Questions tagged [parliament]
Questions related to that of a legislative, elected body of Government known as Parliament. Use this with a country tag if asking about a specific country's Parliament
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How did Theresa May remain PM after her Brexit deal was rejected?
As far as I understand, Theresa May was elected to the leader of the Conservatives (and consequently Prime Minister of the UK) to make a Brexit deal (source):
She [May] said there was a "big job&...
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Does the Brexit deal being voted down imply that Brexit is not going to happen?
Just looking at the TV and I am seeing that the British Parliament rejected the Brexit deal (cannot find an online source yet for this, although multiple sources show this vote result as very ...
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How does Israel change its leaders without an election?
How does the Israel Constitution work in relation to the forming of a government? According to the Washington Post and the Times of Israel, Yair Lapid is supposedly creating a new government, and ...
user38056
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Why does John Bercow say “unlock” after reading out the results of a vote?
In video from the House of Commons, whenever John Bercow reads the results of a vote, he says “unlock” at the end. For example, from last night:
The Ayes to the right, 329. The Noes to the left, ...
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What is the meaning of grabbing the mace in the British parliament?
I gather from this tweet that grabbing the mace lying on the table of the British House of Commons is an act of protest and has some kind of significance.
What significance does this gesture have?
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Have the UK Conservatives lost the working majority and if so, what does this mean?
The Conservatives in the UK are in a confidence and supply arrangement with the DUP in order to have a working majority in Parliament.
Yesterday, three Conservatives left the party to become ...
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Why do most countries have so many members of parliament?
The US House of Representatives consists of 435 members; the UK parliament has 650 members; the Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad has 300 members, etc.
Why so many people? Anyone who's, e.g., tried to ...
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What is the point of asking the Prime Minister about their engagements for the rest of the day?
Every week (or so it seems) the Prime Minister is asked the same meaningless question and gives the same meaningless answer. For example:
Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)
Q1. If she will list ...
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Why don't Sinn Féin take their seats in the UK parliament?
It seems that whatever happens (or happened) in a UK general election, the Irish nationalist party, Sinn Féin, will presumably always be in opposition.
This means that the British government - ...
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In the UK parliament, how much of Prime Minister's Questions is pre-planned?
So I was watching PMQs today and realised that almost everyone, certainly the party leaders, refers to notes during their time to talk.
Is the PM given a list of questions beforehand?
However during ...
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Why did Boris Johnson call for new elections?
I find myself confused by the events of the day. The BBC reports them as thus
Tory rebels and opposition MPs have defeated the government in the first stage of their attempt to pass a law designed to ...
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Why is the new German parliament 12 % bigger?
Before the
German federal election in September 2017,
the parliament (Bundestag) had 631 members; now it has 709 .
How did this come about?
Does it matter, or is it a second-order effect?
See also:
...
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What is the difference between parliamentary and presidential governments?
What are the main differences between the parliamentary system of government versus the presidential system? For example, Germany's parliamentary system versus Mexico's presidential system. I'm ...
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What does the British parliament hope to achieve by requesting a third Brexit extension?
It appears that the UK will indeed ask for another extension in the Brexit process, as mandated by the Benn act. But what is the purpose of asking for another extension? Does Parliament expect the EU ...
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In parliamentary systems, why does the ruling party bother debating any legislation if they have enough votes to pass whatever they please?
As an example, in the UK the parliament gathers to debate legislation even if the ruling party has 50%+1 votes, which is sufficient to pass any legislation they please. In this scenario, what makes ...
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Why can a bill be blocked by one MP saying the word "object"?
In regards to this story
"New upskirting law blocked by Tory MP"
A single MP in the Houses of Parliament can say the word “object” and prevent a bill being passed.
Why can one MP block proposed ...
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Could the Queen overturn the UK Supreme Court ruling regarding prorogation of Parliament? [duplicate]
A couple of days ago, the UK Supreme Court ruled that Boris Johnson's advice to the Queen, which led to the prorogation of Parliament for 5 weeks ahead of the October 31st Brexit date, was unlawful. ...
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In the Weimar Republic what was the role of the people sitting on the left side of the speaker?
I know that in the Weimar republic the chancellor and other ministers of government sit in front of the members of parliament on the right side of the speaker but was the role of the people who sit to ...
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What is the language of the Swiss national parliament?
In the European union parliament, armies of translators translate every word into all other languages.
Switzerland is a country with 3–4 official languages: French, German, Italian, and Romansh. In ...
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Are British MPs missing the point, with these 'Indicative Votes'?
Today, MPs in the House of Commons are debating and will be voting on a series of 'Indicative Votes' (similar to the ones they voted on last week). Among these are debates about possible softer ...
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Why do members in the British parliament yell "whooo....." during debates?
I sometimes watch BBC channel and see heavy debate in the British parliament. What interests me is, when one politician speaks about one policy and expresses his own view on something, some other ...
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What does Nicholas Watt mean that May has “enough tellers for her Brexit vote”?
From journalist Nicholas Watt on Twitter:
With two Tory MPs supporting Theresa May’s deal she has one breakthrough: enough tellers for her #Brexit vote
I believe this is a reference to some system ...
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What power does the Queen have in the event of a Hung Parliament?
Media reports that Mrs. May (Conservatives) is heading to the Queen soon requesting to form a government, even though her party has no majority. Corbyn & McDonnell (Labour Party) also want to ...
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Why is the vote of no confidence on the prime minister for Conservative MPs only?
There will be a vote of no confidence in the prime minister of the UK today, but it is limited to Conservative MPs only and requires a majority of them to pass the motion. None of the media coverage I ...
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Is there an optimal size of a parliament?
Are there any studies that have been done correlating size of the electorate (or in general the population) to size of parliament and stability criteria? I was wondering which size of a parliament is ...
