Essay Exam Question and Answer

In theory the House of Commons is the dominant chamber as it is elected while the House of Lords plays more of a revising role, issues to be considered include the powers of each chambers, the fact the House of Lords is more independently minded and the impact of the whips. It will ultimately be argued that the House of Commons remains far more effective due to having greater powers in checking the government power.

MP’s were unpaid for most of the nineteenth century and had to own land, although the property qualification ended in the 1850’s but only wealthy upper class men could be MP’s. The working class could not afford to give up their job to be a politician and that meant that their views and needs were poorly represented compared to the ones of the wealthy. This is clearly not democratic and wasn’t changed until 1911 when MP’s began to be paid allowing the right to become and MP to everyone

Any proposed amendments by the House of Lords have to be approved by the House of Commons, as this is where the government dominates, which can mean no amendments go through.

Another common criticism of the UK system is that, although most politicians are elected, many powerful people hold their positions without having to face the voters. Over the years criticism has focused on the House of Lords, the civil service and judges. While the people serving these positions may indeed be experts in their field, the citizens of the UK have absolutely no say in who is elected into these positions. This shows a problem in the United Kingdom’s democratic system and one that does not follow a representative democracy.

In a system of governance, if a hung parliament occurs, that is, when a parliament has no single party and thus no legitimate way to form a government, the government can actually gain advantages. Instead of a single party majority, minority governments allow multiple parties to govern. A minority government does not hinder a governing party because it promotes accountability to the legislature, which allows a more flexible decision-making process, that ultimately provides a Prime Minister different powers to maintain control which allows an efficient government.

However the government is held to account by the British public in general elections because the First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system favours the two party

Elective Dictatorship is the term used to describe the government and the Prime minister to be seen as having powers over the country that seem excessive. A government appointing as an elected dictatorship is likely to have a large majority over all other parties in the House of Commons. This essay will analise the arguments for and against the UK having an elected dictatorship. It will conclude that a proper dictatorship is never possible because the UK’s constitution is a democratic one and there are counter balances to accessive Prime ministerial powers. However when a government has a very large majority it can use its control over the House of Commons to make decisions that can seem to some as being dictatorial.

The House of Commons, on the other hand, is a democratically elected chamber. The House of Lords and the House of Commons meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament), in central London.

The public, unlike the MPs, do not elect the Lords. The process of appointment of these members is that they are appointed by the Queen herself; however this is done

Parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law are both concepts that are key to shaping the British constitution, however there is ambiguity as to which concept is the heart of the UK’s constitutional arrangement in the recent years.

In this essay I will assess the outcomes of Additional Member system, First Past the Post system and the Closed Party List system. The F-P-T-P system is used to elect the members of House of Commons and local government in England and Wales. Voters select candidates, and do so by marking his or her name with an ‘X’ on the ballot paper. This reflects the principle of ‘one person, one vote’. The Additional Members system is used in Scottish parliament, Welsh assembly, and Northern Ireland Assembly and Greater London assembly. It is a mixed system made up of F-P-T-P and party-list elements. The Regional party list (or the closed party list) is used to elect the

It was, therefore, seen as a breach of judicial independence. However following the creation of the Supreme Court in 2009, senior judges no longer sit in the House of Lords which means are free of political influence and decision making – and in effect – from the legislature as they can speak out against the government.

The House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK Parliament and is independent to the Commons although it complements the work of the Commons. Members of the Lords play a vital role in scrutiny, there are two main reasons for this, the first being that they are independent to the Commons and in many ways have increased power which they often use to stand up to the Commons by blocking reforms. Lords also have a better balance of parties so no government has a majority. The Government however can override Lords by using Parliament Act; this was used when the fox hunting ban was being put through under Blair’s government as there were too many in opposition of the ban in the House of Lords. The Parliament Acts, although rarely used, provide a way of solving disagreement between the Commons and the Lords. The Parliament Act of 1949 also prevents Lords from delaying bills for more than one year.

The Acts impact on political power in Aristocracy was that it increased the prestige and power of the House of Commons relative to the House of Lords, especially as it was more representative to the people. However aristocracy still retained its overall domination of politics even if its extent had been decreased somewhat. Also with removing many hard-to-control urban areas from county constituencies the domination of aristocracy was further cemented resulting in the system being very undemocratic. For the middle class as a result of the Act, more men became MP’s for new urban and industrial constituencies and it made the urban middle classes more politically powerful and influential than ever before.

Statute is an Act of Parliament that is created by Parliament, which is made up of three parts; the Monarch, The House of Lords and The House of Commons. Parliament is sovereign, which mean that Parliament has the power to create or dismiss any law it chooses and all the courts must implement them. It makes Parliament the supreme legal authority in the UK. The House of Commons is the democratically chosen legislative body of Parliament; 646 Members of Parliament are elected by the public in the general elections by vote. The House of Lords currently has 780 members who are known as Lords or Peers. The people, who are members of the House of Lords unlike the House of Commons, are not elected. There are three types of members in the House of Lords; Life Peers, Bishops and Hereditary Peers.