AS revision: Parliamentary scrutiny

In the run up to the exams, the Politics blog will seek to provide some help by uploading details of recent examples of political activity that can be used in the exam hall, or the odd revision note.

Here is a quick update on a story some of you may have noticed in the press, but may not have realised it is an important example of how Parliament can check the executive.

Probably the least well known way in which government scrutiny occurs is through opposition days. These are days on which the subject for debate is chosen by one of the opposition parties. 20 days are allocated for each parliamentary session - 17 go to the largest opposition party and three among the other parties. Parties usually seek to choose a topical subject which the opposition thinks might embarrass the government, e.g. on the eve of the Glasgow East by-election in July 2008, the Tories sought to catch the government on the issue of fuel duty.

According to the BBC website:

‘Gordon Brown’s government has suffered a shock defeat in the Commons on its policy of restricting the right of many former Gurkhas to settle in the UK.

MPs voted by 267 to 246 for a Lib Dem motion offering all Gurkhas equal right of residence, with the Tories and 27 Labour rebels backing it.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg called the government’s position “shameful”.

The Commons vote is not binding, but it represents an embarrassment for the government.

It comes at a time when Mr Brown is facing criticism over other issues, including his reform plans for MPs’ expenses, which will also go to a vote on Thursday.

It is the biggest Commons victory achieved by the Liberal Democrats since their formation two decades ago, and is the first time a government has lost an opposition day debate since James Callaghan in January 1978.’