The House of Commons.

The House of Commons is the chief source of our laws. It became known by this name because those elected to serve in it, as Members of Parliament (MPs) were ordinary common people, known as commoners. Even to this day a noble or “peer” who is still a member of the House of Lords must first give up his peerage, if he wishes to become an MP.

The United Kingdom is divided up into 659 constituencies. At least once every five years a General Election is held, in which everyone who lives in a constituency and who is over the age of 18 and entitled to vote, has-the opportunity to elect his or her MP. Those who wish to stand for Parliament are called candidates. Almost every MP who is elected belongs to one of the political parties, and is voted into Parliament generally as a Conservative or Labour or Liberal Democrat MP. The party with an overall majority of MPs will be asked by the Queen to form the next Government.

Some candidates are independent of any political party. In 1997, the journalist Martin Bell stood as the independent “anti-sleaze” candidate for Tatton. In 2001 Dr John Taylor became the independent MP for Wyre Forest.

Candidates are voted for as people. If Labour MP resigns or dies while he is in office, another Labour candidate will not automatically fake over. There must quickly be a new election in his constituency. This is called a by-election.

The 659 MPs decide which laws to pass. They do this by voting in Parliament when each new law is debated. It is the duty of an MP to look after the interests of all the people in his constituency. If the people do not like what their MPs are doing, they may change them by 'voting in' different ones at the next General Election.

This method of voting is our way of ensuring that the country is governed according to the wishes of the people. The system of government by the people is called a democracy. It is government in which the supreme power rests with the people through our representatives.

Any system of government must be as efficient as possible and this requires leadership. In the House of Commons leadership must be provided by the Government. This is formed by the political party which has the majority of MPs. The leaders of the Government are the Prime Minister, and the other Ministers. MPs hold Ministers to account by asking questions in Parliament. The Prime Minister comes to Parliament to answer questions once a week at Prime Minister's Question Time.

The Government directs policy and proposes new laws to carry it into effect, but it is Parliament which decides whether to pass new laws or not. There have been times when Parliament has refused to pass Government legislation. On occasions the Parliament of the day has felt unable to govern. When this happens the Prime Minister asks the monarch to dissolve Parliament, and call a new General Election. Then the people, making up the electorate decide who the next Government should be by electing MPs again.

The House of Commons is presides over by the Speaker, whose job it is to keep order in the House. Betty Boothroyd, the first woman Speaker in the history of that office, was elected in 1992. The present Speaker is Michael Martin. He has a residence in the Palace of Westminster itself. He is also the MP for Glasgow Springburn, and must look after the interests of his constituents.

Of the 659 MPs who sit in the House of Commons at Westminster, 529 MPs represent constituencies in England, 40 represent constituencies in Wales, 72 in Scotland, and 18 in Northern Ireland.

The House of Lords

The House of Lords is one of two “Houses of Parliament”. It is made up of the Peers of the Realm. There are two main groups of Peers. These are called the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal.

· The Lords Spiritual are the Archbishops of Canterbury and York/ and a number of other leading Bishops. They are all representatives of the Established Church, the Church of England. There are 26 in total.

· The Lords Temporal are made up of two types of peer, Hereditary Peers and Life Peers.

Hereditary peers are those whose titles are passed down from generation to generation. They include Dukes, Earls, and Viscounts. They are known as ‘peers by succession’, because they have ‘succeeded’ to the titles of their ancestors. Until 1999 there were 775 peers by succession, but then the House of Lords was reformed and under a compromise 92 hereditary peers were allowed to remain in the House.

Life peers are, as their name implies, made peers for their lifetime only. They have got their title for the contribution to the prosperity of the country. They have distinguished careers in such fields as politics, education, business, medicine, and the law. Leading figures in the arts, and a variety of other walks of life, have also been made peers. They cannot pass their titles on to their children. There are now approximately 560 Life peers.

Membership of the House of Lords will always include a wide range of highly talented men and women. They have a duty to examine the laws proposed by the House of Commons, and to suggest amendments if they think they are necessary. They also have the power to block and delay a new law of which they disapprove; but this power is very limited:

· The lords are not able to change or delay any laws( known as ‘Money Bills’) which relate to finance and taxation

· The Lords only have the power to hold up legislation of which they disapprove for a certain period of time

The power of the House of Lords to check and in some cases influence or even alter, legislation may be limited but it is still a very real one, and the Lords have scored some notable successes.

The House of Lords has its own Speaker, the Lord Chancellor. He too occupies a residence in the Palace of Westminster. The Lord Chancellor still holds a unique position in the constitution, because in addition to presiding over debates in the House of Lords (legislature) he is a senior member of the Cabinet (executive), and as Head of the Judiciary, has the power to recommend to the Queen the appointment of new judges. Until very recently he was also entitled to sit as a judge in the Court of the House of Lords (judiciary).

The Lord Chancellor has custody of the Great Seal, which is literally a large seal with a unique design, used for sealing and authenticating variety of state documents.

It’s interesting that when he was in office the last Lord Chancellor still wore his elaborate costume – of wig, gown, silk tights, cotton breeches, and buckled shoes – while presiding over debates in the Lords.

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1278