Bicameralism

A legislature comprising of two chambers is said to be bicameral and most modern democracies have two chambers.

Advantages of Bicameralism:

• A second chamber can provide greater checks and balances on government power and allow for enchanced revision of legislation.

• A chamber that is less partisan or less sensitive to the prospect of an election can represent different interests and consider the long-term impact of actions and legislation. 

Disadvantages of Bicameralism:

• Legislative gridlock can occur if the two chambers are in conflict, leading to inaction.

• An indirectly elected upper house can be increasingly marginalised by - or block the agenda - of a democratically elected lower house.

UK: Asymmetric bicameralism due to the greater power possessed by the Commons over the Lords. 

USA: Balanced bicameralism as the legislative power between the House of Representatives and the Senate is largely co-equal. 

Two types of bills exist:

PUBLIC BILLS

• Government bills (usually contained within a manifesto, supported by the government and invariably passed into law).

• Private Members' Bills (originating with individual MPs, which are usually doomed to fail unless they receive government backing).

PRIVATE BILLS 

• Private bills are specific and affect certain individuals or organisations - not the general public.

1. First Reading: introduction and timetabling.

2. Second Reading: ministerial, explanation and vote. 

3. Committee Stage: scrutiny by public bill committee, amendments proposed as appropriate.

4. Third Reading: voting on amendments, vote. 

5. Lords Stage: similar process to the Commons with any amendments voted on by the Commons. 

6. Royal assent: the signing of the Act into law by the monarch.

Tactics and powers available to the government to speed up the legislative process include:

• Using whipped votes in the committee stage to limit the success of Opposition-backed amendments.

• Using guillotine motions to curtail debate, especially in the committee stage (used by governments to limit the amount of time that MPs can spend debating a particular stage of a Bill in the House of Commons).

• Making concessions to unsupportive backbenchers or to limit the Lords' power of delay for up to a year. 

• Threatening or using the Parliament Act to bypass the Lords.