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What does "direct Spanish rule over Catalonia" actually mean?
According to the Independent:
Spain has announced it will impose direct rule over Catalonia, after
the region's leaders failed to meet a deadline to withdraw a
declaration of independence.
...
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Why are there so few impeachments in western democracies and so many votes of no confidence?
Impeachment seems to be presidential democracy's equivalent of parliamentary democracies' votes of no confidence. Why such a large disparity in numbers of them then?
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In parliamentary democracy, how do Ministers compensate for their potential lack of relevant experience to run their own ministry?
Due to the fact that most parliamentary systems prefer having Members of Parliament as Ministers, how do Ministers make up for their lack of relevant experience when running a ministry?
For example, a ...
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How might Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the UK House of Commons "play hardball"?
In a statement to the House of Commons on the 13th December 2021, the Speaker expressed frustration at the Prime Minister's failure to appear in the chamber, following a televised statement the ...
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How does a British Prime Minister 'sack' Ministers?
I was reading another question and it got me thinking:
Are ministers protected by laws against unfair dismissal?
Under what circumstances can the PM 'sack' members of their cabinet?
What happens to a ...
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Why does England not have its own government?
There is the Welsh Government, The Northern Ireland Assembly, and The Scottish Government. All those countries are also under the Westminster government. Why does England not have its own devolved ...
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How does Germany regularly elect judges onto Federal Constitutional Court despite needing two-thirds majority vote?
In Germany, the judges on Federal Constitutional Court are elected by the federal parliament with two-thirds majority vote.
Throughout its history, the parliament was able to elect new judges without ...
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Has a party that won an election ever lost its leader in the process?
In a Parliamentary democracy, general elections appoint constituency representatives. Most such appointees are members of parties with internally determined leaders. One or more parties then form a ...
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What happens if nobody can form a government in Israel?
It looks like nobody won a plurality in the latest round
Benny Gantz's Kahol Lavan is ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, according to official election results released on ...
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If the UK government doesn't ask for article 50 extension, can parliament do it instead?
The Guardian reported under the headline "Brexit: Gove refuses to rule out ignoring any law passed to stop no deal":
Michael Gove has repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility that the ...
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In the UK, what is pairing?
In The Guardian on July 19 2018 I found this under the headline "Tory MP casts doubt on claim pairing breach was honest mistake as row escalates - Politics live".
Up to five Tory MPs were told to ...
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Why do some people in the British Parliament stand during the Prime Minister's Questions session?
Why do some people in the British Parliament stand during the Prime Minister's Questions session?
Who are they? Why do they stand during the speech?
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If Act A repeals another Act B, and Act A is repealed, what happens to the Act B?
I have the following scenario in mind.
Act A repealed Act B. Act C repeals Act A. What happens to Act B — does it remain repealed?
Let's assume that Act C doesn't mention anything about Act B.
This is ...
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House of Commons clarification on clapping
From my current understanding, MP's are not allowed to clap in the House of Commons. Instead, they say (or shout) "hear" to express themselves.
However, after having watched this video, I've ...
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Are there examples of when Parliament decided against the results of a Referendum?
For those hiding under a rock, the UK’s future in the EU is being decided right now by means of a referendum.
This, coupled with the constant talk of a plebiscite for marriage equality in Australia ...
user7754
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Has an MP ever made use of the House of Lords Precedence Act to sit in the House of Lords?
During Business Questions on December 2nd, the Lord President of the Council - Jacob Rees-Mogg - was teased by the SNP's Pete Wishart about an alleged £6 million loan from his company Saliston Ltd, as ...
CDJB♦
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Why has no party ever won a majority in Israel?
From this answer on this question (Emphasis mine):
The change in leadership, in this case, is coming about after an election. Legislative elections were held in March 2021, but no party reached the ...
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First non-elected person in line of succession for British Government or Parliament?
The US government has a defined order of succession should a catastrophic event take out many senior officials, but the British parliamentary system does not seem to have one. If the current Prime ...
user16741
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What power does the UK parliament hold over a Prime Minister whom they refuse to remove from power?
I've seen several questions deal with the issues surrounding this issue, but none have tried to tackle this head on.
Boris Johnson had a defection within his party over a key Brexit vote. He then ...
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Is there a precedent indicating what happens when a UK Prime Minister advises a monarch not to give Royal Assent to legislation passed by Parliament?
A report from Buzzfeed claims that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government is:
Exploring what the consequences would be if Johnson advised the Queen not to give royal assent to any legislation ...
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What does "2 fingers to Scotland" mean in Peter Grant's statement about Johnson not listening to the SNP's Westminster leader speeches?
SNP MP Peter Grant accuses Boris Johnson of walking out of the chamber while his party's Westminster leader Ian Blackford was still speaking.
In a tweet, he claims it is the "third or fourth time ...
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How do the Ausgleichsmandate in Germany's Bundestag election work?
I'm aware of How does the German Bundestag election system work? but it seems rather broad and none of the answers go into detail about the Ausgleichsmandate (or leveling seats as Wikipedia translates ...
JJJ♦
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Why is the Speaker of the House of Commons (UK) elected by secret ballot?
In the UK, parliamentary votes are usually public, so that MPs remain accountable for their actions. Since 2009, votes to choose the Speaker of the House of Commons have been taken by secret ballot. I ...
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What will happen if Parliament votes "no" on each of the Brexit-related votes to be held on the 12th, 13th and 14th of March?
It is being reported that there will be a series of votes on the 12th, 13th and 14th of March:
The prime minister said she will put her withdrawal agreement - including any changes she has agreed ...
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Why is proportional representation not considered in any of the US states?
While the Americans agree that the current two-party system is broken, I have not heard any real voices on changing it in any State. States like California, New York or Texas, which send large ...
user1413