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The House of Commons

The House of Commons has 651 members — 524 from England, 38 from Wales, 72 from Scotland, and 17 from Northern Ireland. The prime minister and most Cabinet ministers are members of the Commons. Each member represents a voting district called a constituency. Members are not required to live in the constituency they represent. Clergy of the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Church of Ireland, and the Roman Catholic Church cannot be elected to the Commons.

Members of the nobility — except peers of Ireland — and certain government officials also are ineligible. Members of the House of Commons receive an annual salary. They also get travel and administrative expenses. Members of the Commons are chosen in a general election, in which all voters may participate. If a member dies or resigns, the constituency chooses a new representative in a by-election.

Members of the House of Commons are elected to a maximum term of five years, after which Parliament must be dissolved and another election held. However, an election may be called at any time, and most Parliaments

sit (are in session) for less than five years. The prime minister may call for a new election if Parliament refuses to support the policies of the Cabinet.

The prime minister also may call for a vote if he or she believes the political climate of the country favors another victory by his or her party.

The House of Commons sits for about 160 days annually from November to October. Most sessions last from mid-afternoon to evening, though some sessions continue through the night. The Commons meets in a long room with rows of benches running along two sides. The Speaker of the House of Commons sits at one end of the chamber.

The members of the House of Commons take their seats on the green leather benches according to their party and position. From this we get the terms 'frontbencher, 'backbenches' and 'crossbenches'. The two sides, the Government and the Opposition, sit facing one another. If, for example, you sit in the Public gallery of the House of Commons, you would see the Government sitting to the left of the table.

The leaders of the Government and the Opposition are known as the frontbench because they sit on the benches nearest the center of the chamber. Other members sit behind them and are known as the backbench. The Government and the Opposition debate most proposed legislation. Other discussion between the two

The British Parliamens

 

sides takes place at the question periods at the opening of the order of business. Members of the Opposition question the prime minister and other members of the Government about their policies.

The Opposition parties would be seated to the right. Government ministers sit on the frontbench on the Government side of the Chamber. They are therefore known as Government frontbenches. Those MPs who belong to the same party as the Government but who do not hold a Government post are known as Government backbenches. The Official Opposition is divided in the same way.



The Opposition consists of all those parties, which, as a result of the last general election are not part of the Government. It is made up of the official opposition, the largest opposition party, and a number of smaller parties.

The Labour Party has the largest number of MPs in the House of Commons, having won the most seats in the general election of 1997. The party winning most seats in a general election will form a government and the party leader becomes Prime Minister.

The Speaker presides over the sessions, grants members the right to speak, and keeps order during debates. Members of the prime minister's party, representing the Government, sit on the benches to the Speaker's right. Members of other political parties supporting the Government also sit on that side of the room. Members of the second largest party, called the Opposition, and their supporters sit to the left of the Speaker.

As the Conservatives won the general elections of 1979,1983 and 1992, we had a Conservative Government for eighteen years with the party leader, firstly Mrs. Thatcher, and from November 1990 Mr. Major, as Prime Minister. There were Labour Governments from 1964-1970,1974-1979 and since their election victory in 1997, 2001, 2005 Mr. Blair has chosen a team of ministers to help him, drawn from members of his own party in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Together they make up the Government.

 

 

The British Parliamens

 

The House of Lords

As you know, a parliament is the group of people who make the laws of their country. British laws are made in Parliament, which consists of two Houses, as they are called, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords is called the upper house of Parliament, though it has less power than the House of Commons. The term upper house refers to the branch of a lawmaking body that is less subject to control by the voters. This house, for example, is not an elected assembly. Most of its members inherit their seats.

The main function of the House of Lords is to review legislation passed by the House of Commons. Although the Lords can amend bills, it rarely changes their basic principles. The Lords also serves as the United Kingdom's highest court of appeals.

The House of Lords has about 1,170 members, including about 800 hereditary peers and peeresses, about 320 life peers and peeresses, about 20 law lords, and 26 lords spiritual. Hereditary peers and peeresses are members of the nobility who have inherited their seats. Life peers and peeresses are appointed to the Lords to honor their achievements in business, civil service, or other fields. They have the title of baron or baroness. Law lords, also called lords of appeals, are chosen from among the United Kingdom's highest-ranking judges. They form the final court of appeal for civil cases throughout Britain and for criminal cases in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The House of Lords consists of the Lords 'Spiritual and Temporal. Lords spiritual are senior members of the Church of England. The Lords Spiritual are the two archbishops (Canterbury and York) and twenty-four bishops of the church of England.

The Lords Temporal include peers by hereditary right, peer by virtue of their office (the Law Lords), and Life peers created under the Life Peerages Act, 1958. Peerages are created by the sovereign; about half have been created since 1920. Peerages can also be renounced for life under the Peerages Act, 1963. Life peers, law lords, and lords spiritual are appointed to their seats for life. Their children do not inherit their seats.

The peers sit comfortably on their red leather benches as the MPs stand awkwardly huddled together below the bar while the Queen reads the throne speech, which outlines the Government's programme of legislation for the coming session. Before the throne in the House of Lords, and dividing the benches, is the woolsack upon which the Lord Chancellor sits as Speaker of the House. By

The British Parliamens

 

traditions, the woolsack was introduced in the reign of Edward III and it is recorded in the House of Lords documents 'that the judges shall sit upon woolsack'. The woolsack is now stuffed with wood from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and from the Commonwealth countries. Members of the Government and their supporters sitting to the right of the throne, and those of the Opposition to the left.

The bishops always sit on the Government side of the House crossbenches, set near the bar of the House, are for the use of peers who sit as Independents.

Only about 20 % of the members attend most debates in the House of Lords. Members are not paid a salary, but they do receive travel expenses.

Each session of Parliament is usually opened in the House of Lords by the Queen who is attended by heralds, officers of the Court and members of the Diplomatic Corps. The Commons are 'summoned to the Chamber by Black Rod (the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, whose title derives from the black staff with golf fittings which he carries on formal occasions).

In the full House of Lords there are some 1.000 potential members, though the actual numbers are cut to under 700 working members by a voluntary process of a 'leave of absence'.When Cromwell's troopers crushed the King's men, the House of Lords, which had backed the King in his dictatorship, was abolished only to be restored when Charles II was restored to the throne. Over the past two centuries of more modern times, there has been pressure for the House of Lords to be abolished or reformed. The Liberals, faced with a Lords veto on a Budget, had to pass the Parliament Act of 1912 restricting the House of Lords delaying power on laws to 2 years. In 1949 this power to delay was reduced to one year. The Lords don't possess the power to reject a money bill.

 

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Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1456


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