How Well Does Parliament Fulfil Its Functions

. Essay, Research Paper

British Parliament has four primary functions. These are representation, legitimisation,

scrutinising and informing and legislative. Each of these are performed, by

our parliament with a varying degree of success, and this essay is targeted

at examining how well each of these functions are carried out.

Firstly, there is the issue of representation. How well does Parliament represent

the people of Great Britain. To begin with, Britain is a pluralist society.

We have complete freedom of speech and MPs are open to lobbying and are accessible

to pressure groups, which therefore enables the views of different people to

be heard and ensures that matters of public concern can reach the political

agenda. However, the UK is subject to party politics, and it is impossible for

a party to represent every person on every issue, and in order to win the support

of the majority of the population it is important that they focus on wider issues.

Because of this, minority opinions are not properly represented.

Furthermore, Britain has a First Past the Post electoral system. In such a

system up to seventy per cent of the votes are ignored, as they are used on

losing candidates, and the winning party very rarely gains a majority of the

votes. In fact, at the last election, Labour won a landslide victory having

only received 13.5 million votes, and although not the entire population have

the right to vote, this figure is equal to just a quarter of the population.

Although such a system does lead to a stronger government, the government is

not as representative of the people as it could be.

A further drawback with the First Past the Post system is that an MP can and

often is elected with a minority of the votes in his constituency. Therefore

a significant proportion of the people in the constituency are not represented.

Although they are free to make their opinions known to the MP at surgery, the

MP can only act on their behalf if it is in keeping with their party principle,

as they are forced, by the whips, to tow the party line. Furthermore, the primary

role of an MP is to serve the constituency that elected him, and MPs who are

made cabinet ministers do not really have time to serve their constituencies

as well as they should. For example, Tony Blair has very little time in which

to serve the people of Sedgefield.

For true and full representation, all viewpoints, majority or minority should

be represented in some way in Parliament. Indeed, Parliament should be a microcosm

of the country, yet to take a brief glance at the House of Commons it is made

up, in the main, of middle-aged, middle-class men. There are relatively few

women MPs, and very few MPs from ethnic minorities. In practise, this makes

the issues that are specifically concerned with these two groups face lower

representation in parliament. Moreover, the House of Lords is made up mainly

of people who are there by the queen.s appointment, and others who are present

simply via hereditary right. This entire chamber, although it has limited powers,

represents a tiny minority of the population, massively disproportionate to

the parliamentary significance it has.

In conclusion, whilst our electoral infrastructure leads, in theory, to a

high level of political representation, the First Past the Post system does,

in almost every example, lead to an under-representation of a majority of the

population. Furthermore, minority opinions can only be presented if they are

in keeping with an MP.s party.s view, due to the prominence of party politics.

Perhaps most importantly of all though, an MP, although there is an accountability

and the presence of party whips, has the power to ignore the people whom he

represents, and many of them, the so-called party rebels, do so on a regular

basis.

It is fair to say that the British government is more or less completely legitimate.

Legitimisation is the term used to describe the confirmation of authority. At

a general election by electing a government people transfer their sovereign

power to the government. However, it can be said that the government is not

legitimate because there is no alternative than to elect one. In spite of this

though, anybody can be stand for election, anyone can form a party and, if the

people choose, anyone can hold office. There is also a sense of legitimacy in

the sense that if the government lose a vote of confidence they are expected

to hold an election. However, most governments do not hold a majority of the

votes and a large number of people do not vote. Also, the government is only

legitimate if they hold a majority in the commons.

When looking at legitimacy the basic question that needs to be asked is do

we recognise the authority of the government to govern. In Britain at the moment

the answer to this is yes. On the whole the popula

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