Questions and suggestions 89 The org anization of loc al government (1995) CENTRAL GOVERNMENT Cities and large towns in Englandand Wa les The rest of England and Wal es and all of Scotland Responsible for: housing local planning collection of rubbish leisure and recreation safety in public places 10 R egions (Scotland) 47 Counti es (England and Wa les) Responsiblefor: collection of counciltax planning roads and safety disposal of rubbish education social services libraries police force fire brigade 36 Metropo litan Dis tr ict s 32 Londo n Borough s Responsible for: collection of council tax planning roads and traffic housing buildingregulations safety inpublic places collection of rubbish disposal of rubbish education social services libraries leisure and recreation Inthese areas some services. such as transport, the police force and the fire brigade. are run by special authori ties, some of whose members are counci llors. J. Parishes (Engl an d) Commun itie s (S cotla nd an d W al es ) These have no legalpowe rs but are recog nized as neighbourhood or villa ge-level foru ms of discussion. QUE STIO NS Do you think the theory of collective rcsponsib- ility is a goo d one? Does it exist in your country? 2 What would be the equivalent titles in your country for: Chancellor, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary? 3 A British Prime Minister has no status in law which puts him or her above other politicians. So why are moder n British PMs so powerful? 4 How does the relationship between central and local governm ent in Britain compare with that in your country? 5 Local governm ent in Britain is responsible for most of the things that affect people in everyday life. So why do you think so few people bother to vote in local elections in Britain ? SU GG ES TI ON S • Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990) has been the subject of several biog raphical studies which offer insights into the work ings of government. For example. On eofU5 by Hugo Young (Pan Books). Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 9° 9 Parliament The activiti es of Parliament in Britain are mor e or less the same as those of the Parliament in any western democracy. It make s n ew laws, gives authority for the government to raise and spend mone y. keeps a close eye on government activities and discusses those activities. The British Parliament works in a large building called the Palace of We stmin ster (pop ularly kno wn as 'the Hou ses of'Parl iarnent'). This co ntains of fices. com mittee roo ms , restaurants, bars, libraries and even some places of residence. It also contains two larger ro om s. One of these is where the House of Lords meets, the other is where the House of Commons meets. The British Parliament is divided into two 'ho uses' , and its m emb ers b elong to one or other of them , although only me mb ers of the Comm ons are normally k nown as MPs (M ember s of Parliam ent ). The Comm on s is by far the m or e impor tant of the tw o houses. The H ous e of Commons I Speaker'schair 2 gov ernment benches 3 op position benches 4 galleries for visitors . S" press gallery Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. The atmosphere of Parliam ent Look at the pi cture of the inside of the meet ing room of the House of Common s ( e- The Hou seof Commons) . Its design and layout differ from the interior of the par liame nt buildi ngs in mos t o the r count ries. These differences can tell us a lot abo ut w hat is distinctive ab ou t t he British Parliament . First, notice the sealing arr ange me nts. There arc just two rows of benches facing each ot her. On the left of the pic ture are the govern- ment benches, wh ere the MPs of the gov ern in g party sit. On the righ t are the oppo sition benches. There is no op por tunity in this layout for a reflection of all the vari ou s shades of po litical opinion (as there is wit h a semi-circle). According to where they sit. MPs are seen to be either 'for ' the gove rnment (sup po rting it) or aga inst it. Thi s physical division is emphasized by the table on t he floor of the Ho use between the two rows of b enche s. The Speaker 's cha ir, which is raised some way off the floor, is also here. From this comma nding positi on , the Speaker chairs (that is, contro ls) the debates ( e- The Speo ker). The arrang emem of the benches e nco urages confro nta t ion between gov- ernment a nd o pp ositio n. It also reinf or ces psychol ogic ally the reality of the British two -party system (see chapter 6). There are no 'cro ss- benches' for MPs w ho belong neither to the gov erning party nor the main opposition party. In practice. these MPs sit on the op position benches f ur thes t fro m the Spe aker's chair (at the b ott om ri ght of the pict ure). Plan of the Palace of Wes tmins ter (principal floor) ;d.