starter activity

Which is the House of Lords and which is the House of Commons? Write down
as many differences as you can between the two institutions.

Why do we have
Parliaments?

Aims

To understand the functions

of legislatures
To evaluate the pros and cons
of bicameral systems

 Your task

Read Watts, p. 183 and explain the

origin and meaning of the word
legislature

What is a legislature?

Parliament from French word,

parler (talk)
Legislature from Latin for legis
(law) and latio (proposing)
Representative assembly
empowered to make laws

A medieval parliament

 Your task

What do parliaments do? Read

Roberts, p.263 and create a spider
diagram identifying the key
functions of parliament.

Law-making

The judiciary is separate from

the executive in the UK. Why do
some analysts think this is a key
strength of Britains
constitutional setup?

Parliament is the
UK legislature
Supreme lawmaking body
Convention that
legislation should
be fully discussed
before it is put to a
vote

Representation

As an elected body, the HoC is expected to

reflect public opinion and respond to widely
held grievances
Minority viewpoints should at least be
allowed a hearing

To what extent do you think the HoC truly represents

minority groups?

Debate

Apart from discussing

legislation parliament
is regarded as the
proper place to debate
issues of national
concern even if they
cannot be affected by
a change in the law,
e.g. September 2002
Parliament recalled to
discuss possibility of
war in Iraq

PMQs. Do you think

important issues of the
day are properly debated
in the Commons?

Scrutiny of the executive

Peter Haine, who recently

resigned from his Cabinet
post following an
investigation by the
Electoral Commission

Under the principle

of accountability,
ministers are
accountable to
parliament for their
decisions
Governments can
be dismissed if they
lose the confidence
of a majority of MPs

Recruitment of ministers

By convention all
ministers must be
members either of the
Commons or of the
Lords (e.g. Baroness Amos
& Lord Falconer both
served in Blairs govt.)

In other words,
members of the
executive must also be
part of the legislature
(unlike the USA)

Baroness Amos, Sec. of

State for International
Affairs

Legitimation

Elected part of Parliament, from which executive is

largely drawn
Support from MPs provides the executive with
legitimacy
Loss of a vote in HoC may lead to a vote of confidence
in the executive

 Homework

Read Watts, p.183 and create a

scales chart summarising the
advantages and disadvantages of
bicameral systems. Use the BBC
news website or other sources to
find examples to illustrate each of
the points.

 Your task
Watch the clip from Parliament
Uncovered and complete a spider
diagram similar to the one below:
HoC
Monarch

HoL

Parliament

Speaker

MPs

Committees

 Your task

Look at the cartoon on p.264 (Item A).

What point is the cartoonist making? To
which function of Parliament does this
refer?
Using items A,B & D list the different roles
of the Houses of Commons and Lords.
How is the US Congress different from the
UK Parliamentary system? Is this any
better?

 Plenary

Give arguments for and against

recruiting ministers from the House
of Lords or having cabinets of all
the talents.