holding the executhe accountability function of the uk.pdf

Holding the Executive to Account? The Accountability Function of the UK Parliament Anthony Staddon Introduction In November 2005 the UK government was defeated in its attempt to increase from 14 to 90 days the period for which suspected terrorists may be detained for questioning before being charged with an offence. The government’s proposal was supported by the police and most of the press. It also had widespread popular support. Yet there was deep unease in Parliament about the impact on civil liberties and, despite the best efforts of the government’s whips, the Labour government’s comfortable Commons majority of 66 became a large defeat of 31. Forty-nine Labour MPs voted against the measure causing Tony Blair’s first defeat on a whipped vote since becoming Prime Minister in 1997. MPs voted instead to extend the time limit for detaining suspected terrorists for questioning to just 28 days. In a separate event three years earlier, the Prime Minister announced that he would break long-standing precedent and appear before the Liaison Committee, an important scrutiny committee of the House of Commons comprising all chairs of select committees. It is expected his successor will maintain this precedent. On 18 March 2003, the Commons’ debated the government’s approach to the situation in the Middle East and decided to employ ‘all necessary means’ to disarm Iraq. The decision had obvious national and global ramifications, but it was also historic in that it was the first time that the House had been asked to vote on a substantive motion for British forces going to war. These isolated events show Parliament at the centre of politi