Parliament: Legislation and Accountability (Hart Studies in Constitutional Law)

This collection of essays by leading academics, lawyers, parliamentarians and parliamentary officials provides a critical assessment of the UK Parliament’s two main constitutional roles—as a legislature and as the preeminent institution for calling government to account. Both functions are undergoing change and facing new challenges. Part 1 (Legislation) includes chapters on Parliament’s emerging responsibilities for pre-legislative scrutiny of government Bills and for evaluating proposed legislation against explicit constitutional standards. The impact on legislation of the European Union and the growing influence of the House of Lords are also examined. Part 2 (Accountability) investigates how Parliament operates to scrutinise areas of executive action previously often shielded from effective parliamentary oversight, including national security, war-making powers and administrative justice. There are also chapters on parliamentary reform, including analysis of the House of Commons ‘Wright reforms’, parliamentary sovereignty, privilege and the European Convention on Human Rights, Euroscepticism, and parliamentary sovereignty and the regulation of lobbyists. The book will be of interest to anyone who is curious about the work of Parliament and is aimed at legal academics, practitioners and political scientists. Volume 5 in the series Hart Studies in Constitutional Law Foreword Acknowledgements Contents List of Contributors Table of Cases Tables of Legislation Breaking News Introduction I. The Scope and Purpose of the Book II. Overview of Part 1: Legislation III. Overview of Part 2: Accountability Part 1 Legislation 2. What is the Parliamentary Scrutiny of Legislation for? I. Introduction II. Measuring Success III. Different Scrutiny in the Different Houses? IV. Defining Parliament's Role as that of 'the Legislature' V. Legislation as a Tool of Government Policy VI. Parliamentary Scrutiny as a Means of Legitimising Change VII. A Pragmatic Role for Parliament in Relation to Legislation VIII. Conclusions 3. Pre-legislative Scrutiny in Parliament I. Introduction II. The Purpose of PLS III. Future Developments in PLS 4. Parliament's Constitutional Standards I. Introduction II. Evaluating Legislative Scrutiny in Parliament III. The Constitutional Standards of the House of Lords Constitution Committee IV. Conclusion 5. European Scrutiny I. Introduction II. The Original Purpose of Parliamentary Scrutiny III. Procedures Common to the Scrutiny Committees of Both Houses IV. The European Scrutiny Committee of the House of Commons V. The Select Committee on the European Union of the House of Lords VI. The Enhanced Role of National Parliaments: Monitoring Compliance with Subsidiarity and Opt-in Decisions VII. Strengths and Weaknesses of the Commons Scrutiny System VIII. Strengths and Weaknesses of the Lords Scrutiny System IX. Government Compliance with Scrutiny Obligations X. Conclusions 6. Legislative Scrutiny in the House of Lords I. Introduction II. Process III. Peers IV. Impact V. Building on Strength? Part 2 Accountability 7. Parliamentary Reform and the Accountability of Government to the House of Commons I. Introduction II. From Modernisation to Reform III. Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons IV. The Backbench Business Committee V. The House Business Committee VI. Select Committees VII. Public Involvement VIII. Reflections on Accountability Post-Wright Reforms 8. The Regulation of Lobbyists I. Introduction II. Background: Parliamentary Regulation of Lobbying III. Regulation of Lobbying: Ministers and Senior Civil Servants IV. The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2015 V. Wider Considerations 9. Robot Government: Automated Decision-Making and its Implications for Parliament I. Government by Computers II. What is Automated Decision-Making? III. Automated Decision-Making on the Statute Book IV. Constitutional Questions V. How Should Parliament Respond to Automation? VI. Conclusions 10. Parliament and National Security I. Introduction II. Historical Background III. Case Study 1: War-Making Powers and a New Convention? IV. Case Study 2: Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee V. Case Study 3: Parliament's Scrutiny of Counter-terrorism Legislation VI. Conclusion 11. Parliament and International Treaties I. Overview II. How is Parliament Involved? III. Has the CRAGA 2010 Made Much Difference? IV. More Reform? V. Conclusions 12. Sovereignty, Privilege and the European Convention on Human Rights I. Introduction II. International Law Obligations and Historical Context III. The ECHR, Parliamentary Privilege and Procedures IV. Conclusion 13. Euroscepticism and Parliamentary Sovereignty: The Lingering Shadows of Factortame and Thoburn I. Introduction II. Sovereignty: A Multi-layered Concept III. Westminster Sovereignty: The Diceyan Model and its Critics IV. Parliamentary Sovereignty and European Law V. Parliamentary Sovereignty and Judicial Disempowerment VI. The Primacy of EU Law: Before Factortame VII. The Factortame Saga VIII. The Metric Martyrs IX. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: Another Cue for Eurosceptic Outrage X. Epilogue: The HS2 Case Index Présentation de l'éditeur : "This collection of essays by leading academics, lawyers, parliamentarians and parliamentary officials provides a critical assessment of the UK Parliament's two main constitutional roles-as a legislature and as the preeminent institution for calling government to account. Both functions are undergoing change and facing new challenges. Part 1 (Legislation) includes chapters on Parliament's emerging responsibilities for pre-legislative scrutiny of government Bills and for evaluating proposed legislation against explicit constitutional standards. The impact on legislation of the European Union and the growing influence of the House of Lords are also examined. Part 2 (Accountability) investigates how Parliament operates to scrutinise areas of executive action previously often shielded from effective parliamentary oversight, including national security, war-making powers and administrative justice. There are also chapters on parliamentary reform, including analysis of the House of Commons 'Wright reforms', parliamentary sovereignty, privilege and the European Convention on Human Rights, Euroscepticism, and parliamentary sovereignty and the regulation of lobbyists. The book will be of interest to anyone who is curious about the work of Parliament and is aimed at legal academics, practitioners and political scientists." Foreword / Lord Lisvane -- Introduction / Alexander Horne and Andrew Le Sueur -- What is the parliamentary scrutiny of legislation for? / Sir Stephen Laws -- Pre-legislative scrutiny / Jessica Mulley and Helen Kinghorn -- Parliament's constitutional standards / Jack Simson Caird and Dawn Oliver -- European scrutiny / Paul Hardy -- Legislative scrutiny in the House of Lords / Philip Norton (Lord Norton of Louth) -- Parliamentary reform and the accountability of government to the house of commons / Richard Kelly and Lucinda Maer -- The regulation of lobbyists / Oonagh Gay -- Robot government : automated decision-making and its implications for parliament / Andrew Le Sueur -- Parliament and national security / Alexander Horne and Clive Walker -- Parliament and international treaties / Arabella Lang -- Sovereignty, privilege and the european convention on human rights / Alexander Horne and Hélène Tyrrell -- Euroscepticism and parliamentary sovereignty : the lingering shadows of Factortame and Thoburn / Gavin Drewry