~ ~ _ ~ _ I M::J :L u 1 Clock-tower (Big Ben) 2 'No' Division lobby 3 'Aye' Division lobby The atmo sphere of Parliament 9 I Th e Sp eak er Anybody who happened to be watching the live broadcast of Parliament on 27 April 1992 was able to wi mess an extraordinary spectacle. A female MP was physic- ally dragged , app arent ly again st her will, out of her seat on the back benches by fellow MPs and was force d (Q sit ill the large chair in the mid dle of the House of Commons . What the House of Commons was actually doi ng was appo inting a new Speaker. The Speaker is the pers on who chairs and controls discussion in the Hous e, decides wh ich MP is g oing to speak next and makes sure that the rule s of procedure are fol- l owed . (Ifthey are not. the Speaker has the po wer to demand a public apology f rom an MP or even to ban an MP from the House for a num ber of days). It is a very Important posi- tion . In fact, the Speaker is,officially. the s econd most i mportan t ' com- moner' (non-aristocrat) in the k ingdom after the Prime Minis ter. Hundreds of years ago, it was the Speaker 's job to comm unicate the decisions of the Com mons to the King (that is where the title 'Speaker' comes from) . As the king was often very displeased with what the Commo ns had decided. this was not a pleasant task. As a result, nobod y want ed the job. They had to be f orced to take n. These days, the position is a mu ch safer one, bur the tradition of dragging an unwilling Speaker to the chair has remained. The occasion in 1992 was the first time that a wo man had been appo inted Speaker, so that MPs had to get used to addressing not 'Mr Speaker', as they had always don e in the past, bu t 'Madam Speaker' instead. Once a Speaker has been appointed, he or she agree s (Q give up all p any polit ies and rem ains in the job for as l ong as he or she want s it. Betty B oo throyd, thefirst woman Speokerof the Houseof Commons Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 92 9 Parliam ent Second, the Commo ns has no 'front' , no obvious place from which an MP can address everybody there. MPs simply stand up and speak from wherever they happen to be sitting. Third, notice that there are no desks for the MPs. The benches where they sit are exactly and only that- benches, just as in a church. This makes it physically easy for them to drift in and out of the room, which is some thing that they frequently do during debates. Fourth, notice that the House is very small. In fact, there i sn't enough ro om for all the MPs.There are mor e than 6 50 of them , but there is seating for less than 40 0. A candidate at an election is said to have won 'a seat' in the Com mo ns, but this 'seat' is imaginary. MPs do not have their 'own' place to sit. No names are marked on the benches. MPs just sit d own wherever (on 'th eir' side of the House) they can find roo m. Allthese features result in a fairly informal atmos phere. Individual MPs, wit hout theirown 'territory' (\\rhich a personal seat and desk would give them), are encouraged to c o-op erate. Moreover, the small size of the House, together with the lack of a p odium or dais from which to address it, means that MPs do not normally speak in the way that they wou ld at a large public rally. MPs norma lly speak in a conversational tone, and because they have n owh ere to place their notes while speaking, they do not normally speak for very long either! It is only on particularly important occasion s, when all the MPs are present, that passionate oratory is sometimes used. One mo re thing should be noted about the design of the House of Co mmo ns. It is deliberate. Historically, it was an accident: in medi- eval times, the Co mmons met in a church and churches of that time often had rows of benches facing each other. But after the House was badly damaged by bom bing in 194 I, it was deliberately rebuilt to the old pattern (wit h one or two mo dern comforts such as central heating added). This was because of a beliefin the two-way 'for and against' tradition , and also because of a more general desire for continuity. The ancient habits are preserved today in the man y cust om s and detailed rules of procedure which all new MPs find that they have to learn. The most no ticeable of these is the rule that forbids MPs to address one another directly or use personal names. All remarks and questions must go 'through the Chair '. An MP who is speaking r ef ers to or asks a question of 'the honourable Member for Winchest er' or 'my right honourable friend'. The MP for Winchester may be sitting directly opp osite, but the MP never says 'yo u'. These ancient rules were originally formulated to take the 'h eat' ou t of debate and decrease the possibilit y that violence mig ht break out. Today, they lend a touch offormalit y which balances the inf ormal aspects of the Common s and further increases the feeling o fMP s that they belong to a special group of people. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. AnMP's life The comparative informality of the Co mm ons may partly result f rom the British belie fin amateurism. Traditionally, MPs were not sup- posed to be specialist politicians. They were supposed to be ord inary people giving some of their time to representing the people. Ideally, they came from all walks of life, bringing their experience of the everyday world into Parliament with them .Tliis is wliy MPswere not even paid unt il the early twentieth century.Traditionally, they were sup pos ed to be doing a pub lic service, not making a career for themselves. o f course, this tradition meant that only rich people could afford to be MPs so that, alth oug h they did indeed come from a wide variety of backgr ou nds, these were always backgrounds of power and wealtli. Even now, British MPs do not get paid very much in comparison w ith many of their European co unterparts. Moreover, by European standards, they have incredibly p oor facilities. Most MPs have to share an office and a sec retary with tw o or mor e other MPs. The ideal of the talented amateur do es not, of course , reflect modern reality. Politics in Britain in the last forty years has be com e professional. Most MPs are full-time politicians, and do ano ther job, ifat all, on ly part-t im e. But the amateur traditi on is still reflected in the hours of business of the Co mmo ns. They ar e' gentleman's liours' . The H ou se do es not sit in the mornin g.Thi s is w hen, in the traditional ideal, MPs w ou ld be doing their ordinary work or pur suin g oth er interests ou tside Parliamen t. Fr om Mond ay to Thursday, the H ou se doe s not start its business until 1 4.3 0 ( on Friday it starts in the morning , but then finislies in the early afternoon for the weekend). It also gives itselfIong liolidays: four wee ks at Christmas, two each at Ea ster and Whitsun (Pentecos t), and abou t eleven weeks in the summer (from the beginning ofAugust until the middle of October). But this apparently easy lif e is misleading. In fact, the average modern MP spends more time at work than any other professional in the country. From Monday to Thur sday, the Commonsnever 'rises' (i.e. finishes wor k for the day) bef ore 2 2. 30 and sometimes it con- tinues sitting for several liours l on ger. Occasionally, it debates througli most of the uight. The Commo ns, in fact, spends a greater total amou nt of time sitting each year than any o ther Parliament in Europe. MPs' mo rnings are taken up wit h co mmittee wo rk, research , pre- paring speeches and dealing with the prob lems of constituents (the people they represent). Weekends are not free for MPs either. They are ex pec ted to visit their constituenc ies (the areas t hey repres ent ) and listen to the problems of anybody who wan ts to see them. It is an ext rem ely busy lif e that leaves little time for pursuing another career. It does not leave MPs much tim e for their familie s either. Politicians have a higher rate of divorce thau the (already high) national average. An MP'slife 93 IIlo Hansard This is the name given to the daily verbatim repo rts of everyt hing that has been said in the Commo ns. They are published within f on y -eig ht hoursof theday the}'cover. The parli am ent ary day in the Commons from Mondays to Thursdays 14.3 0 Prayers 14·35 Que stion time 15.3 0 Any miscellaneo us business, such as a stat ement from a mini ster. after ,v-hich the main business of the day begins. On mor e than half of the days, thismeansadebate on a pro- posal for a n ew law. kn own as a 'bill'. Most o f these bills are intr o- duced by the government but s ome days in each year are reserved for 'private members' bills'; that is, proposals for laws made by indi - vidu al MPs. NOl many of these becom e law , bec ause there is not enough interest among other MPs and no t eno ugh lime for proper discus sio n of them . 22. 00 Mot ion on the adjournment: the main bu sine ss of the day stops and MPs are allowed 1O bring up another matter for general discussi on . 2 2 . 3 0 The Hou se rises (usually) . Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 94 9 Parl iament Frontbenchers and backb encher s Although MPs do not have their own personal seats in the Com mons, there are two seating areas reserved for particular MPs. These areas are the front benches on either side of the House. These benches arc whe re the leading members of the governing party (Le. ministers) and the leading membe rs of the main opposition party sit. These people are thus known as 'frontbcnchcrs'. MPs who do not hold a government post or a post in the sh adow cabinet (sec chapter 8) are known as 'back- benchers'. Parlia me ntary bu siness The basic procedure for business in the Co mm ons is a deba te on a particular propo sal, followed by a resolution which either accepts or rejects this proposal. Sometimes the resolution just expresses a viewpoint, bu t 11 10St often it is a matt er of fra ming a new law or of appro ving (or no t approving ) go vernm ent plans to raise taxes or sp end money in certain ways. Occasi on ally, there is no n eed to take a vote, but there usually is, and at such tim es there is a 'divis ion'. That is, MPs have to vote for or against a part icular proposal. They do this by walking through one of two corridors at the side of the House - one is for the 'Ayes' (those who agree wi th the proposal) and the other is f or the 'Noes' (those who disagree). But the resolutions of the Com mons are only part of its activities. There are also the commi tlees. Some com mittees are ap poi nted to examin e particular pr op osals for laws, but there are also permanent committees wh ose job is to investigate the activities of gover n ment in a particular field. These committ ees com pr ise a bou t fon y mem bers and are f orme d to refle ct the relative strengths of the par ties in the Comm ons as a who le. They have the po wer to call cert ain peo ple, such as civil servants, to com e and answer their questi on s. They are becoming a mo re and m ore im porta nt part of t he bu siness of the C omm ons, The party system in Parlia ment Most div isions take place al on g party lines. MPs know tha t they owe their positi on to their party, so they nearly always vote the way that their party tells t hem to. The people who make sure that MPs do this are called the Whips . Each of the two major parties has several MPs who p erf orm this role. It is their job to inform all MPs in their party how they s ho uld vote. By traditi on , if the gover nment loses a vote in Parliament on a very impo rtant matt er, it has to resign. Therefore, when there is a division on such a matter , MPs are expected to go to the House and vote even if they have not been there dur ing the de bate. The W hip s act as i nter mediaries between the backbenchers and the frontbench ( 0) F ro nt be nc hers and bc ck ben ch ers) of a party. They keep the party leadership informed about backbench opi nion . They are po werf ul people. Because they 'have the ear' of the party leaders, they can have an effect on which backbenchers get pro moted to the front bench and wh ich do not. F or reason s such as this, 'rebe llions' among a gro up of a party's MPs (in which they vote agai nst t heir party) are very rare. Sometimes the major parties allow a 'free vote' , whe n MPs vote ac cor ding to their own beliefs and not acco rding to party policy. Some quite importa nt decisi on s, such as the abolition of the death penalty and the decis ion to allow television cam eras into the Comm on s, have been made in this way. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. II> How a bill bec om es a law Before a propo sal for a new law starts its progress through Parliament. there will have been much discus- sion. If it is a gov ernment proposal. Green and White Papers will probably have been published. explaining the ideas behind the pro- posal. After this. lawyers draft the proposal into a bill, Most bills begin life in the House of Commons, where they go through a number of stages. First reading This is a formal announcement only, with no debate Second reading The house debates the general prin- ciples of the billand, in most cases, takes a vote. + , ~ Committee stage A committee of MPs examines the details of the billand votes on amendments (changes) to parts of it. ~"'; + ' Report stage The House considers the amend- ments. + ~-  Third reading The amended billis debated as a whole. + :- _ - The billis sent to the House of lords, where it goes through the same stages . (Ifthe Lords make new amendments, these will be consid- ered by the Commons.), _ + ~- - After both Houses have reached agreement, the billreceives the royal assent and becomes an Act of Parliament which can be applied as p'a rt of the law. The party system in Parliam ent 9S" Tony Blair, Prim e Min ister from '997, an swering qu esti ons in the H ou se of C omm on s II> Question tim e This is the most well-attended, and usually the noisiest. part of the parliamentaryday For about an hour there is no sub ject for debate. Instead. MPs arc allowed to ask questions of government ministers. In this way they can. in th eor y at least. force the govern ment to make certain facts public and to make its intentions clear. Opposition MPs in particul ar have an o pportu nity to make government ministers look incompetent or perhapsdishonest. The questions and answers, however, are not spontaneous. Questions to ministers have to be 'tab led' (written d own and placed on the table below the Speaker's chair) two days in advance, so that ministers have time to prepare their an swer s. In this way the govern- ment can usually avoid major embarrassment. The trick, though, is to ask an unexpected 'supplemen - tary' question. After the minister has answered the tabled question, the MP \ -ho originally tabled it is all owed to ask a furthe r question relating to the minister's answer. In this way, it is sometimes possible for MPs to catch a minister unprepared. Question time has been widely copied around the world. It is also probably the aspect of Parliament most well -kn own among the general public. The vast majority of television ~e ws excerpts of Parlia- ment are taken from this period of its day. Especially com mon is for the new s to show an excerpt from the half -hour on Wednesdays when it is the Prime Minister's (Urn to answer questions. