The House of Commons free essay sample

The House of Commons BY 7dart7 The main roles of the House of Commons The House of Commons is part of the legislature. At a quick glance it might be assumed that passing laws is the Commons main function. Most of the debates and arguments in the House of Commons are over legislation, proposed or already passed. Nearly all legislative proposals are formed by the Executive. The House does not normally overturn governmental proposals, therefore the government majority normally see its programme through, nine times out often it will be intact. Public bills change the general law of the land, these type of bill concern the whole community. Other types of bills include; Private Members bills (introduced by MPS) and Private Members Bills (by members of the Upper House). Private bills only affect a small part of the community as they are promoted by organisations outside the house. They should not be confused with private members bills which are a type of public bill. We will write a custom essay sample on The House of Commons or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The procedure for private bills differs from that for public bills. A bill must pass through several stages in both chambers before becoming a law. These stages are; first reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage and the third stage. Once the bill has passed through both chambers it is returned to the one in which it starts, in most cases this will be the House of Commons. If the House of Lords continues to reject the bill, the government may resort to using the Parliament Act 1949 to get the bill passed. Finally, the bill receives the Royal Accent, no bill has been rejected by the Monarch since 1707. Parliaments permission is needed to raise and spend money, key decisions are made y the government and although the House has the power to reject proposals this rarely happens in practise. The Commons also plays a scrutinising role which is mainly carried out in Departmental Select Committees and via the Public Accounts Committee. The work of scrutiny and influence goes on all the time and finds expression in everything the House does. The House of Commons has also inherited other functions such as; ensuring that the voices of citizens, individually and collectively are heard; Acting as a focus for National debate and recruiting the government. I think that the number one key role of the House of Commons is that of the legislature, they hold a role which the Lords wouldnt be able to do without them and if they didnt have this role the Parliament would need reforming. The role which the Commons Scrutinise and influence comes in a close second because this role means that they act on behalf of the community. Finally, in my opinion, the role which the Commons raise and spend public money is least important as there are other ways in which this can be done.