'The government controls parliament but it cannot always rely on getting its own way.' Explain this with reference to the House of Commons.

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February 2003                                                                                             Alfie Stroud 12Gore

‘The government controls parliament but it cannot always rely on getting its own way.’

Explain this with reference to the House of Commons.

A tendency to ignore the protestations and activities of parliament in issuing central, top-down directives and ‘memos’ is a criticism often levied at Tony Blair’s Labour administration. It is seen to signify a consolidation of executive power, often represented in the media as control-freakery on the part of the Prime Minister. Although any apparent increase in the power of the executive would be accentuated by the immense size of the 179 seat Labour majority, the present government is widely seen to have taken up a continuing trend towards centralised government, often revolving around Downing Street. It is perhaps largely the power of Blair’s mandate in conjunction with the vice-like control of the party whips over MPs that has led to comments such as that of Lord Hailsham that we live under an “elective dictatorship.”

The power of the executive however, is based on long-standing constitutional principles and practise. The concept of ‘Queen in Parliament’ has long been used to describe the legislative sovereign created in the fusion of parliament and the executive. The executive has come to govern through parliament, requiring in effect its assent for legislation, while drawing from it, as the nation’s chief representative body, the legitimacy it requires to sustain its authority. It comes as a surprise to many, given the ostensible thirst for power of the Blair administration, that since coming into power in 1997 it should have undertaken admittedly moderate reforms with the aim of empowering the House of Commons against the executive. Under Robin Cook’s Leadership of the House for example, the efficiency of the Commons in its scrutinative role has been strengthened with allowances being made for the tabling of more topical questions, and further reform of Prime Minister’s Question Time.

Given this climate of reform in the House of Commons, the extent of the government’s power over it is a particularly relevant topic for consideration. Any explanation of this issue, based on the statement contained in the title of this essay, should first seek to establish its two main presumptions: the government’s power over the executive and rebellions against it. These analysed, it will be possible to draw a conclusion on the government’s ability to ‘rely on getting its own way,’ that is, on the extent of its control.

Studies of British parliamentary government have identified four main factors upon a combination of which governments must rely for their power over the House of Commons. The first of these, and the most basic, is a working majority. It is one of the very most basic principles of the British parliamentary system that the majority party in the House of Commons forms a government. A majority provides the means by which a government may govern in parliament, assuring it of at least a basic level of support upon which it may count to secure the passing of legislation. It is a reflection on its centrality to British politics that no election since 1945 has failed to return a party with a majority of seats in the Commons, with the exception of that of February 1974 in which Harold Wilson’s Labour Party was 34 seats off a majority. Indeed, two-thirds of all elections in this period have returned parties with an adequate majority of 17 seats or more. Once in government, parties are able to exploit their majority, and the natural unity of its MPs on which this majority is based, through maintaining tight control of the parliamentary party with a system of whips and party meetings and committees. Thus they are able to dominate and greatly influence the workings and actions of the Commons.

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Governments are also able to dominate the legislative proceedings of parliament, largely as a result of their Commons majority. It is estimated that in the duration of any one parliament approximately 75% of parliamentary time is allocated to government business. They are given priority in passing legislation, the Commons spending more time debating government bills than those initiated elsewhere. Consequently the legislative role of the House of Commons is somewhat restricted in that it is subordinate to that of the executive.

The scrutinative role of the House of Commons too is limited by government control. The executive is ...

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