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 96 9 Parliam ent Lords legal and spiritual As well as life peers, there arc t wo other kinds of peer in the House of L ord s who do not have seats there by hereditary right, but because of their position. First, there are the t wenty -six bishops of the Church of England. Second, there are the Lords of Appeal ( known as the 'Law Lords') , the twenty or so most senior judges in the land . By tradition, the House of Lords is the final court of appeal in the coumry. In fact, however, when the Lords acts in this role, it is only the Law Lords who vote on the matter. Reforming the House of Lords In 1910 the Liberal gov ernment pro - posed heavy taxes on the rich. The House of Lords rejected the pro- posal. This rejection went agains t a long-standing tradition that the Hou se of Com mons had control of financial matters. The government then asked the king for an election and won it. Again, it passed its tax pro posals through the Commons, and also a bill limiting the pow er of the Lords. Again, the Lords rejected both bills, and again the government won an oth er electi on . It was a constitu- tional crisis. Wha t was to happen? Revolution? No. Wha t happened was that the king let it be k nown that if the Lords rejected the same bills again, he would appoint hundreds of new peers w ho would vote for the bills - enough for the government to have a majority in the L ord s. So, in 191 I, rather than have the prestige of their House destroyed in this way, the Lords agreed to both bills, including the one that limited their own pow ers. From that time, a bill whi ch had been agreed in the C omm ons for three years in a row could become law withou t the agreement of the Lords. This period of time was further reduced in 1949. The Hou se of Lords A uni qu e feat ure of the British parliamentary system is its heredi tary elem ent. Unlike MPs. membe rs of the House ofLords (k no wn as 'peers') are no t elected .They are member s as of right. In the case of some of t hem, this 'righ t' is the result of their being the holder of an inh erited aristocratic title.The Hou se of Lords is ther ef or e a relic of earlier, u nd em ocratic, t ime s. The fact that it still exists is p erh aps typically British. It has been all ow ed to surv ive but it has had to c hange , losing mo st of its po wer and altering its c ompo sition in the process. Tli eHouse ofLord s (like the mona rchy) has little, if any, real p owe r any mor e. Allpro po sals must have the agreement of the Lords befo rethey can become law. But the power of the L or ds to refuse a pr opos al for a law which has been agreed by the Co mmo ns is now lim ited. After a period which can be as shaft as six mon ths the pro- posal becomes law anyw ay, wheth er or not the Lords agree. The com position of the Lords has changed since 1958, when it became possible to a war d 'life peerages' thro ugh the ho nours system (see chapter 7). Entitlem ent to sit in the Lords does not pass to the children of l if e peers. The life peerage system has establis hed itselfas a means of finding a place in public life for distinguished retired politicians who nu y no longer wish to be as busy as MPs in the Co mmon s, but who still wish to voice their opinions in a public forum. At the time of writing, four of the last five Pri me Ministers, as well as about .300 past min isters and other respected politicians, have accepted the of fer of a life peerage. Political parti es are, in fact, especially keen to send their older m embe rs who once belonged to the leadership of the par ty to the House ofL or ds. It is a way of rewarding th em with prestige while at the s ame t ime getting them out of the way of the present party leaders in the Comm ons, where th eir status and reputation mi ght otherw ise create trouble for party unity. Informally, this practice has be come kno wn as being 'kicked upstairs'. Asa resu lt of the life peerage system there are mor e than .3 00 people in the Hou se of Lords who are no t aristocrats and who have expertise in political life:In fact, as a result of recent refo rm s, these lif e peers now for m a majority at its sittings. The mo dern House of Lords is a foru m for pub lic discussion. Because its me mbers do not d epe nd on party po litics for their posi- tion, it is some times able to bring important matters that the Commons has been ign oring into the open. More importantly, it is the place where pr opos als for new laws are discussed in great detail - much 1110 re detail t han the busy C om mo ns has time for - and in this way irregularities or inconsistencies in these prop osals can be removed before they bec ome law. M ore im po rtant still, it is argued, the Lords is a check on a government that, through its control of the Commons, could po ssibly beco me too dictatorial. Few peop le in politics are perfectly happy wi th the pres ent arr ang ement. Most Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. . British two -party system (see chapter 6). There are no 'cro ss- benches' for MPs w ho belong neither to the gov erning party nor the main opposition party a mo re and m ore im porta nt part of t he bu siness of the C omm ons, The party system in Parlia ment Most div isions take place al on g party lines. MPs know