Preview

To What Extent Is There a Democratic Deficit in the Uk?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1202 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
To What Extent Is There a Democratic Deficit in the Uk?
Government & Politics Essay
To what extent is there a democratic deficit in the UK?

There is an argument that the government has the power and right to change laws and represent people without necessarily having to be elected. This can also be known as ‘Democratic deficit’. An example of democratic deficit is the House of Lords. The members in the House of Lords aren’t elected but they get to make laws and represent the people. The members in House of Lords are usually given their seats hereditarily so many people found it unfair that they’re not elected into the Parliament but they can make decisions and laws on our behalf.

On the other hand, people may argue with the fact that there is the House of Commons as well as the House of Lords and the House of Commons has more power than the House of Lords has. H of C can make laws and policies without consulting H of L, whereas H of L has to consolidate H of C with the policy or law they want to pass. There has also been some sort of reform in the H of L to make it fairer, there are only 92 hereditary lords left in the H of L so people may say this is an example of the UK not being a democratic deficit.
In this essay I will be assessing for and against views of the UK being a democratic deficit.

Some people agree with this view that there is a democratic deficit in the UK because as I mentioned earlier the members in House of Lords aren’t elected, the head of state (Queen) can decide whether or not laws can be passed and practiced in the UK but she’s not elected and can reign as long as she stays alive for which some people find unfair because the laws she passes affects them. Another example of Democratic deficit is the European Union who makes regulations

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The definition of democracy is the control of an organisation or group by the majority of its members. By this definition Labour and Conservative are both democratic organisations because they have elements of policy formulation and MP election processes which are very democratic in nature as they involve a wide range of people within the party. However there are also undemocratic features about both these organisations such as one, or small group of people, being involved in party matters when democratically it should involve more people.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The house of lords is the upper chamber of the Uk’s bicameral parliament, Beginning in the the 11th century. The house of lords’ role in government is to work with the house of commons to; make laws, check and challenge the actions of government ( the house of lords has no veto power) and provide independent competence. Firstly, in 1999 the Labour party under Tony Blair as Prime Minister reformed the house of lords. For centuries the house of lords consisted of members that inherited their seats, the Act removed such right. The act reduced members of the house of lords from 1,330 members to 669 members and a proportion of the members that are ‘cross benchers’ members with no party affiliation. In order for this act to receive supported votes, Tony Blair and the labour party passed the Weatherill Amendment that put in place a deal that allowed 92 of the 669 members to remain heredity. The reforms in houses of lords progressive towards democracy due to the fact that Historically, members of the House of Lords have been the richest and most important landowners in the country, who would pass their peerages down through their family, which creates bias towards the wealthy. By…

    • 1175 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the House of Commons there are many parties all fighting individually for control of the house, and to be in power and govern the land of the UK. To win the election and do this a party or coalition of parties needs a 326 majority to be able to form a government. This system creates a dominance in the house of commons if that majority is achieved sufficiently, as with Tony Blair’s landslide in 1997 where he had over a 150 seat majority, it is this kind of one party dominance I am going to be discussing in this essay and whether or not it limits parliaments main function to represent constituents and pass laws which benefit them.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The main concern about democracy in the UK comes from evidence of rising political apathy. Some people have seen this as nothing more than a ‘participation crisis’. Can democracy be classed as healthy when more and more voters every year seem to be unconcerned or reluctant to engage in political life? Deteriorating rates of voter turnout and falling levels of party membership despite there being opportunities for participation show evidence.…

    • 1234 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1850 Britain was extremely far from being known as a democracy. This was due to the fact that the great reform act only extended the power of the vote from wealthy landowning men in 1832 to the wealthy middle class men. This meant that the majority of the population still were unable to vote. For a country to be democratic it entails to have certain circumstances which would include the majority of the population, every adult, having the right to vote for their country. There should also be an equal amount of seats distributed. All elections that take place should be run fairly and be restricted from intimidation and influence. Every adult should also only be entitled to one vote whereas at this time some individuals who went to university could vote in their university constituency as well as when they owned a property. It should be allowed that a person from any background is able to become an MP. By 1918 many of these circumstances had been met although not all. Although improvements had been met in Britain some aspects that would make the country fully become a democracy where not in place, therefore it can be argued that Britain was not fully a democracy by 1918.…

    • 1328 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On the other hand, the House of Commons has defeated government control on various occasions, one example being on the 29 April 2009, in which a Liberal Democrat motion that all Ghurkhas be offered an equal right of residence was passed, in opposition to Labour policy. This shows a degree of efficiency within the non-executive areas of the Commons, particularly over controversial and publicised issues. Also, the recent coalition government, with a relatively small majority of 77 seats, has found it more difficult to logistically dominate votes and is therefore forced to provide sufficient scrutiny and amendment. These examples of the Common’s independence from…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Democracy, a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Democracy in west is what makes Britain and other countries appealing to those living in countries without it, meaning it is important to uphold the laws of democracy so that a potentially fragile system does not crumble under social pressures and movements.…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Democratic Is the Uk?

