ABSTRACT
The discussions reported in the preceding chapter indicate the existence of a certain amount of confusion about the proper role of Parliament in relation to the executive. This confusion is seen most clearly in the debate, now thirty years old, over the proposal to create specialized committees. One important aspect of the confusion appears to be the fact that there are two languages in which the relations between Parliament and the executive are described. One language is that of the Liberal view of the constitution: it talks of Parliamentary sovereignty, of the responsibility of ministers to Parliament for the work of their departments, of the defence of the people’s rights through the vigilance of ‘the Parliamentary watchdog’, of the democratic advantages of a system in which there is no separation of powers between legislature and executive. This is the language used by nearly all back-benchers, nearly all journalists, and most academic commentators. In this language there are no convincing arguments against specialized committees.
