Analyse the main factors that limit the effectiveness of parliament
The underlying purpose of parliament is to represent the public and their opinions, and this is perhaps one of the main problems with out current parliamentary system. Many argue that the house of commons is unrepresentative of the modern population, with ethnic minorities and women especially under represented. This was especially evident at the 2005 general election where only 128 of the 517 (24%) elected MP’s were women, with the figures even worse for the conservatives with only 17 of their 180 MP’s being women, an incredibly low 9%. These figures undermine the legitimacy of parliament, and thus the laws they pass. Another significant problem with parliament is rise of “careerist” politicians, more worried about their power and stature than the morality of what they may be doing. “Ministerial responsibility” states that a minister should resign if necessary to protect the party name, however this is rarely seen now days as evident with both the expenses scandal and that of the possibly illegitimate wars in Iraq. However, perhaps one of the biggest limitations placed of parliament, is that of the EU. “Parliamentary sovereignty” states that parliament is the supreme law making body in the UK, yet on many occasions, parliaments rule has either been over turned or re-wrote by the EU. For example the Factortame case of 1990 involved parliament ruling that non British citizens could not register a boat as British, yet the EU courts of Justice ruled against this, practically forcing the house of lords to call for the act to be scrapped. Furthermore the prime minister cannot be “impeached” as in other countries. The executive is the most important member of parliament, and if he/she cannot be called to account apart from at election times then surely parliaments legitimacy is once again flawed.
