Re:Powers of Parliament (Score 3)

The PM, as I understand it, has very limited powers when it comes to executive decisions. For a start, the PM must persuade his own party that his plan is a good idea (the proposed reform of disability benefits was much weakened by opposition from within the Labour party). If a bill can be passed by majority vote in the House of Commons, the bill is passed to the House of Lords for acceptance or revision. The Lords have a history of sending back for revision bills that take things a little too far, and the upper chamber is (IMHO) a pretty reasonable one, since the members are not elected, and therefore tend to vote with their heads, not with the party line. The term "checks and balances", BTW, was coined by Walter Bagehot in 1867 to describe the British parliamentary system. The status of the reforms discussed here is that they were read in the Queen's Speech. The QS is a list of bills that the government intends to put before Parliament in the coming year. They have the same weight and likelihood of seeing the light as a manifesto pledge ;-) Cambrensis.