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Evaluate the view that the House of Commons is in need of further reform (30)
The House of Commons has had significant reforms in the past such as the Wright reforms
2010. This essay will evaluate how significant these reforms are and whether we need further
reform.
The strongest point in favour of reforming the House of Commons further is the ineffectiveness
in the composition of the House of Commons. Although there have been significant reforms in
the past, like how the demographic and size of constituencies have been improved. For
example, in 1983, there were only 23 female MPs whereas in 2020 there were 220. Also, the
constituencies have been redistributed to make them more equal, from 650 constituencies to
600.The distribution of co nstituencies was a problem as they were very unequal- Isle of Wight
has 130,000 population and 1 MP, whereas a constituency in Northern Scotland has 30,000
residents and 1 MP. However, women and BAME are still under-represented. Only 34% of
parliament are female, whereas around 50% of the UK is female, and only 10% are BAME. This
can be done by shortlisting more of these candidates. Also, some say that the redistribution of
constituencies was done in favour of the Conservative party and could lead to an elective
dictatorship as this reform would lead to more Conservative constituencies. Overall, although
there have been significant reforms to improve the demographic representation and size of
constituencies, there still needs to be more reform as women and BAME are still under-
represented.
Another strong point in favour of reforming the House of Commons further is to improve the
accountability of the government for the electorate. There have been significant reforms in the
past to improve accountability though, like the Recall of MPs Act 2015 which introduced recall
elections to remove MPs if the Parliamentary Standards Committee found them guilty. The MP’s
constituency can then vote to remove them, and if they get 10% vote, they get removed. Fiona
Onasanya of Peterborough got removed in this way, with 28% of the constituency vote. The
Wright Committee introduced e-petitions to hold the government accountable, and if a petition
received over 100,000 signatures, it would be debated in parliament. A petition to invoke article
50 received enough signatures and was debated, and was one of the reasons why it was
evoked. However, recall elections are not effective enough and need further reform because
they should be citizen initiated and should have a lower threshold to vote- in the USA they are
citizen initiated and only need 5% of the previous election turnout. Also, FPTP makes safe seats
and means that the MP of that constituency isn’t held accountable by their constituency. MP
Stewart Bell didn’t hold a surgery for over 16 years, showing that he was not being held
accountable by his constituents. Overall, even though the Recall of MPs act 2015 and the
introduction of E-Petitions were significant reforms to hold the government accountable, they
are not effective enough and need further reform as recall elections should be citizen initiated
and have a lower threshold, and FPTP makes safe seats.
Finally, a strong point for reforming the House of Commons is to strengthen the powers of
Departmental Select Committees. Departmental Select Committees were introduced in 1979 to
be responsible for inviting people to give evidence and reports for the government, to
recommend reforms. Many suggestions are successful- around 40% of inquiries are accepted.
For example, the Health Select committee inquiry 2011 found problems with NHS reform
proposals and resulted in the government making big changes to the Health and Social care bill.
They help to hold the government accountable and represent the people’s ideas to make sure
laws being passed are fair and reasonable. However, their proposals are not binding, shown by
the Culture media and sport select committee inquiry 2011 into phone hacking, who heard
evidence from James Murdoch but the government ignored it. This happened because
Evaluate the view that the House of Commons is in need of further reform (30)
The House of Commons has had significant reforms in the past such as the Wright reforms
2010. This essay will evaluate how significant these reforms are and whether we need further
reform.
The strongest point in favour of reforming the House of Commons further is the ineffectiveness
in the composition of the House of Commons. Although there have been significant reforms in
the past, like how the demographic and size of constituencies have been improved. For
example, in 1983, there were only 23 female MPs whereas in 2020 there were 220. Also, the
constituencies have been redistributed to make them more equal, from 650 constituencies to
600.The distribution of co nstituencies was a problem as they were very unequal- Isle of Wight
has 130,000 population and 1 MP, whereas a constituency in Northern Scotland has 30,000
residents and 1 MP. However, women and BAME are still under-represented. Only 34% of
parliament are female, whereas around 50% of the UK is female, and only 10% are BAME. This
can be done by shortlisting more of these candidates. Also, some say that the redistribution of
constituencies was done in favour of the Conservative party and could lead to an elective
dictatorship as this reform would lead to more Conservative constituencies. Overall, although
there have been significant reforms to improve the demographic representation and size of
constituencies, there still needs to be more reform as women and BAME are still under-
represented.
Another strong point in favour of reforming the House of Commons further is to improve the
accountability of the government for the electorate. There have been significant reforms in the
past to improve accountability though, like the Recall of MPs Act 2015 which introduced recall
elections to remove MPs if the Parliamentary Standards Committee found them guilty. The MP’s
constituency can then vote to remove them, and if they get 10% vote, they get removed. Fiona
Onasanya of Peterborough got removed in this way, with 28% of the constituency vote. The
Wright Committee introduced e-petitions to hold the government accountable, and if a petition
received over 100,000 signatures, it would be debated in parliament. A petition to invoke article
50 received enough signatures and was debated, and was one of the reasons why it was
evoked. However, recall elections are not effective enough and need further reform because
they should be citizen initiated and should have a lower threshold to vote- in the USA they are
citizen initiated and only need 5% of the previous election turnout. Also, FPTP makes safe seats
and means that the MP of that constituency isn’t held accountable by their constituency. MP
Stewart Bell didn’t hold a surgery for over 16 years, showing that he was not being held
accountable by his constituents. Overall, even though the Recall of MPs act 2015 and the
introduction of E-Petitions were significant reforms to hold the government accountable, they
are not effective enough and need further reform as recall elections should be citizen initiated
and have a lower threshold, and FPTP makes safe seats.
Finally, a strong point for reforming the House of Commons is to strengthen the powers of
Departmental Select Committees. Departmental Select Committees were introduced in 1979 to
be responsible for inviting people to give evidence and reports for the government, to
recommend reforms. Many suggestions are successful- around 40% of inquiries are accepted.
For example, the Health Select committee inquiry 2011 found problems with NHS reform
proposals and resulted in the government making big changes to the Health and Social care bill.
They help to hold the government accountable and represent the people’s ideas to make sure
laws being passed are fair and reasonable. However, their proposals are not binding, shown by
the Culture media and sport select committee inquiry 2011 into phone hacking, who heard
evidence from James Murdoch but the government ignored it. This happened because
