Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the parliamentary law-making procedure.

There are obvious advantages to the parliamentary law-making procedure, just as there are disadvantages. One of the main advantages of the procedure is that it is democratic; democratically elected MPs can openly discuss, scrutinise and amend proposals at various stages. Proposals can also be scrutinised not only in the House of Commons, but also in the House of Lords. This happens most within the second reading and committee stage within the House of Commons. Another advantage is that Parliamentary law is supreme; as such, it is certain as it cannot be challenged under the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy. As well as this, it means no parliament can pass laws future parliament's cannot change which is clearly an advantage as people won't be bound indefinitely by potentially bad laws. However, the disadvantages are also great. The whole process can take years but similarly, reactionary legislation can be rushed through Parliament to deal with problems, which does more harm than good - an example of this is the Dangerous Dogs Act. Another problematic area is the House of Lords itself; Peers are un-elected and thus the House of Lords has no democratic legitimacy, and is also not representative of the British public. The first-past-the-post system also means that MPs often only represent a small percentage of their constituency, again leaving people lacking representation.