Ascendant Assemblies in Britain?

Rebellions, Reforms and Inter-Cameral

Conflict
Richard Whitaker
1
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Author Afliations
Lecturer in European Politics, University of Leicester
THE relationship between assemblies and government is
central to the nature and uality of representative
democracy! "ver the course of #$$% a reduced government
ma&ority in the 'ommons, a more active House of Lords
and plans (or re(orm of the )elsh Assembly will ma*e (or
lively relations between the e+ecutive and assemblies in
,ritain! The presence of many Labour -Ps who were
rebellious in the previous Parliament means that we can
e+pect to see members voting against the government on
contentious issues, although this may be tempered by the
greater costs of such action under a reduced government
ma&ority! The government.s smaller 'ommons ma&ority may
also put -Ps in a stronger position to push (or re(orm of the
chamber! The House of Lords is li*ely to continue /e+ing its
muscles, especially given the suggestions by the Liberal
0emocrats that their peers may not (ollow the 1alisbury
'onvention!
#
2ollowing the government.s white paper on the
sub&ect, there will also be discussions about a possible
(urther shi(t of power away (rom )estminster to the 3ational
Assembly (or )ales 43A)5! The aim of this short piece, the
6rst of (our commentaries in the current volume, is to set
out this theme of the rise of parliaments and assemblies in
,ritain in more detail and to e+plain why it is worth (ollowing
over the months to come!
The articles will loo* into the government.s relationship with
bac*benchers in the House of 'ommons and with members
of the House of Lords, as well as considering
)estminster.s relationship with the new assemblies! 7n
particular, the )elsh Assembly.s powers will be under
discussion during the ne+t 1# months (ollowing the
government.s publication of a white paper, ,etter
8overnance 2or )ales in 9une #$$:! The commentaries will
concentrate on ,ritish cases as, although the 3orthern
7reland Assembly might be up and running in #$$%, this is (ar
(rom certain, and in any case, the peculiarities of the
province would probably warrant a series of articles
dedicated to 3orthern 7reland alone! The (ollowing section
discusses the possibilities (or alterations to the balance of
government;parliament relations in a parliamentary system
and provides some arguments as to why a stronger
parliament would be bene6cial! 7 then go on to identi(y the
circumstances that ma*e this topic worth pursuing closely in
the light of events over the ne+t year!

3e+t 1ection
Executivelegislative relations in parliamentary systems
2rom a normative perspective, the power of legislatures vis<
=<vis e+ecutives is a *ey element in the operation of
representative democracy! A more assertive legislature can
improve the uality of legislation by (orcing the government
to thin* through its policy proposals and by ensuring that a
wide range of viewpoints is ta*en into account in the process
of legislating! However, there are costs resulting (rom such a
relationship both in terms of time and policy! 2or e+ample, a
highly active legislature could ma*e it difcult (or a
government to turn its legislative proposals into law and can
slow down the passage of bills! ,ut even in these situations
there are usually limits within a parliamentary system to the
legislature.s power over the government due to the
dominance of political parties!
>
Loyalty to the party
leadership is essential (or advancement to (rontbench and
possibly governmental of6ces! 7n addition, the public.s
disli*e of divided political parties provides an electoral
incentive to avoid roc*ing the boat! 7n parliamentary
systems, governments can ultimately (orce bac*benchers
into line with the threat of a vote of no con6dence and the
associated uncertainty of an election, should the
government be de(eated! All of these (actors mean that
substantial reductions in the dominance of the e+ecutive are
unli*ely to be achieved under the current constitutional
arrangements in ,ritain! The (ailure of the 'ommons in -ay
#$$# to support a more independent method of choosing
select committee members and chairs provides recent
evidence of this structural problem! )ithout a (undamental
re(orm of the ,ritish system of government to separate
parliament (rom the e+ecutive, we cannot e+pect to see -Ps
wielding the degree of power held by members of the U1
'ongress, (or instance!
3evertheless, much can and should be done within the
current system to increase parliament.s ability to scrutinise
government legislation and to hold the government to
account (or its actions, especially in the light of recent
re(orms! 2or e+ample, there could be more use of special
standing committees which can ta*e evidence as part of
their legislative deliberations! This could be carried out in
combination with a shi(t of the committee stage to the
beginning of the legislative procedure which, as comparative
research has shown, increases the ability of committees to
control the /ow of in(ormation!
?
