Legislation at Westminster: Parliamentary actors and influence in the making of British law by Meg Russell and Daniel Gover
Abstract
Meg Russell and Daniel Gover ask an apparently straightforward question: ‘Does the British Parliament influence public policies?’ They also offer an equally straightforward answer: yes. This question is understudied and their answer comes as a surprise, especially as the consensus view that the Westminster Parliament is weak and as studying legislative influence is empirically challenging. The authors challenge the existing literature in two ways: one relates to their focus and the other to their strong conclusions. They consider what specialists usually neglect—including many legislative studies scholars. And their conclusions contradict the conventional view—including the opinions held by most MPs.