Does Parliament make policy, influence policy, or what?

The first 200 words of this essay...

Does Parliament make policy, influence policy, or what?

Parliament is the legislative section of the British political system. It is an asymmetric bicameralist system (consisting of two unequal parts), the House of Commons and the House of Lords, of which the Commons is the most dominant. The House of Commons holds five fundamental roles; representation, legislation, scrutiny and influence of the executive, debate of contemporary issues, and recruitment to government. The House of Lords holds two extra roles as the highest court in the land and constitutional safeguards. (Coxall and Robins, pp204-211; Jones, pp324-333). As can be seen, policy making is not one of Parliaments roles. Parliaments role is more of a check on government actions and policy, it keeps bills within the general consensus and prevents extremism or ridiculous policies from becoming law. In this essay, I will firstly discuss how policy is made and the level of involvement of Parliament. I will then examine the degree of Influence Parliament does hold over policy by explaining its involvement in the three stage policy making process. I will then look at what Parliaments role in the British political system actually is.

Philip Norton argues that throughout the