ABSTRACT
Perspectives on how influential a body the British parliament is vis-à-vis the executive depends upon the approach or lens adopted (Judge 1993; Norton 2005: 5-7), the functions being evaluated (Packenham 1970), and the policies and associated political context (e.g. internal pressures such as majority size and external pressures such as public opinion) at any one time (Norton 1990; Olson and Mezey 1991; Rush 2005). However, summary positions on parliament often rate the institution as policy influencing rather than policy making (Norton 2004: 6; Rush 2005). As Rush (2005: 286) summates, the government uses its majority in the elected House of Commons to control the chamber’s agenda and to get its legislation through, but control over members’ voting is contingent upon the legislation it attempts to get through, which means that parliament can criticise and influence the government. Moreover, since 1999, when hereditary peers were abolished, there has been no majority party in the life-appointed House of Lords and so the capacity for parliamentary influence has been enhanced (Russell and Sciara 2007).
