Advantages and Disadvantages of Parliamentary law making

process
One of the advantages of parliamentary law making is scrutiny. The legislative process is very thorough
as there are three reading and two stages which take place in both Houses of Parliament. This offers
several chances for debate, scrutiny and amendments, ensuring that any mistakes or poor drafting can be
corrected.

Also parliamentary law making is democratic. MPs in the House of Commons are democratically elected
(voted by the public) to make laws for the U.K. During the debates on the proposed law each MP should
have the opportunity to put forward the view of his/her voters. However members of the House of Lords
are not democratically elected, so they cannot vote a Bill that has the approval of the Commons.

The Government has a lot of power; it controls the parliament timetable for debate and is likely to win
at each stage unless the parties own MPs vote against it. This is democratic as the Government are made
up of ministers who have been elected by the public.

Another advantage is the House of Lords as it acts as a checking guide to ensure that the House of
Commons do not just pass laws that fit the House of Commons political approach.

All MPs and Lords have the opportunity to introduce new Bills. This helps for controversial bills e.g.
marriage Act 1994 which allowed marriages to take place in places other than a church and Registry
Offices.

Disadvantages

A disadvantage of parliamentary law making is that it is undemocratic as neither the Queen nor the
House of Lords are elected, thus, the unelected House of Lords should not have the power to delay Bills
that have been approved by the democratically elected House of Commons.

Another disadvantage is Government control as the Government has a majority of MPs in the House of
Commons; it can vote out any private members Bills that does not fit its political agenda. The
Government is too powerful as it is able to by pass the House of Lords views via Parliament Act.

The process is slow as a Bill has to go through many readings and stages as is not appropriate when
important laws need to be made quickly. Although the Royal Assent has become a formality this is
somewhat a futile stage and makes the whole legislative process more time consuming.

When drafting a Bill, parliamentary draftsmen use words and phrases that are confusing, unclear and over
elaborate. 75% of cases in the House of Lords involve issues over interpretation of Acts of Parliament.
Language and structural issues also make the law inaccessible for ordinary people.