What is the role of the opposition in Parliament?

DO NOWTime to play ‘Opposition Connect Four’. You must correctly identify four members of the Shadow Cabinet, forming a row either horizontally, vertically or diagonally on your hand outs. For additional points, you must give both the name of the Shadow minister and their job title.

Ed MilibandLeader of the Labour

Party

Harriet HarmanDeputy Leader of the

Labour Party and Shadow Secretary for Culture, Media and

Sport

Emily ThornberryShadow Attorney

General

Douglas AlexanderShadow Foreign

Secretary

Sadiq KhanShadow Justice

Secretary

Tristram HuntShadow Education

SecretaryEd Balls

Shadow ChancellorYvette CooperShadow Home

Secretary

Chuka UmunnaShadow Secretary for Business, Innovation

and Skills

Rosie WintertonShadow Chief Whip

Rachel ReevesShadow Secretary for

Work & Pensions

Andy BurnhamShadow Health

Secretary

Learning objectives

• To explain the role of the official opposition in parliament

• To evaluate how effectively the opposition holds the government of the day to account

Study the mark scheme below to work out your Aut1 grade

Grades Raw scores – full paper

Raw scores – half paper

A* ≥90 ≥45A 80—89 40-44B 70—79 35-39C 60—69 30-34D 50—59 25-29E 40—49 20-24

HomefunWhat? When?Writing25 mark mini-essay on the role of backbenchers in the House of Commons

Friday

Reading and Note TakingPolitics UK chapter on ‘ministers, departments and civil servants’ (A-A* from 402 onwards)Cowley chapter on British political parties

After half-term

What is Her Majesty's Official Opposition?

• The Westminster Parliament is an adversarial system which depends on opposition

• The largest opposition party in the House of Commons—currently the Labour Party—makes up Her Majesty’s Official Opposition; its job is to question and scrutinise the work of government.

• The leader of the second largest party is called the Leader of the Opposition. This is an official, salaried position which makes him/her a privy councillor and which puts him/her opposite the Prime Minister at the despatch box.

• The members of the opposition front bench are called the ‘Shadow Cabinet’ because they mirror the roles of cabinet ministers.

Dave

Ed

Practice questions

What is meant in the extract by the term ‘Opposition Days’? (5 marks)

Using the extract and your own knowledge, identify and explain two ways in which the Official Opposition in the House of Commons can challenge the government. (10 marks)

‘The main role of backbench MPs is to support or oppose the government in the House of Commons, not to represent the views of their constituents.’ Discuss. (25 marks)

Responsible Government

Responsible Government = A government that is accountable to an elected assembly and,

through it, to the people

Scrutiny of the Executive

Parliament does not govern; its role is to check or constrain the government of the day. Parliament does this in a number of ways:

• Select Committees• Prime Minister’s Questions (‘PMQs’)• Questions to Ministers• Debates• ‘Opposition’ or ‘Supply’ Days• Written Questions and Letters

PMQs

• PMQ is on a Wednesday for 30 mins of the 1 hr slot for Questions to Ministers.

• MPs ask one notified question of the PM and one (unscripted) supplementary question.

• PMQs are dominated by the clashes between the PM and the leader of the opposition who is allowed to ask 4-5 supplementary questions.

Questions to Ministers• The idea of Question Time is that the opposition may seek out

flaws in government policy, but also individual MPs may obtain useful information for their constituents.

• Departments take turns to answer parliamentary questions in a 4 week cycle.

• Question Time takes place from Monday to Thursday for 1 hour each day.

• MPs with questions submit their names to the speaker in advance.• Ministers need to be well briefed on the topics likely to arise,

especially if a relevant issue has arisen in the news in recent days.• There are oral questions and written questions.

Debates

• Debates are discussions, and in Parliament they are the method of putting views across as well as opening the government to criticism.

• If legislation has not been well thought through or a lack of planning is evident in a government proposal, an exchange on the floor of the Commons or the Lords can make this plain for all to see.

• It is for this reason that the government employs large numbers of parliamentary draftsmen to ensure that legislation is in robust shape before going through its stages in the Commons and the Lords.

Pause for thought…Different types of Debates

Legislative Debates − Proposed laws are examined and debatedEmergency Debates− Cover topics of special urgency, e.g. security or health

issues− Held at the discretion of the SpeakerAdjournment Debates − Backbenchers can initiate debates at the end of the

parliamentary day

Opposition Days

• So-called because they are days in Parliament that “belong” to the opposition.

• There are a limited number of days (17 for the Official Opposition; 3 for other parties), however that the official opposition can use.

• They need to give notice of their intention to use such a day.

Written Questions and Letters

• Much information is provided to MPs and peers in answers to written questions (as opposed to oral questions in Question Time).

• Ministers must respond to letters they receive from MPs and peers.

Pause for thought…

Which is the most effective method by which the Official

Opposition holds the government to account?

Pause for thought…

What factors will determine the effectiveness of an opposition

party in holding the government to account?

Factors contributing to an effective opposition

• The popularity and effectiveness of the opposition party leader relative to the prime minister, e.g. media management

• The effectiveness of individual Shadow Cabinet members relative to their government opposite numbers

• The loyalty of the party of government and the main party of opposition

• The size of the government majority• “Events, dear boy, events …”

MPs and the scrutiny of governmentParliamentary time is largely monopolised by the government and, to a lesser extent, by the Official Opposition, through devices such as Opposition Days. Ministers and Shadow Ministers usually take the leading role in important House of Commons debates. Ordinary backbench MPs, by contrast, may feel powerless to make significant contributions in debates or to introduce legislation. The ability of individual MPs to influence national events is also severely limited. Governments implementing their mandate are unlikely to take much notice of protests by backbench rebels in their own party, let alone opposition MPs.Some backbenchers, however, do manage to make an impact by serving on select committees. Others can make an impact by attending public functions or through the media, by appearing on TV and radio programmes and writing articles in local and national newspapers. Today, however, MPs are often held in low esteem by voters. Most backbenchers do not have a high profile and are conscious of the limitations upon their ability to do the job as well as they would wish.

Source: Adapted from AQA Government and Politics AS, D. Watts (2008)

Practice questions

What is meant in the extract by the term ‘Opposition Days’? (5 marks)

Using the extract and your own knowledge, identify and explain two ways in which the Official Opposition in the House of Commons can challenge the government. (10 marks)

Example paragraphThe leader of the opposition can use his/her position to hold the Prime Minister to account during Prime Minister’s Questions. While ordinary members of parliament can ask one scripted question and one follow-on question of during PMQs, the leader of the opposition can ask four to five follow-on questions. This gives him/her the opportunity to stretch the Prime Minister on an issue of national importance and/or political sensitivity. Ed Miliband has regularly used this privilege to ask David Cameron searching questions about the impact of the government’s austerity measures on disadvantaged communities. The effectiveness of this measure is limited, however, by the time allocated to PMQs, just 30 mins per week, and by the fact that the government has prior notice of the broad topic area to be quizzed. In this way, the government remains in control of the Parliamentary agenda.