parliamentary reform

   The trend of recent years has been towards a growth in executive power at the expense of legislatures, a trend not confined to the United Kingdom. Supporters of parliamentary reform in Britain worry about the growing imbalance between the Government and Parliament and advance two main reasons why it is increasingly difficult for Parliament to be an effective and vigilant watchdog: the development of party government, and the increase in the scale and complexity of government work makes it difficult for hard-pressed Members of Parliament (MPs) to find the time to master the broad range of material and offer an informed critique of the actions of ministers. Those who detect a need for reforms to make Parliament more effective fall into two main categories. External reformers want to see a broad raft of changes designed to weaken executive dominance and strengthen parliamentary control (for example, electoral reform for Westminster, reform of the House of Lords, a powerful bill of rights, strong freedom of information legislation and decentralisation of power from London. Internal reformers claim that the degree of executive dominance in Britain is over-stated and wish to achieve internal reforms at Westminster rather than measures which would erode the government’s power to act. Some have been enacted in recent years (for example, changes to working hours and modest changes in the committee system). Others that might be accomplished include a reduction in the number of MPs, a strengthening of the system of select committees and improvements in the legislative process.

   Further reading: P. Norton, Parliament in British Politics, Palgrave, 2005