'arrying out more scrutiny
of legislation in dra(t (orm and doing so through bodies that
combine the (unctions of standing and select committees
would also improve parliament.s position vis<=<vis
government! The 1cottish Parliament uses such combined
committees, a (act not lost on the late @obin 'oo* who,
when Leader of the House of 'ommons, suggested
)estminster could learn lessons (rom the way Holyrood is
structured!
:
2urthermore, 0avid Arter.s research on these
committees uncovered some evidence of -1Ps acting as
Amembers of BaC committee rather than narrowly as
members of a political party.!
%
However, he also discovered
scepticism about the ability of such institutional innovations
to overcome the dominance of party politics in which loyalty
to the leadership helps to maintain e+ecutive dominance!
3evertheless, more e+tensive changes along these lines at
)estminster would help to increase the amount of
in(ormation available to parliament when ma*ing legislation!
As well as going some way to reducing e+ecutive dominance,
such change would wor* to reduce the uncertain relationship
between policies and their outcomes and thus raise the
efciency of the decision<ma*ing process!
D
1uch an
improvement in parliament.s position would also be one way
of attempting to increasing con6dence in a political system
plagued by a lac* of trust in the political class!
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3e+t 1ection
Why this topic now?
Although we should not e+pect to see large<scale re(orms of
parliament, there are several reasons to believe that the
government.s relationship with )estminster and other
assemblies in ,ritain will be lively during #$$%! 2irst,
Labour.s parliamentary ma&ority was considerably reduced at
the #$$: election and, at the time of writing,
E
stands at %:,
well down on the ma&orities of 1DF and 1%D achieved by
,lair at the previous two elections! As 2rancis Pym observed
in the run<up to the 1FE> general election, ALandslides on the
whole don.t produce success(ul governments.!
F
7t may be
that the more precarious situation in which the government
now 6nds itsel( will be bene6cial (or democracy i( it (orces
the government to listen more closely to a wider range of
voices! 'ertainly, there are several on the government.s
bac*benches who might be tempted to vote against the
government! Although the number of e+<ministers at
)estminster is not yet as large as it is li*ely to be by the end
of the parliament, there are several Labour bac*benchers
who have previously served in the government! There are
also many Labour members who (reuently voted against
the government in the last parliament! Of the #$ Labour -Ps
who rebelled more than :$ times in ,lair.s second term, 1>
have been re<elected! 2urthermore, about D$G of those on
the Labour benches who rebelled at least once in the #$$1
parliament have returned to the 'ommons!
1$
Additionally,
there is some evidence of rebelliousness among the new
inta*e of Labour -Ps, with two of their number having voted
against the government on the 7dentity 'ards ,ill in 9une
#$$:!
11
7( it remains true that, li*e recidivist of(enders, -Ps
who have had their 6rst taste of disloyalty have little reason
not to rebel in (uture,
1#
then we can e+pect to see more
revolts ta*ing place this session! Having said that, small
ma&orities can also ma*e (or more cohesive parties, given
that the costs of rebellion are higher when the chances of
bringing down the government increase! ,ut ,lair.s reduced
ma&ority still means that bac*benchers are in a stronger
position compared with the previous two terms, to ma*e
demands of the government regarding the content of
legislation and the power of parliament!
1econd, the government remains committed to supporting
re(orm to Aimprove parliamentary accountability and scrutiny
led by the success(ul -odernisation 'ommittee.
1>
and has
included a bill on Lords re(orm in the Hueen.s speech! There
is unli*ely to be any movement on the latter in this
parliamentary session, although a Law Lords ruling on the
1F11 Parliament Act might change things in the longer
term!
1?
The ruling, made in "ctober #$$:, states that there is
nothing in the Act that restricts it (rom being used (or
(undamental constitutional change, the implication being
that Lords re(orm could be at least theoretically pushed
through using the Parliament Act!
7n the 'ommons, the -odernisation 'ommittee will no doubt
continue to press (or re(orm of the house over the ne+t
session! The 'ommons. Liaison 'ommittee, made up of the
chairs of each of the select committees, has previously
published critical appraisals of the relationship between the
e+ecutive and select committees under the title 1hi(ting the
,alance!
1:
7n the : years since the second of those reports, it
seems that much of the Amodernisation. of recent years, (or
e+ample, carrying over of bills and changes to sitting hours
and the parliamentary year, is aimed primarily at improving
the efciency of parliament and its image in the eyes of the
public! 0ebates over sitting hours are li*ely to continue,
given the in/u+ of new -Ps arriving a(ter the #$$: election,
including more women than ever be(ore! ,ut &udging by the
popularity of Early 0ay -otions calling (or alterations, it
seems li*ely that some -Ps may lobby (or an end to the
system of morning sessions!
