How Does Parliament Work?

TASK THREE: Working in a group of 2 or 3, use all of the following links to write or type 10 points about how Parliament works, including an explanation (with examples such as this) of what a Select Committee is:

The role of the Culture, Media, Sport Select Committee (official website)
http://www.explore.parliament.uk/
BBC News interactive guide;
Wikipedia entry;
Tim Loughton (MP) guide;
Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield MP) guide;
Parliament.uk guide.

We will finish off the lesson by checking you can answer these questions:

Women in Parliament

You can watch a video of the exchange here.

It wasn't so long ago that the Prime Minister caused an outcry by telling a female MP, "calm down dear" in the style of a notoriously sexist film director Michael Winner (who used the phrase in an insurance ad).

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Angela Eagle, at whom the comment was aimed, said "a modern man" would not have "expressed himself that way".
But a Downing Street spokesman said it was just "a humorous remark" (BBC)

I noticed today two interesting articles in the Guardian, looking at the experience of female MPs and comparing the percentage of female MPs here and elsewhere.

Here's a sample quote from a Labour MP, Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow constituency):

For young women, particularly, when they see a woman from their area in parliament (I grew up in my constituency and I went to local schools), that makes a big difference, because they can identify with you. It makes the idea that this is a career they could go into much more realistic and possible. And to me that’s really important – if they want a career in politics, then why not? “Why not” is what I say when people say they can’t, or it’s too difficult. Women being visible in national political life, working on issues that not only affect women but society at large, is a really important message. Parliament still doesn’t look like society in terms of gender and ethnicity – that needs to change. (Guardian)

Here's a graphic overview of how women fare as elected politicians across the EU (the article has further graphs illustrating the % of women in the UK and Scottish governments, plus further analysis):

Is it alRight if there's no Left left?!

Use resources on this blog!

Your task today is prepare a presentation of around 3-5mins in which you report to the class on the views, ideology, policies, philosophy of one major political party - one from...

• TORY/CONSERVATIVE
• LABOUR
• LIB DEM (SLD)
• UKIP
• GREENS
• SNP

There is also an option to look at Respect, not a major party with significant hopes of large numbers of MPs, but they do have as many MPs as the Greens or UKIP at the time of writing (before a bye-election UKIP look set to win)!

NB: You will be logged off computers with 20 minutes left in the lesson, so print off anything you need by then, or email a PowerPoint to me (I'll put this on the board).

I would like your report to include some detail on the following:

1. PARTY HISTORY: Briefly outline the history of the party: how much time (if any!) have they spent in government; have they always been a major/small party or have their fortunes changed over time; who are some of their most significant leaders (or MPs); have they formed any alliances/coalitions at any time?
2. ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES: Factual detail on how many MPs, MEPs (European Parliament), MSPs (Scottish Parliament), MAs (Welsh Assembly), MLAs (Northern Ireland Assembly) they have. Include the total number for each, eg there are 650 MPs in the House of Commons (Wiki). Comment if you can on this party's local standing - is this an area in which the party enjoys success? You could briefly discuss why when you come back together.
3. LEADER + 2015 ELECTION HOPES: Using at least one left-wing and at least one right-wing newspaper as sources (ask if unsure!) sum up/provide a flavour of how the party leader is viewed; find the odds on this party winning the 2015 election, and any predictions on how many seats they might win; what do opinion polls say?
4. POLICIES + IDEOLOGY: Using newspapers and/or the parties' own website, find at least 3 current/recent policies, and sum up whether these reflect a party that is right-wing, left-wing or even a mix of both! Think back to the findings and points from your own questionnaire results last time.

You can use a variety of resources on this blog to help with this task:

MPs getting rowdy in the Commons

An example of the (Deputy) Speaker trying to assert control over a rowdy House of Commons:

The rules on the behaviour of MPs are rather strict - when speaking in the House of Commons you are not permitted to accuse another MP of lying, no matter how strong the evidence may be. That would be 'unparliamentary language'.

MPs can be ejected from the Commons chamber for breaking the rules, and this has happened to the likes of George Galloway and Ian Paisley over the years. In most cases 'the Speaker' will intervene, an MP who doesn't take part in votes and basically puts aside his/her loyalty to their own party to see that the Commons runs smoothly: they decide who gets to speak, in what order, for how long, whether they have broken any rules, and oversees the scheduling of debates - which bills get a chance of a first/second/third reading.

Here's an example of an MP doing what 'Tarzan' (the nickname given to Tory MP, later a powerful government minister, Michael Heseltine) did back in 1976 - swinging the mace that lies between the two front benches.

By the way, did you know that the gap between the benches is measured in sword lengths, to avoid conflict?!
Below the line: several videos showing MPs misbehaving!

UK Political Parties: a guide

The Wiki list

Most of you will know the names of the 3 biggest UK political parties, 2 of which are in government currently as a coalition while the other forms the main Opposition (their job is to respond to government proposals, although they will sometimes agree with these!).

There are many more, from small fringe parties or single-issue parties (UKIP being a good example) to parties which operate only in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, but still send MPs to Westminster plus the devolved parliaments/assemblies of NI/Scotland/Wales.

This link (see screensot, left) contains a list of many of these, including parties which are exclusive to some parts of the UK.

We will spend more time later looking at and comparing the parties policies, but for now you could use this website to compare the policies of some parties (from the last general election):

PocketPolitics guide. (you'd select the 2010 Westminster option)

Here's another lnk, whch looks only at the 3 main parties:

Here's a comparison of the policies of the 3 biggest UK parties, from C4's website. [on a PC CTRL-click links to open in a new tab, on iPad hold the link and select Open In New Tab, so you can keep this webpage open]

If you come across any useful websites/links on UK political parties, pass on details as a comment below and I'll add them to this post



You can use other posts and resources in this blog to help with ideas for your party, and we will return to this frequently. Use the links list you see on the right in the picture below (the post pictured has examples of posters from UK political parties)

Parliament + Government: What's the Difference? (4min video)

You could try the last 2mins of this vid (from 4:13 in):


This one sets out the key facts and terms



This one sets out the role of an MP; you can find more resources on this topic here.


The UK Parliament has traditions going back several centuries, such as the formal procedures around the State Opening of Parliament, in which the monarch addresses both Houses (of Commons and Lords) and sets out what 'her government' intends to do over the coming year.
Such ceremony is an important tradition say some; others argue that its offputting - what do you think?

How Laws Are Made (6min video)

How Laws Are Made

This video from Parliament.uk provides a clear, plain-language guide to the steps involved in making a proposal for new legislation into a binding law within the UK: