peers are expelled
c 2003: HOC rejects 7 options in reforming the HOL
c Goal is to remove hereditary lords, however disagreements have
hindered reform legislation
9 Reforms
 Backbench Dissent
c Backbenchers: MPs of the governing party w/o position
c Party is supposed to back the PM, but if backbenchers choose to
go against the PM, it might result in an overturning of the
government
 Parliamentary Committees
c 1979: Commons revived, and extended number of select
committees
9 Also more responsibilities
c Committees: examine specific policies or aspects of administration
c Watchdog committees: monitor conduct of major departments and
ministries
c Process
9 Hold hearings, take testimonies, and questions senior civil
servants and ministers
9 Issue reports with recommendations
 Usually at odds with government policy
9 How a bill becomes a law
 http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/
 First reading: introduction, then copied and debated
 Second reading: read again, then voted upon
 Committee: sent for detailed review
 Reporting: Amendments are introduced
 Third reading: final form, and voted on (no debate)
c Amendments can be made in the House of Lords at this point
 Sent to the other house
c House of Lords
9 Accepts bills with taxation and budget related without
changes
9 Can add technical or editorial amendments to clarify, but
those must me approved by HOC
9 Will be resent to HOC for another review if changed
 Sent back to the original house
c Both houses must agree on wording
 Sent to Crown
c Political Parties and the Party System
9 Labour Party
  Launched by trade union representatives and socialist societies
 1906: formally took its name
 1945: Victory in Parliament, beomces a major player
c Begins to moderate ideological appeal and broadening electorial
base
 1950s-60s: classic two-class/two-party system
 Mid-1970s: growing disaffection
c Keynesianism
c Divisions
9 Trade unionists vs. parliamentary elements
9 Foreign policy
9 Support for unilateral nuclear disarmament
c Unilaterialism is scrapped
 1980s-90s: relative harmony
 Modern: moderate left-of-center party
c Ideology takes backseat to performance and electoral mobilization
9 Conservative Party (Tories)
 Economic and social elite
 1874: Benjamin Disraeli
c Birth of the modern welfare state
c ³long lasting alliance between an upper-class leadership and a
lower-class following´
9 Generally get at least 1/3 of the working class votes
 A LOT of internal divisions
c Margaret Thatcher¶s demise
c 1977: John Major resigns after he is defeated
9 Weakened due to wrangling among Conservatives about
Europe
c 2001: departures of party leaders
c 2003: forced resignation of party leader
9 Aura of failure and self-doubt
9 Michael Howard becomes party leader
 Served on both Major¶s and Thatcher¶s cabinets
 Revitalizes the party
 Resigns after electoral defeat
9 Liberal Democrats
 1970s: Liberal party is the only centrist challenger to Labour and
Conservative
 1981: Social Democratic Party is formed after a a split on the Labour
Party
 1983: the Alliance grains a quarter of the electoral vote
 1987: Liberals and most of the SDP forms the Social and Liberal
Democrats Party (Liberal Democrats/Lib Dems)
 2001: Win 52 seats (most so far)
c Elections
9 Electoral System
 Elect the MP
c Prime Minister is also elected as an MP
c Winner take all principle
9 No requirement of the majority
c Exaggerated size of victory of the largest party and reduces the
influence of regionally active parties
 Maximum term life is five years
c Is determined when the PM dissolves Parliament
 Stable, single party government (Two and a half party system)
c Basically, only 3 parties have control
 Criticisms
c Reduces competitiveness
c Creation of a government filled with white men
9 Women are underrepresented
9 Trends
 Recent elections
c More geographical divisions
 Two two-party systems
c Competitition between Conservative and Labour
c Conservative center party dominates England¶s rule and southern
seats
c Scotland: Scottish National Party and Labour
 1970s: National parties have challenged two party dominance
 Growing group of Liberal Democrats (as covered in previous section)
c Political Culture, Citizenship, and Identity
9 1970sËMajor changes
 Economic decline
 Historic bonds of occupation and social class grows weaker
 Decline in union membership
 New social momements lead to increase in identity in gender, ethnicity,
sexual orientation, race
c Ex. Margaret Thatcher
 Thatcherism
c Recast national views and redefined national identity
c Monetarism sponsors individualism and comptetition, rejected
collectivism
9 Social Class
 New Labour proposes that negative characterization of social class
reduces competitiveness
c Harsh standard of unions contributed to the working people¶s lack
of ability to improve their social standing
  Combined pressures of decolonization have created a multi-ethnic Britain
 No longer explains voting behavior
9 Citizenship and National Identity
 Europeanization and globalization have lead to a complicated national
identity
 Some residents find it difficult to automatically identify themselves as
Britons
 Small communities of class, nationa, region and ethnicity
9 Ethnicity
 A country of great ethnic diversity
 Communities overlap, more people are multi-ethnic
c Conflicting loyalties
 Minorities
c Severe hate crimes
c Intensified mistrust and intimidation
9 Accusations of not being British
9 Gender
 Issues women care about: child care, treatment of parttime workers
 Domestic violence, equal pay, support for family caregivers
 New Labour is more appealing to women because it listens to the women
c Interests, Social Movements, and Protest
9 Rise in political protest due to globablization
9 Mid-1990s: Environmental activism took off due to GM crops
9 High fuel prices leads to questions about Blair¶s leadership
9 Farmers launch massive protest who had been hurt by mad cow
 Previously unseen
 Mad cow = huge part of farmer¶s income
9 Anti-war rallies
9 Persistant social movements suggests powerful political subcurrents