UK Political System

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. This means that Great Britain is governed by the Parliament and the Queen is Head of State.

The legislative power in the country is ruled by the Houses of Parliament. The British Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords is composed of hereditary peers and peeresses. The members of the House of Commons are elected by the people. They are elected from the constituencies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The House of Commons is the real governing body of the United Kingdom.

The executive power is exercised by Prime Minister and his Cabinet. The government is usually formed by the political party which is supported by the majority in the House of Commons. Prime Minister is the majority party leader and he is appointed by the Queen. Prime Minister chooses a team of ministers; twenty of the ministers are in the Cabinet.

The second largest party becomes the official opposition with its own leader and the Shadow Cabinet. The two leading parties in Great Britain are the Conservative Party (the Tories) and the Labour Party.

The judiciary branch of the government determines common law and is independent of both the legislative and the executive branches.

There is no written constitution in Great Britain, only precedents and traditions.

British Chancellor Gordon Brown is HM Queen Elizabeth

applauded by Prime Minister Tony Blair and Prince Philip

London

London is not only the political, economic and cultural centre of the United Kingdom. It is the main tourist attraction of the country. There are a lot of places of interest in London which attract thousands of tourists every year. They usually want to see Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London.

Westminster Abbey St. Paul’s Cathedral Big Ben

Westminster is now the political centre of London. In the 11^th century King Edward the Confessor decided to build a great abbey church there.There are many royal tombs in the Abbey, like the tomb of Edward the Confessor himself, and memorials to famous men and women. The most popular ones are those to writers, poets and musicians in the Poet’s Corner. William the Conqueror was crowned there, and since then all the coronations have taken place in the Abbey.

During the reign of Edward the Confessor the Palace of Westminster was built, too. It was the royal residence and also the country’s main court. The Parliament meet there since the 16^th till the 19^th century. The present Houses of Parliament were built after the fire in the Palace of Westminster in 1834. There are two houses in the Parliament: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. St. Stephen’s Tower of the Houses of Parliament contains the famous Big Ben.

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 1979