Democracy in Scotland and the UK

Effectiveness of political representation

The UK Parliament

• The UK Parliament is bicameral, meaning it consists of two parts – the elected House of Commons and the appointed House of Lords.
• The House of Lords has 785 Peers while the Commons is made up of 650 Members of Parliament (MPs).
• The last UK General Election for the 650 constituencies in the Commons took place on 12^th December 2019, with the Conservatives winning 365 seats.
• The means the Opposition parties have 285 seats, giving the Conservatives a majority of 80

Oral questions

• Each government department has a Question Time every six weeks
• Ministers are held to account and need to be prepared for any questions from MPs
• Prime Minister’s Questions is the most notable example of Oral Questions in the Commons
• Wednesday lunchtimes, 30 minutes
• The main three Opposition Party Leaders are guaranteed questions while backbench MPs can secure questions through a ballot
• Other MPs can ‘bob’ to catch the Speaker’s eye
• The PM can be caught off-guard, and media focus on PMQs means that a slip can be politically damaging, and opposition soundbites can be promoted.
• For example, Keir Starmer’s criticisms of the Prime Minister’s appointment of Suella Braverman as Home Secretary led media coverage for days afterwards PMQs on 2^nd November 2022.

Watch a BBC clip on the effectiveness of PMQs

However…

• PMQs has been described as ‘Punch and Judy’ politics
• The criticism is that PMQs is merely a chance for politicians to have a slagging match, with little in the way of substance achieved
• Because PMQs is the part of the parliamentary week which is most watched, there is a pressure to ‘perform’
• So that the government looks good, Whips (people in charge of discipline in their party) send their party’s MPs suggested favourable questions to try and ask their PM.
• These favoured questions simply waste time and don’t scrutiny the government
• For example, during his first PMQs in November 2022, Rishi Sunak was asked by the Conservative MP for Totnes to “recognise the value” of a trade deal with Australia where Matt Hancock “will be able to enjoy a certain delicate cut”.
• This question was a tongue-in-cheek reference to Matt Hancock joining the 2022 I’m A Celebrity line-up.

Debates and divisions

• Debates are started by MPs or Peers lodging a motion
• The Speaker in the Commons will choose MPs who ‘bob’ to speak, while Peers in the Lords regulate their own debates
• The debate gives politicians a chance to promote serious issues, raise questions, and/or present the views of constituents
• Many MPs use debates in the Commons to represent the views of their constituents on matters, such as Richard Thomson (MP for Gordon) discussing Aberdeen environmental projects during a September 2022 debate on coastal community
• Following debating, a division (vote) occurs
• Politicians walk through ‘aye’ or ‘noes’ lobbies to record their vote
• In January 2021, an Opposition Day (a day when the Opposition party gets to decide on the issues being debated) division led to a cut in Universal Credit being postponed for 6 months. The cut was abandoned after an Opposition Day division in September 2021 voted against the cut.

Watch a BBC clip on the diminishing power of the Whips

Watch a BBC clip on how voting works in the Commons

However…

• MPs tend to vote in line with their party policy, limiting independent scrutiny
• Whips works to ensure their party’s MPs vote in line with policy
• Whips will either issue a one line or three line whip on divisions
• The term comes from how many times a vote was underlined on the Order Papers (the agenda for the House of Commons) given to MPs.
• One line whip is a request for MPs to vote a certain way, but a three-line whip is mandatory, unless MPs have a ‘slip’ (approval not to vote)
• Failing to follow ‘the Whip’ on three lines votes means an MP may have the Whip removed (they are longer an MP for that party) and could be deselected, i.e. not able to run as a candidate for the party in future elections.
• For example, in July 2022, MP Tobias Ellwood had the Conservative Whip removed for failing to turn up and vote in a confidence division on the government.

House of Lords

• There are around 785 Peers – 89 of whom have inherited their position
• Appointed (by the Monarch on the PM’s recommendation), the Lords is the second (upper) chamber of the UK Parliament
• Their main role is to be the revising chamber, meaning Peers regularly ask the government to think again on aspects of draft laws
• Peers have experience outside of career politics and use this to investigate public policy, mostly in committees
• No party has an overall majority and the party whip system is weaker than in the Commons
• This is because the Peers are appointed for life, based on their expertise, and don’t need to “fear” electoral impact
• In the 2021-22 parliamentary session, the government lost 128 divisions in the House of Lords
• In early 2022, the House of Lords examined the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and asked the UK government to expand pardons for people charged and prosecuted under now repealed laws related to same-sex relationships
• As a consequence of the pressure from the Peers, the UK government expanded the eligibility of a scheme for people seeking pardons.

However…

• However, some say that the Lords is an anarchic institution that harks back to the class structures of old Britain
• The upper chamber is not elected, and is instead appointed by the Monarch, based on names given to them on the Prime Minister’s “honours list”
• As a consequence, some people question the legitimacy of the Lords to change policies of a government which was elected
• Furthermore, only around 27% of Members are female and 26 Members are Bishops, leading some to question whether it represented the UK effectively

Inside the Commons

Your Teacher will now play you an hour long documentary from the BBC series, ‘Inside the Commons’. You’ll watch episode 3 which looks at the in’s and out’s of parliament, including the Whips. As you watch the documentary, fill in the gaps on the sheet given to you.

