Executive Dominance Over Parliament
Political Studies: Edexcel A Level, topic 11.2.4
Executive Dominance Over Parliament
The executive exerts dominance over Parliament by controlling the legislative programme and using its majority to pass its bills through Parliament.
Elective dictatorship
- An elective dictatorship is where the executive dominates the legislature.
- This occurs most notably when the executive has a large majority in Parliament.
- An elective dictatorship was a term coined by Lord Hailsham, a former Lord Chancellor, in his 1976 Richard Dimbleby Lecture.
Control over legislation
- The government uses party whips to pass its bills through the House of Commons by instructing backbenchers to vote in favour of its legislation.
- The government controls Parliament's timetable, so it can decide what Parliament debates and votes on.
Parliamentary sovereignty
- Parliament has legislative sovereignty, meaning it has the ultimate power to pass legislation into law.
- If the government has a majority in the House of Commons, which it often does, it can pass most of its bills into law.
- The House of Commons has more power than the Lords to pass legislation, with the House of Lords unable to completely block it.
Not effective dominance
- If there is a small majority or a minority government, Parliament can block or delay executive legislation.
- Theresa May's minority government (2017–2019) suffered a historic Commons defeat on her Brexit withdrawal agreement, losing by 432 votes to 202 in January 2019, demonstrating that executive dominance is not guaranteed.
Test yourself on Executive Dominance Over Parliament
How does the executive exert dominance over parliament?
What is NOT a reason for ineffective executive dominance?