How successfully does the UK parliament fulfil its roles?

As (Russell, 2016) says that ‘Westminster’ is used to refer to the parliament in the UK, but
the term ‘Westminster Model’ is used to talk about parliaments that are weak or that have a
strong government. This essay will assess how much of this stands to true for the UK
parliament since strength of the parliament can be subtle. Starting with bicameralism, the
essay will discuss how House of Lords practices its power. Later the essay will discuss the
influence of government formation, opposition, and backbenchers. It will, then, also talk how
the executive is subject to critical scrutiny, not only by the opposition but also, by the
parliamentary and select committees. Finally, it will conclude with parliament sitting on
fence of overpowering the government and having contribution that are not visible prima
facie.

One of the significant influences that the parliament has on the government is through House
of Lords. Although its power was seen as fading away and the House was perceived as
irrelevant due to the degree of lobbying and hereditary peerage. Thus, bicameralism shifts the
power towards the parliament in the UK. Especially after the House of Lords Act, 1999, the
conservative leverage in the greatly decreased which brought goodwill for them in the public
opinion as well. This also brought crossbenchers in the House, a step away from
Conservative dominance. Not only at the periphery, House of Lords also has as an impact on
the executive’s bills. For instance, Tony Blairs government might look a dominant one but
even his executive faced 175 defeats in the Upper House from 2005-2010 and 245 defeats
between 2001-2005. Even the 2010 coalition government faced 23 Lords defeats in 2015
(Russell, 2016). Some popular examples are Public Bodies Bill, which presumably was a
bonfire of quangos (Russell, 2016), and Tax Credit Regulations after which George Osbourne
was compelled to drop his policy.

Another strength that the UK parliament is that the UK is not wedded to the idea of single
party government. Coalition government blurs the line between opposition and supporting
parties. According to (Garnett, et al., 2020), even the backbenchers have been less aligned
over the years. For instance, Liberal Democrats vehemently opposed the Health and Social
care bill and Welfare Reform bill or, the ‘bedroom tax’ bill. In 2013 when Cameron’s
government recalled parliament for military action in Syria. It was not only opposed by the
opposition but also by Liberal Democrats and some Conversative party MPs. This
phenomenon is not recent. PM Edward Heath was defeated by his own MPs and since then
every Prime Minister has been defeated at least once due to backbench rebellion (Cowley &
Russell, 2016). However, the visible effects of backbench rebellion have increased over the
decades. One of the recent examples is the ‘no-confidence’ motion passed against Mrs. May.
This proves that parliament holds the power to dismiss even the PM, unlike many other
parliaments in Europe where the House finds it difficult to dismiss an under-performing
government (Bale, 2011).

Apart from defeats and overpowering factors in the parliament, the government also is
answerable to potential bills and plans. Select committees have an influence but it is not
visible because they do not have a formal legislative power. for instance, there was a pressure
from the Health Committee on the executive after which the government introduced the
Health Bill in 2005-06 which banned binge drinking and public smoking. NHS Appointments
Commission was also introduced after suggestions from the health committee. Secondary
Legislation Scrutiny Committee was also formed specifically to hold the ministers
answerable to bills they intend to pass before those bills are presented in the parliament. Even
the opposition scrutinizes the executive through PMQ (Prime Minister Question Time).
During the PMQ, leader of opposition raises questions on governments potential ideas and
plans on issues. Through regular publications like Green papers and White papers, the
government has a responsibility of keeping the parliament informed about their plans. Even
the speaker of the House of Commons can practice his power to provide opposition leaders
with enough time to question the government.

Thus, above mentioned factors and examples demonstrate the subtle power that the UK
parliament holds. However, the UK is generally perceived as a ‘post-parliamentary’
democracy because there have been instances, under the Tony Blair and Mrs. Thatcher’s
government, where parliament’s power looked peripheral. But as the (Cowley & Russell,
2016) suggests, this perception is because detractors focus on visible and measurable factors.
Also, only policy decision-making stage is observed while studying the influence of the
parliament and not entire cycle of policy-planning.

Bibliography
Bale, T., 2011. Comparative European Politics. 10th ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Cowley, P. & Russell, M., 2016. The Policy Power of the Westminster Parliament: The
“Parliamentary State” and the Empirical Evidence. Governance, 29(1), pp. 121-137.
Garnett, M., Dorey, P. & Lynch, P., 2020. Parliament. In: M. Garnett, ed. Exploring British
Politics. Milton: Taylor & Francis, pp. 202-247.

Russell, M., 2016. Parliament. In: R. Hafferman, C. Hay & P. Cowley, eds. Developments in
British Politics. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 100-120.