1%
1uch concern with efciency should be distinguished (rom
attempts to improve parliament.s ability to scrutinise
government legislation! 7n this regard, progress has been
much slower and, (or the reasons set out earlier, is li*ely to
continue to be incremental at best!
1D
7n this regard, it will be
worth monitoring the publication of legislation in dra(t (orm
and the use of special standing committees to see whether
the government.s commitments to these innovations
continue into ,lair.s third term!
Third, the House of Lords has shown itsel( more willing to
de(eat the government since its re(orm in 1FFF, when all but
F# of the hereditary peers were removed! The numbers of
government de(eats in the Lords have /uctuated in the last
(ew sessions but are consistently higher than they were (or
the #$ years prior to the 1FFF House of Lords Act when, (or
most of the time, they ranged between 1$ and #$ per year!
The last three sessions have seen the Lords in/ict de(eat on
the government EE, %? and >D times, respectively!
2urthermore, the 'onservative ma&ority, which Labour could
previously blame (or its tussles with the upper house, is no
longer present! "n the contrary, Labour now has a plurality
of seats in the Lords, with the group of Labour peers having
grown considerably since 1FFD! Against this re(ormed
House, the government has had to use the Parliament Act
no less than three times, most recently in order to push
through the ban on (o+hunting in 3ovember #$$?! Along
with a greater propensity to vote against government
legislation, peers are also attending more (reuently, with
:$G of members having attended %:G or more of the
sittings in #$$>;$?!
1E
"n top of all this, 'harles Iennedy and
Lord -c3ally, the Liberal 0emocrat leader in the upper
house, have indicated that the party.s peers might not
(ollow the 1alisbury 'onvention under which legislation
derived (rom a government.s mani(esto is not bloc*ed in the
upper chamber!
1F
Thus, i( previous trends continue, we can
e+pect to see a highly active House of Lords and (urther
inter<cameral disagreements over the ne+t parliamentary
session!
7n the conte+t of the Lords. greater propensity to oppose
government legislation and the smaller Labour ma&ority in
the 'ommons, the presence of several controversial bills in
the Hueen.s speech suggests that a lively parliamentary
session lies ahead! Among those bills that have already
caused a stir is the @acial and @eligious Hatred ,ill which is
currently passing through the Lords! @ebellions too* place
among Labour -Ps on this bill but were not sufciently large
to seriously threaten government de(eat! As set out above,
the 7dentity 'ards ,ill has also seen Labour -Ps voting
against the government and is awaiting its report stage in
the 'ommons! The 7mmigration, Asylum and 3ationality ,ill
is passing through the lower house and may yet prove
controversial! 7n the light of the London bombings in 9uly
#$$:, 'harles 'lar*e has published dra(t legislation to
combat terrorist activity, including plans to e+tend police
detention powers and tac*le those inciting terrorism!
Attempts to achieve cross<party consensus with a view to
pushing the proposals through parliament rapidly may well
be thwarted by concerns about the possible negative eJects
of this legislation on civil liberties! "verall, the pac*ed
Hueen.s speech suggests a great deal of interesting
parliamentary activity over the coming session!
7n addition to assertiveness within the 'ommons and Lords,
we can also e+pect to see discussions about raising the
powers of the 3A) in #$$% on the basis of the government.s
recent )hite Paper!
#$
1peci6cally, ,etter 8overnance (or
)ales suggests increasing the legislative power of the
Assembly in three stages! The 6rst can ta*e place under
e+isting legislation and simply involves leaving the Assembly
plenty of room (or manoeuvre in deciding on the content of
secondary legislation within the (ramewor* of acts passed at
)estminster! The second and third reuire legislation in the
(orm of the 8overnment of )ales ,ill included in the
Hueen.s speech and to be introduced towards the end of
#$$:!
#1
These stages include granting the )elsh Assembly
powers to alter the provisions of Acts of Parliament in their
application to )ales or to ta*e action not already covered by
statute without having to create )ales<only bills that must
pass through the (ull legislative procedure at )estminster!
This should allow (or the 3A) to ma*e changes to legislation
without having to wait (or a slot to be available in the
)estminster calendar! The government also intends to
legislate (or a re(erendum on granting primary legislative
powers to the Assembly! This is unli*ely to ta*e place be(ore
#$11 a(ter which the 3A) will have had a (ull term.s worth
of e+perience of the new streamlined legislative procedures!
