Due to the increasing presidential style of recent prime ministers and the party loyalty of the executive one can consider Parliament’s control of executive power minimal. However, due to the development of independent bodies surrounding Select Committees and the delaying of legislation by the House of Lords it can still be argued to be effective. The government usually has an overall majority. This is due to our voting system of FPTP which gives preference to the two main parties, normally giving them majorities (and increasingly large ones) as opposed to coalitions and minority governments which are produced through other voting systems such as AV in Scotland and Wales. Although we are currently in a coalition the government still has a majority through the combination of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
The Lords has also become more legitimate since the reforms because it’s influence has increased, the Lords are now looked to by the Commons to see what they think of what the government is doing more and more. They scrutinise the government’s decisions and make suggestions and changes to policy. More and more often the Lords reject or request changes to legislation from the Commons which most of the time the Commons agree with or work on – this highlights how effective and influential the Lords are. c) How successfully does Parliament perform its representative functions in modern Britain?
This power certainly erodes the idea of ‘first among equals’. However, it must be noted that cabinet could have taken this decision as a whole, though it is unlikely. Further the Prime Minister decides the policy of the cabinet and thus the government, the party and the country. Such power, is argues, is too much for one person to comprehend and bear. The Prime Minister as the leader of his political party is subject to the parties support and his ability to whip his majority in the House of Commons to pass his policies and legislation into law.
This system works because it produces strong, stable, decisive governments, this means that they can carry out their manifestos and have clear mandates, this means that voters have a clear understanding of the leading parties policies. After an F.P.T.P election the term should last 5 years, unless the PM steps down or there is a big change, such as a referendum, for instance with Scotland. F.P.T.P works as a system because there is a strong bond between constituency and MP, this means that the constituents can have a clear understanding of what their local MP wants to do and the MP usually has his constituents in his best interests. First-Past-the Post is a good way of forming governments as it avoids horse-trading over politics, and although there is a coalition at present, it tends to on the whole avoid them given that the last coalition in Britain was from 1940 -45, and it is pretty rare for there to be a coalition through an F.P.T.P election. The system is used globally, and 49% of countries use it, therefore it is a familiar system, and it second most widely used in the world following the party list system.
Parliament can make laws on any matter due to Dicey in ‘Law of the Constitution (1885).’ He said that ‘in theory Parliament has total power. It is sovereign'. He states a number of reasons as to how this is possible. Firstly Dicey points out that Parliament can pass laws on any subject without legal restriction therefore it is sovereign. This principle is a result of the election of the Members of Parliament (MPs), by the electorate which gives them authority to represent and pass legislation on their behalf.
The House Rules Committee is a very important body of the United States Congress and helps promote the efficiency of the legislature in its everyday workings. Some of the responsibilities of the House Rules Committee include: set the amount of time a bill will be considered in the House, and determine whether amendments can be offered and under what conditions. This allows the House Rules Committee to have a lot of power and some may feel that the power may be too much. The House Rules Committee is comprised of nine members of the majority party and four members of the minority party. I believe the House Rules Committee has too much power and exceedingly boosts the majority party.
Parliament may face difficulties in controlling executive power as the government usually has an overall majority. This is especially the case when there has been a creation of a large majority after elections such as 1997 and 2001 with Labour majorities of 179 and 167 respectively. Majorities of 66 in 2005 and 83 with the coalition in 2010 have also been recorded. This allows the government to claim a mandate from the people for its policies when it is elected to power. Therefore the parliament lacks the legitimate right to ignore the mandate and tends to accept the government’s right to govern.
Senate reform has been a huge topic of interest over the past few decades because of the limited value and power the senate has. Although the senate does do some things well if it were to be reformed it would play a bigger and important role in how bills get passed or not. The senate is slightly changing through informal means but in order for it to be more useful it needs to formally go under a huge reform. I believe that the senate should be reformed as elected senators, shorter terms, and an equal number of representatives for provinces would greatly improve the effectiveness of the senate. Of course changing and reforming the senate would not be an easy process it is a process that needs to happen for the betterment of the senate and the government of Canada.
The system of the United States is a presidential democracy. We can categorise the United States as a democracy as there are competitive elections for the Presidency and the Legislature. However, the United States should be classified as a ‘flawed’ liberal democracy, as there is an entrenched two-party system which makes it nearly impossible for third parties to be elected to the legislature or the Presidency. Further, the political system of the United States lacks an even playing field for political candidates, as there are no limits on electoral campaign spending, a large amount of resources and funds is required to gain election. However, the United States’ regime does have many liberal facets including civil liberties, rule of law, accountability measures and fair
Such flexibility in the system does not exist in Presidential form of government which is highly rigid. Under this system it is easier to locate responsibility for the lapses in administration. There is a vast body of civil servants who constitute the permanent executive. In fact they help the political masters to formulate policies of administration and their implementation. But it is the political leadership or the cabinet who takes the responsibility for everything in administration.