The House of Commons

HISTORICAL INVASION

The first inhabitants were Iberians and Celts who settled on the land and were often at war with each other.

In AD 43 the Roman Emperor Claudius invaded and made Britain a Roman province. The Romans stayed for three hundred years and built villas, roads and towns. Later, Christian missionaries came from other parts of the Roman Empire to bring Christianity to the people.

The Angles Saxons and Jutes began to settle from the 6^th to the 8^th centuries and the Angles gave England its name.

The Vikings came from Scandinavia in the 10^th century. They settled in the north and made the town of York the capital of their kingdom.

The last successful invasion of Britain was in 1066. Duke William of Normandy (William the Conqueror) defeated the English and the Normans and the French settled in Britain over the next 3 centuries. French became the language of the nobility and Latin the language of the legal system and government.

The flag of the United Kingdom, known as the Union Jack, is made up of three crosses. The upright red cross is the cross of St George, the patron saint of England. The white diagonal cross (with the arms going into the corners) is the cross of St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. The red diagonal cross is the cross of St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. St David is the patron saint of Wales.

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION, Territory, Climate

The UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles in the north-western coast of Europe and separated from the continent by the English Channel. Great Britain and Ireland are separated by the Irish Sea. Historically the territory of the United Kingdom is divided into 4 parts: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Parliaments of England, Wales and Scotland were united a century later in 1707.

The mountains cover the greater part of northern western and middle Great Britain. They are The Highlands of Scotland. Ben Nevis is the highest mountain of the British Isles. The Southern Uplands of Scotland and the Pennines. The Cumbrians are in Wales. There aren’t many mineral resources. There are many lakes. The flora and fauna is rich. The climate is mild, humid and changeable.

The POLITICAL SYSTEM

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. This means that it has a monarch (a king or a queen) as its Head of State. The monarch has very little power and can only reign with the support of Parliament. Parliament consists of two chambers known as the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Parliament and the monarch have different roles in the government of the country, and they only meet together on symbolic occasions. The House of Commons has true power. It is here that new bills are introduced and debated. If the majority of the members are in favour of a bill it goes to the House of Lords to be debated and finally to the monarch to be signed. Only then does it become law.

The House of Commons

The House of Commons is made up of 650 elected members, known as Members of Parliament (abbreviated to MPs), each of whom represents an area of the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister chooses about twenty MP's from his or her parry to become Cabinet Ministers.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 775