Mps: The Unpopularity Of Mps

However, the House of Commons operates under a Whips system, whereby appointed MPs ensure that all members of a particular party vote in favour of their leaders decisions. This

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

Parliament is very effective when dealing with the public and their interests and needs like when they redress public grievances to make sure they are listened too. However, parliament isn’t so effective on the representative side of things. This is because the electoral system that we use isn’t very fair and excludes smaller parties of a chance of being voted into parliament. This therefore means a large number of public votes have been

While the United Kingdom is considered a representative democracy it is arguable to how representative it is of everyone. It is highly unlikely that you would ever find an MP is Parliament who is from a lower class background with the majority of MPs coming from the middle and upper classes. This shows a problem with the UK’s system as not everyone is getting their voices heard in this regard. While it is possible for pressure groups to get their views heard by governments, they will ensure that pressure groups do not become so powerful they steal the government's legitimacy.

A secondary way in which parliamentary sovereignty in the UK can be seen to be moving is though the introduction of devolution which is challenging the UK parliament’s sovereignty. The UK is a unitary state, so only one body can in theory

‘Parliamentary sovereignty is a constitutional relic. It has been rendered obsolete, in particular, by the supremacy of EU law and the UK’s statutory recognition of human rights. We should no longer talk about this irrelevant doctrine.’

“A seminal study of 527 U.S. companies, published in the Academy of Management Journal in 2000, suggests that “organizations with more extensive work-family policies have higher perceived firm-level performance” among their industry peers. These findings accorded with a 2003 study conducted by Michelle Arthur at the University of New Mexico. Examining 130 announcements of family-friendly policies in The Wall Street Journal, Arthur found thst the announcements along significantly improved share prices. In 2011, a study on flexibility in the workplace by Ellen Galinsky, Kelly Sakai, and Tyler Wigton of the Families

Backbench MPs are critical for UK democracy. They allow for high standard scrutiny of the government which holds them accountable for their actions to the people. They help in representing the electorate. However there are some circumstances in which backbench MPs have little control, for example an elective dictatorship or because of the UK party system which is enforced by party whips.

In recent times it may be argued that personality and image has played a huge part in the voting behaviour of the electorate in the UK. The personality and image may refer to the personality of the party leader and how they present themselves in their campaign. This is a short-term factor and in a time where long-term factors are not said to play a huge role, as there is party de-alignment and a change in the class structure, perceptions of party leadership can play a huge role in determining voting behaviour. It may always have been recognised as a factor but now its influence may have

The second function that I’m concentrating on is Representation. In the Commons MPs are elected every five years to represent local constituencies. The link between the House of Commons and the local constituency is very important as it provides information to the government on how the public is responding to their policies and ideas for new

Most of the general British public were not able to vote meaning they had no control over MPs and the laws that effected their lives. The MPs in the running for elections were part of Britain’s richest families so they didn’t have much of an idea of what life was like for the average Britain;

When assessing the various intricate denouements of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods of the British political history, one must stop and wonder about the performance of the Conservative party as one of the protagonists of the parliamentary struggles and changing social and demographic scenarios. By engaging in such exploration, it is almost impossible to avoid one of the most formidable questions which might consequentially arise – was the Conservative party a deliberate and conscious derivative of the changing political climate or merely a spontaneous chain reaction driven by luck and circumstance? The answer to this question may be crucial for understanding the nature of the party’s success/failure. In order to explain why this very nature may be the crux of articulating Conservative politics during these two historical periods, we will use the analogy of Real vs. Nominal wages .

"Their role is to be in Parliament, to discuss Bills, to announce policies, to scrutinize the government, but in reality Labour MPs occupy their time with leaks to the Press and internal battles". The most unfortunate things of all, however, is that this absolute absence of the Most Loyal Opposition comes at a time of great constitutional changes such as the Scotland and Wales Bills, the newly established committee considering a written constitution. A time shaking Europe and the Middle East.

In Bagehot’s terms, contrary to Thomas Hockin’s argument, “[s]ince Confederation, the theory [sic] of parliamentary procedure” is not necessarily “anti-specialist.” Hockin conceptualized MPs outside committees as jack of all trades but specialists of none, since only due to standing committees can multipartisan MPs somehow “perceive that they have a ‘lawmaker’ role.” Responsible government, by definition, relies on explicit, visible political responsibility from a select group – Cabinet Ministers may not be accountable for failures in administration, but the political consequences is clear. Writing at the same time as Confederation, Walter Bagehot instead argued the superiority of the British Westminster system is that it recognizes that sunshine on the floor of Parliament is the best disinfectant, and because “[t]he natural tendency of the members of every legislature is to make themselves

“Parliamentary sovereignty is no longer, if it ever was, absolute” (Lord Hope). Discuss with reference to at least three challenges to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. Parliamentary sovereignty is the concept that Parliament has the power to repeal, amend or create any law it wishes and therefore no body in the UK can challenge its legal validity. There are many people who would argue that this is a key principle to the UK Constitution, on the other hand, there are those who strongly believe that this idea is one of the past, and that the idea of the UK Parliament being sovereign is false. One of these people is Lord Hope, who said “Parliamentary sovereignty is no longer, if it ever was, absolute”. During the last 50 years there have been a variety of developments that have proved to be a challenge for the legitimacy of parliamentary sovereignty, and the ones which will be examined in this essay are: the devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament; The United Kingdom’s entry into the European Union in 1973; and finally the power of judicial review. Starting with the devolution of powers, these challenges will all be evaluated when discussing whether or not the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty applies to the United Kingdom. Westminster’s sovereignty has been gradually diminishing over time as varying amounts of power have been devolved to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. In this essay, the devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament will be