Mark/Assess my essay?

For homework we had to complete an essay. The essay question was 'How Effective is Parliament?' It was a 25-mark question. Could you please give feedback and maybe give it a mark/grade? In particular, I've been working on constantly relating my points back to the question (I kept asking myself 'So what?'. I've been working at a high C/low B grade so far, so I really want to push myself higher. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I'm doing Edexcel AS-Level Government and Politics if it makes any difference. Apologies for any joined-up words, it went like that for some reason when I copied and pasted it. I assure you it's not like that in the actual document. I've removed most of them manually anyway.

Thanks!

How Effective is Parliament?

The main function of Parliament is to make the government accountable for its actions and to prevent the government from abusing its power. Parliament does this in various ways. It does this by forcing the government to justify and explain any proposed changes in legislation, often in the form of direct questions to ministers. Parliament is expected to be critical of any proposed legislation so as to reveal any issues with it. Parliament does this well, and is critical of every piece of proposed legislation. One example of a question from an MP to a minister is that of Jim Cunningham MP, to the Communities and Local Government Secretary. He asked ‘What steps are being taken to encourage private landlords to reduce the rent on empty commercial residences?’ This shows that Parliament is effectively holding the government to account by inquiring about its activities and progress.

However, there are in fact limits to Parliament’s abilities to hold the government accountable. Firstly, many MPs simply do not possess the relevant knowledge to ask key questions. This limits an MP’s ability to hold the government to account because he will not be able to extract valuable information, or may instead extract useless information.Similarly, experienced ministers may be able to cleverly evade an MP’s question, or manipulate the wording so as to give an answer that allows them to hide certain aspects of their work. Certain government decisions may be difficult to examine because of collective responsibility, so ministers may be able to hide behind each other. This obscures the truth and makes it harder for Parliament to evaluate government activity. Lastly, many areas of government policy are protected by secrecy, such as the fields of defence, security, and foreign policy. Whilst this secrecy may be justified by the fact that government work would be compromised if details were revealed, it means that the government can also justify not being held accountable by Parliament in these fields. This reduces the effectiveness of Parliament in holding thegovernment accountable to its actions.

Another function of Parliament is to represent the public. MPs represent both their parties and their constituents. In debates and votes which are of national significance, sometimes MPs may disregard this in the best interests of the nation. This is considered normal and part of the democratic process. Many MPs also regularly act in the interest of a pressure group. In this sense, Parliament may be interpreted as being effective in representing the public, as they simultaneously represent their party, their constituents, the national interest, and pressure groups. This enhances the democratic process, as it assists in not excluding anyone from politics.

However,there are several limitations on Parliament’s ability to accurately represent the public. Firstly, the First-Past-The-Post electoral system is widely known for producing unrepresentative results. For example, in the 2015 General Election, the Conservatives gained 36.9% of the total vote, yet won 51.0% of the total seats in the House of Commons. This shows that the FPTP system skews the results of the General Election and produces an unrepresentative Parliament. As such, Parliament is incapable of effectively representing the public. Additionally, the House of Lords is an unelected chamber. It isimpossible to accurately represent a group of people with a body that does nothave the consent of the people. Consent is granted through elections.Therefore, as the House of Lords is unelected, it automatically fails in itsrole to represent the public. Lastly, both Houses are unrepresentative in termsof the sex, ethnic, and social background. A truly representative Parliament would mimic the makeup of society. As the current Parliament fails to do this,it is unrepresentative, and cannot effectively prevent minorities being takenadvantage of, or certain sub-sections of society gaining more power and influencethan another.

In conclusion, Parliament is ineffective in performing its roles. It cannot effectively hold the government to account as MPs are not knowledgeable enough to ask key questions, and ministers are able to cleverly avoid questions or hide behind collective responsibility to make it difficult to garner information from a single minister. Try as MPs might, they simply do not have the knowledge or power to effectively hold the government accountable.

Parliament fails in its role to be truly representative of society. A biased electoral system, an unelected second chamber,and a biased assembly in terms of social background, ethnic diversity, and sex,mean that Parliament cannot claim to be a microcosm of society. It is ineffective in accurately representing the public.

Good first attempt. You've covered all the basics and scored most of the low-hanging marks. I'd say C grade, maybe low B.

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