Find the documentary on SharePoint, here

Find the handout on SharePoint, here

The Scottish Parliament

• The Scottish Parliament is unicameral, meaning it has just one chamber
• In the Scottish Parliament, there are 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs)
• 73 of these 129 MSPs represent a constituency; 56 represent a region
• The idea of having two types of MSP is to improve political representation, which means voters have 8 MSPs, depending on where they live – 1 for their constituency and 7 for the wider region
• The last election on 6th May 2021 resulted in the SNP winning 64 seats – one seat short of an overall majority (50% + 1)
• So, the SNP and Scottish Greens signed a co-operation agreement and went into government together
• The leader of the largest party in Holyrood tends to become First Minister, although a vote of MSPs is needed to confirm the First Minister

Oral questions

• In the Scottish Parliament, MSPs have several opportunities to ask oral questions to Scottish Government Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers.
• Opportunities for oral questions exist in Topical, Portfolio, General, and First Minister’s Question Time Sessions.
• During meetings of the Scottish Parliament, the Presiding Officer chooses which MSP(s) speak
• First Minister’s Questions (FMQ’s) is the most notable oral questions at Holyrood. FMQs is held over 45 minutes every Thursday lunch-time.
• At FMQs, the main opposition party leaders get to ask the First Minister the first questions, with the Presiding Officer then selecting backbench MSPs to ask constituency questions and supplementary questions
• The FM doesn’t know the questions coming up, so must be prepared to answer questions across a range of areas and current affairs.

• In August 2020, it was revealed the SQA used software to award qualifications, given that exams were cancelled
• The software was criticised for penalising students from poorer backgrounds, and awarding them lower than teacher estimates
• Around 125,000 students had their final award downgraded from their teacher estimate
• The First Minister and Education Secretary were repeatedly asked about this at Holyrood
• The pressure led to the Education Secretary, John Swinney, u-turning and ordering the SQA to award candidates their teacher estimates

However…

• So that the government looks good, Whips (people in charge of discipline in their party) send their party’s MSPs suggested favourable questions to try and ask their FM.
• These favoured questions simply waste time and don’t scrutiny the government
• For example, during FMQs on 3^rd November 2022, SNP MSP Evelyn Tweed asked the FM whether she agreed that it was “time for the Tories to call out Brexit for the act of vandalism that it is”
• This favoured question allowed Nicola Sturgeon to criticise the Conservatives and make the case for Scottish independence.

Debates and votes

• Debates are started through MSPs lodging motions
• Motions aren’t law, they are essentially short statements used by MSPs to raise issues in Holyrood
• Members’ Business motions, if they have cross-party support, are considered for a debate in the chamber
• These debates take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays – the meeting days of the Scottish Parliament
• After a debate comes ‘Decision Time’, when MSPs vote on the day’s motions by using the keypad on their desk
• The Presiding Officer will ask MSPs if they all agree to the motion(s) being passed. No agreement means a vote follows.
• MSPs have 30 seconds to vote ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘abstain’

• The Scottish Parliament is designed to foster compromise between the parties. Unlike the UK parliament, it’s incredibly difficult for one party to dominate
• This means the Scottish Government can be more likely to lose crucial votes – which they have in recently times.
• In 2018, MSPs voted for a Conservative motion to “halt” primary one standardized testing. MSPs backed the motion 63 to 61.
• In October 2022, MSPs backed the principles of the Gender Recognition Bill
• However, 9 SNP MSPs rebelled and a government minister resigned (the first resignation over policy in 15 years of SNP government)
• The rebellion has forced the Scottish Government to revise parts of the Bill.

However…

• Effective scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament depends on no one party holding control
• However, parties tend to agree deals to secure votes.
• For example, the SNP and Scottish Greens signed a co-operation agreement in August 2021, guaranteeing the SNP will win crucial votes
• Furthermore, Whips will instruct their party’s MSPs how to vote.
• Failure to vote in line with party policy could mean an MSP faces de-selection or will not be considered for promotion to a government position

Committees

• Committees are small groups of MSPs who look at specific subjects such as health, education and justice.
• They can be made up of 3 to 15 MSPs who scrutinise Scottish Government departments, policies, Bills, petitions or issues
• They review policies, decisions, spending, propose Bills, and scrutinise current law
• Committees will often hold inquiries into issues as part of their remit.
• These involve the committee undertaking research and gathering evidence in order to publish a report with recommendations for the Scottish Government
• As part of inquiries, Committees might undertake site visits, run public consultations, examine written evidence, ask for expert opinions, and hold evidence sessions where decision makers are asked to account for their actions.
• The Scottish Government must reply to a Committee’s reports and recommendations

• In November 2022, Nicola Sturgeon was called before the Public Audit Committee
• The First Minister was asked to account for how the contract for two ferries was over a year late, and three times over budget
• The two ships – Glen Sannox and as-yet-unnamed Hull 802 – are due to be delivered in 2023 and 2024, at a potential cost of more than £300 million – three times the initial £97 million contract.
• A previous Audit Scotland report found that there had been a “multitude of failings” in the delivery of the ferries.

However…

• Scottish Parliament Committee membership reflects party composition in the chamber
• This means that the governing party(ies) have an advantage in the committees
• For example, as of November 2022, 8 out of 16 Committee Conveners (the people who run the committees and their meetings) were SNP MSPs