Of greater relevance to the theme of these commentaries,
the )hite Paper also proposes establishing a (ormal division
between the )elsh e+ecutive and legislative branches of
government! At present the )elsh Assembly is a single
institution in which ministers are simply delegates of the
Assembly as a whole! This blurring of the two branches of
government is mani(est in the (act that ministers are
members of the 3A).s committees! 'ommittee members
must there(ore ma*e the aw*ward move between a non<
party mode in which they scrutinise ministers who are also
(ellow committee members and a policy development mode
in which they assist ministers in ma*ing policy decisions! 7n
response to these problems, the )hite Paper proposes
(ormally separating the ministers (rom the rest of the 3A)
such that they (orm the somewhat con(usingly titled A)elsh
Assembly 8overnment.! This would bring the institutional
set<up closer to the conventional parliamentary model!
2urthermore, the 3A) would be given the (reedom to decide
on the number, &urisdiction and composition of its
committees, within the limits of proportional representation
of parties, such that ministers may be e+cluded (rom
committees i( the Assembly so decides! These changes raise
interesting uestions about the eJect of e+ecutive;
legislative relations on committee wor*! 7n particular, would
they allow (or a more independent parliament to emerge
that is capable of more eJectively assessing the wor* of
ministers and holding them to accountK "r will this be
cancelled out by the eJect of removing the plenary.s ability
to threaten ministers with withdrawing their delegated
powers, as is possible under the current arrangementsK
##
The
)elsh Assembly.s own committee on the )hite Paper has
set out a number of concerns along these lines, many of
which are li*ely to structure the debate on this legislation
over the ne+t parliamentary session!
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3e+t 1ection
Modes of governmentassembly relations in 2006
The potential developments described above can be
summarised by brea*ing down the broader notion of
government;assembly relations into the component parts
identi6ed by Anthony Iing in his seminal article on the
topic!
#>
Iing pointed out that the usual discussion of
e+ecutive;legislative relations tends to hide the comple+ity
of the relationship between governments and other actors in
parliamentary systems! 7n the ,ritish conte+t, he set out
three modes of relations among the actors in parliament!
The inter<party mode concerns relations between
government and government bac*benchers, and the
dependency of each on the other! "n the one hand,
bac*benchers need governments to generate policies that
will lead their party to a (urther electoral ma&ority, and on
the other, governments need bac*bench support to ensure
the passage of legislation! The opposition mode mani(ests
itsel( in the classic adversarial con/ict between government
and opposition, one which may be (ought alongside intra<
party battles on the government side of the House! Thirdly,
the non<party mode is more obviously about the e+ecutive
versus the legislature and consists of bac*benchers (rom
both sides of the 'ommons wor*ing together in a non<
partisan manner, as in select committees!
Two of these modes will (eature heavily in the possible
con/icts described above, as will an inter<cameral and a
territorial mode in relation to the House of Lords and )elsh
Assembly, respectively! The intra<party mode of con/ict will
be mani(est in terms of possible rebellions against the
government in votes on contentious legislation during the
current session! )here bac*benchers use Labour.s smaller
ma&ority as a way of threatening the government, we can
e+pect to see attempts to iron out intra<party diJerences in
order to avoid de(eat! The non<party mode will rear its head
via pressure on the government (rom the select committees
and the -odernisation and Liaison committees of the
'ommons! An inter<cameral mode will be visible through the
Lords. treatment of the government.s legislation over the
ne+t parliamentary session! 2inally, a territorial mode of
e+ecutive;legislative relations will also come under the
spotlight through the proposals (or shi(ting (urther power
away (rom )estminster to the 3A) in time (or the #$$D
elections!
7n conclusion, we should not e+pect to see radical changes to
the e+tent of e+ecutive dominance in ,ritain over the
coming year, but we can anticipate a rise in the role of
assembliesL 6rst, in )estminster, with its active House of
Lords and a reduced ma&ority (or the government in the
'ommonsM second, in )ales, with discussions on increasing
the 3A).s powers, and third, in the 1cottish Parliament
under a system designed to improve on the level of
parliamentary scrutiny of government (ound at )estminster!
"ver the ne+t three editions of the &ournal, this commentary
section will analyse the theme of ascendant assemblies in
,ritain! The speci6c topic of each piece will be decided by
events ta*ing place in the run<up to publication, but the
relations between government and bac*benchers, between
the Lords and the 'ommons and the possible shi(t of (urther
powers to the devolved legislatures will all (eature
prominently!
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Footnotes
N
1
7 am grate(ul to an anonymous re(eree (or
help(ul comments on an earlier dra(t of this article! 7
ta*e responsibility (or any errors herein!
N
#
AIennedy vows loud Oliberal voiceP., ,,' 3ews,
1D -ay #$$:,
httpLRRnews!bbc!co!u*RgoRprR(rR<R1RhiRu*SpoliticsR?::%F%>
!stmR! 1ee also Lord -c3ally, A@adicals in @obes., The
House -agaTine, 1F 1eptember #$$:, p! 1>!
N
>
2or a recent ,ritish e+ample, see Ale+andra
Ielso, AO)here were the -assed @an*s of Parliamentary
@e(ormersKPUOAttitudinalP and O'onte+tualP
Approaches to Parliamentary @e(orm., 9ournal of
Legislative 1tudies, FR1, 1pring #$$>, pp! :D;D%!
N
?
7ngvar -attson and Iaare 1trVm, AParliamentary
'ommittees. in Herbert 0Wring 4ed!5, Parliaments and
-a&ority @ule in )estern Europe, 'ampus Xerlag,
2ran*(urt, 1FF:!
N
:
'ited in AHolyrood 7nspires -oderniser 'oo*.,
0aily Telegraph, 11 1eptember #$$1!
N
%
0avid Arter, The 1cottish ParliamentL A
1candinavian<1tyle AssemblyK 2ran* 'ass, London,
#$$?, p! 1$1!
N
D
Ieith Irehbiel, 7n(ormation and Legislative
"rganiTation, University of -ichigan Press, Ann Arbor
-7, 1FF1, p! #$!
N
E
1eptember #$$:!
N
F
Pym made this comment on the ,,'.s Huestion
Time! 1eeL 0avid ,utler and 0ennis Iavanagh, The
,ritish 8eneral Election of 1FE>, -acmillan,
,asingsto*e, 1FE?, p! EFM 1ee also 2rancis Pym, The
Politics of 'onsent, Hamilton, London, 1FE?, p! ED!
N
1$
7n absolute terms, 1:> of the #1E Labour
rebels (rom the #$$1 parliament have returned to the
'ommons! 1ee Philip 'owley and -ar* 1tuart,
0issension amongst the Parliamentary Labour Party,
#$$1;#$$:L A 0ata Handboo*, www!revolts!co!u*, #$$:
(or details of the rebels!
N
11
Iaty 'lar* and Linda @iordan rebelled on the
second reading and programme motion votes on the
7dentity 'ards ,ill on #E 9une #$$: 4see
www!revolts!co!u*5!
N
1#
2or more on this point see Philip 'owley, The
@ebelsL How ,lair -islaid His -a&ority, Politico.s,
London, #$$:, pp! 1>>;?!
N
1>
Labour Party, ,ritain 2orward 3ot ,ac*L The
Labour Party -ani(esto #$$:, www!labour!org!u*, p!
11$!
N
1?
9udgementsU9ac*son and "thers 4appellants5
versus Her -a&esty.s Attorney 8eneral 4@espondent5,
House of Lords, 1ession #$$:;$%, UIHL :%, 1>
"ctober #$$:!
N
1:
Liaison 'ommittee, 1hi(ting the ,alanceL 1elect
'ommittees and the E+ecutive, H' >$$, 1FFF;#$$$M
Liaison 'ommittee, 1hi(ting the ,alanceL Un6nished
,usiness, H' >#1, #$$$;$1!
N
1%
Lucinda -aer, A-odernisation of the House of
'ommons 1FFD;#$$:., House of 'ommons @esearch
Paper $:R?%, #$$:, p! ?F!
N
1D
2or more on the uestion of efciency versus
scrutiny in modernisation, see Ale+andra Ielso, AThe
-odernisation 'ommitteeL )ho 3eeds 7tK. unpublished
paper, University of 1trathclyde!
N
1E
Philip 3orton, Parliament in ,ritish Politics,
,asingsto*e, Palgrave, #$$:, p! >:!
N
1F
1ee note #!
N
#$
1ecretary of 1tate (or )ales, ,etter
8overnance (or )ales, 'm! %:E#, 9une #$$:!
N
#1
)ales Of6ce, APeter Hain Pledges ,ill (or
Primary Powers., Press 3otice, 11 9uly #$$:,
httpLRRwww!wales of 6ce!gov!u*R!
N
##
'ommittee on the ,etter 8overnance (or )ales
)hite Paper, @eport, 3ational Assembly (or )ales,
1eptember #$$:, httpLRRwww!wales!gov!u*R!
N
#>
Anthony Iing, A-odes of E+ecutive;Legislative
@elationsL 8reat ,ritain, 2rance and )est 8ermany.,
Legislative 1tudies Huarterly, 1R1, 1FD%, pp! 11;>?!