- GOOD SCRUTINY OF EXEC
- MPs express their views and try to influence policy in a range of debates on current events and government actions. Half hour adjournment debates held at the end of each day give MPs a chance to raise a particular issue.
- Debates give the opportunity for MPs and Lords to voice the concerns and interests of their constituents with regards to government policy.
- Commons debates can be very lively. MPs intervene on each other’s speeches to support or challenge what they are saying, responding to the points made by other speakers as opposed to simply reading out formal, set-piece speeches.
- Lords debates tend to be longer as they have greater flexibility and time to examine issues – many Lords Members have considerable experience in industries and professions.
- An MP can request an emergency debate – 4 held 2015-16 including one on the Europe Refugee Crisis.
- BBBC
- It decides the topic for debate on the floor of the Commons and in Westminster Hall for roughly 1 day per week.
- MPs pitch ideas for debate to the committee, which takes account of backbench opinion and select committee reports when determining subjects for debate.
- Topics selected for debates that subsequently shaped the parliamentary agenda include a referendum on the European Union and the release of documents on the 1989 Hillsborough disaster (both debated in 2011).
- But the government can ignore motions passed in such debates, as they did with the motion to lower the voting age to 16.