WEaknesses of the UK Parliamen essays

WEaknesses of the UK Parliamen essays What accounts for the weakness of the UK Parliament? The UK Parliament has certain weaknesses. This essay will identify and analyse five of the major weaknesses. Firstly, I will argue that the Parliament is not a true representation of the electorate. Then, I will look at claim that the strong party system and the whip system cause weaknesses within Parliament. Thirdly, I shall argue that the committee system within Parliament does not effectively scrutinise the workings of government departments. Fourthly, I will address the claim that because of the House of Lords only having limited powers and because it is not sufficiently independent or representative, it is unable to legitimate the actions of the government and finally, I will argue that external bodies reduce the strength of Parliament. The primary role of the Parliament is that of manifest legitimation- giving the formal seal of approval ii. The weaknesses in Parliament cause inefficient procedures and in the end may cause the Parliament to be unable to effectively legit imate the actions and policies of the government. Parliament is not a true representation of the electorate, regarding both the electorates choice of MPs or the representation of the needs and characteristics of the electorate. The first-past-the-post (FPP) electoral system of does not give a fair representation of the views of the electorate. The FPP is good on the account of it keeping extremist parties at bay and it maintains the local base for MPs. This system is can give absolute majorities in Parliament to parties with considerably less than 50 per cent of the vote. This is useful in creating an effective legislative majority to enable the bills to be passed quickly and with little debate. However, I believe that the FPP system is unrepresentative. It exaggerates the lead of the winning partyi, for example in the 1992 General Elections, the Conservative Party ...