ABSTRACT
The Select Committee on Procedure reported that the relationship between the Commons and the government 'is now weighted in favour of the government to a degree which arouses widespread anxiety and is inimical to the proper working of our parliamentary democracy'. The counselling role of the King's advisers in medieval times slowly evolved into agreement to advance funding for the monarch's various projects: especially palaces and wars. The Lords remain the dominant chamber in the seventeenth century, Charles I's failure to extract money from the Commons was the trigger for the 1642-49 Civil War. Studies by Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart reveal the fact that MPs have become more rebellious over time, the issue of the Britain's membership of the European Union. The Commons has lost a huge amount of its power to influence policy, it is still the defining forum of the nation's politics, providing the colour, atmosphere and drama of the decisions which shape the country's future.
