Since 1945, there has been a single party majority government. Before the coalition, the government could control parliament due to its large majority, however we’ve seen a recent change in the relationship between the executive and legislature. The main issues that arise would be from the small majority of just 76 in the Commons, the lack of support from backbench MPs and fact that Cameron is the first Conservative Prime minister to not have a majority in the House of Lords. The Coalition of the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative party lacks both ideological and tribal unity, which would normally derive from a strong, single party majoritarian government. This provides Parliament with more opportunities to examine and scrutinize the government.
The first sign that the Coalition has changed the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature would be the rising effectiveness and opportunity of scrutiny. Parliament’s role of scrutinizing the government has become extensive with the lack of majority in the House of Commons. With a majority in the government, MPs would usually support the governing party and there was less elbowroom for criticism. Parliamentary scrutiny has become most effective through Prime Minister’s question time, where the Parliament have a chance to hold the executive accountable every Wednesday, and The Wrights Reforms, brought about in 2010. This has made it harder for the government to pass legislation, as they can no longer use the select committees to ease the passage of legislation.
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Orders Issued by President Bill Clinton Executive Orders are official documents, Executive numbered consecutively, through which the President of the United States manages the operations of the Federal Government. Some Executive Orders in the past have created new commissions, councils, task forces and committees; issued and allocated bonds; authorized permit issuance; etc. 40 Executive Orders ...
The Wrights reforms changed the appointment of chairs of departmental and select committees to being elected by MPs rather than appointed by the Prime Minister. This has freed the select committees from the control of the whips and manipulation by the government. An example of the effectiveness would be when Theresa May faced difficult questions from the Home Affairs select committee on the operation of the UK border agency. This highlights that the Coalition has caused a shift in balance of power and has made the government more subjective to higher and more intense levels of scrutiny.
The second sign that highlights the change of relationship between Parliament and the government would be the influence the House of Lords has on the House of Commons and legislation. Due to there being no mandate over the Coalition agreement, the current House of Lords aren’t governed by the Salisbury Convention and therefore, see their opportunity to reject some government policy. Since the Coalition, the government has been defeated 48 times by peers on legislation. Though the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1948 allow the Commons to overrule the Lords, it can lead to a lengthy legislation process and starts the ‘ping-pong’ process, prolonging the process.
The government try to avoid this and are keener on compromising with the Lords. Because there is no mandate and no conservative majority in the House of Lords, the Lords are becoming aware of their power gain, which was clear when they tried to push for the NHS Reforms Act, which wasn’t even in the manifesto. The coalition has made the Lords more willing to amend legislation and have put them in a position to make legislation a longer and tougher process for the government.
The third indication that the Coalition has changed the dynamic in the House of Commons would be the rise of backbench rebellions. The whipping system has become less affective as the persistency of the backbench rebels have increased. A single party majority ensured unity in the Commons and most MPs voted in favour of the government. The decrease of unity and increase of independence in the Commons has made whipping less frequent which was highlighted in the 2011 parliamentary session, where 239 coalition MPs defied the whip. On the other hand, it could be argued that the increase of backbench rebellion is from the 1997 Labour government where 47 backbench MPs opposed Blair’s plans to cut benefits to single parents. The rising rebellion could be seen as intrinsically linked to the lack of unity in the House of Commons, however keeping in mind that the Coalition have yet to lose any of it’s legislation in the Commons.
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The Coalition could be argued to have weakened the influence of the executive and given the legislature more opportunity to hold the government to account. Though there have been less policy difference between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems, it’s still not enough to make up for the lack of majority they hold. The government’s dominance has decreased and has made the balance circumstantial. The Coalition has caused diversity between both the executive and legislature, changing the dynamics through its lack of unity.