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Secondly, First Past The Post has had a big impact on UK democracy. The system we use to elect our MPs has a real impact on how politics works in Britain. It has a direct effect on whether politicians truly represent us and whether we can hold them to account if they let us down. The defeat of the 2011 Alternative Vote (AV) referendum means it is now more important than ever to discredit our failed system and we are continuing to build the case for change at Westminster. This in turn means any of our votes just don’t count. Millions of people have no chance of deciding who their MP will be. And our votes are wasted by the system. Additionally, parties continue to focus all their time, money and effort on a handful of 'marginal seats', so just a few thousand voters can decide who runs Britain.…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    a) To what extent would the wider use of referendums improve democracy in the UK?…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Exam Question and Answer

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages

    * According to the extract, “a partly elected House of Lords would give the new House a mandate, thereby undermining the primacy (dominance) of the House of Commons”, as it would encourage the Lords to be more assertive of the Government. For example, it would increase the powers of the House of Lords as, currently, they can only veto government bills for up to a year or make amendments to a government bill, for example, the house of lords blocked the welfare reform bill of 2004, however cannot veto any bill included in that government’s manifesto, however if they were elected, they would have more authority to challenge/ and would have the mandate to challenge all government bills passed through the Commons. Furthermore, a partly elected House of Lords could mean that, if different electoral systems or different election times take place for the Lords, there might bring about the case of a gridlocked government, meaning that there could be a different party controlling the House of Commons to that of the House of Lords, which would increase confrontation and conflict between the two houses, and would inevitably undermine the dominance of the House of Commons as it would be more likely that the House of Lords…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1999 Labour reformed the House of Lords; Labour removed 600 hereditary peers and reduced it to only 92 hereditary Lords in the House of Lords. However, the labor government did propose a system of “elected peers”, where the public could choose peers to sit in the House of Lords. This proposal was never fully implemented into the UK constitution. Until this proposal is full entrenched it is argued that the Lords are not democratically legitimate as all policy making institutions must have legitimacy. Therefore, there is much that can be done towards constitutional reform.…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Democratic Is the Uk?

    • 1763 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Democracy is a difficult concept to define, but as a simplification and a conventional definition, it is the people's right to choose and the right to say how the country is run. Democracy falls into many categories and comes in various different forms. One form is when power is in the hands of the population as a whole and political decisions are made themselves, this is known as direct democracy. An example of a direct democracy currently present in the UK is a referendum. Another form is representative democracy; in this case citizens will vote for representatives to create decisions for them and the responsibility is handed over to the representative to make decisions for the country. The representatives are also accountable to the electorate.…

    • 1763 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    With democracy on the incline and other countries catching up to where the UK once lead it can be argued that parliament does not carry out its functions adequately. Many would say there are not enough checks and balances on the government to insure its parliament is run legitimately being argued that a cross on a ballot paper every four years is hardly a true expression of our will. Current circumstances have lead to his enquiry of the people, most significantly the freedom of information act 2000 introduced by Blair’s government allowing transparency and putting the government under some scrutiny resulted in the daily telegraphy uncovering the expense scandal, including the duck house this exploitation of the government sparked an unanimous felling of not only anger but also disappointment bringing the questioning of the effectiveness of parliament. However not all of parliament can be looked upon in negative light, parliament can be seen as efficient and it is unfair to claim that “none” of its functions are adequate because the surely there would be a collapse in parliament and government.…

    • 1616 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Also, in Representative Democracy an MP must represent his/her constituency. They also must debate issues, attend caucus meetings and meet with researchers, media, special-interest groups, etc. Thirdly there is Constitutional Monarchy. In this both the French and English Fathers of confederation agreed to remain a monarchy. Also, the monarch is the “head of state” in Canada and the monarch does not rule.…

    • 1379 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    It 's 8:20 am; the late bell has rung signaling to all that students should be seated in class and ready to learn. Students can be seen slamming their lockers and sprinting to their next class with fear of a detention slip for being late. But lingering in the hallways is an imaginary disease embedded only in the senior class. The symptoms are well recognized by the faculty; tardiness, little to no work completed in class, turning in assignments late, and an overall lethargic attitude rapidly spread from student to student as the end of the school year nears. Unfortunately, the repercussions of their actions are not as innocent as some seniors like to believe. Senioritis has short-term as well as long-term damage on their academic attainment such as loss of college acceptance, difficulties with college level classes, lack of desire to further education and a continued apathetic attitude towards the end of any undertaking.…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays