## British Political System ### The parliament The British Parliament - like that of most larger countries - is bicameral, that is there are two houses or chambers. One tends to find unicameral legislatures in smaller nations such as Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Israel and New Zealand, although China and Iran are two larger nations with a single legislative chamber (but neither of these countries is a democracy). --- ### The House of Commons > The Commons is chaired by the Speaker. --- > The House of Commons currently comprises 650 Members of Parliament or MPs (the number varies slightly from time to time to reflect population change). This is a large legislature by international standards. The House of Commons sits each week day for about half of the weeks of the year. The precise hours of sitting are: - Monday 2.30 - 10.30 pm - Tuesday 2.30 - 10.30 pm - Wednesday 11.30 am - 7.30 pm - Thursday 10.30 am - 6.30 pm - Friday 9.30 am - 3 pm Rather oddly (but deliberately), there is insufficient seating capacity in the chamber of the House of Commons for all the MPs. Members do not sit at desks (like most legislatures) but on long, green-covered benches and there is only seating capacity for **437 MPs** out of the total of **650**. --- Equally odd is that Members vote (votes are called 'divisions') by physically walking through one of the two lobbies which run along the side of the Commons chamber. These lobbies are the '**aye**' lobby and the '**nay**' lobby. --- The result of the last General Election was as follows: - Conservative Party: 318 seats (down 13) with 42.45% of the vote - Labour Party: 262 seats (up 32) with 39.99% of the vote - Scottish National Party: 35 seats (down 19) with 3.04% of the vote - Liberal Democrat Party: 12 seats (up 4) with 7.4% of the vote - Other parties: 22 seats (down 1) with 7.1% of the vote - Total turnout nationwide was 69% - the highest since the election of 1997 ### The House of Lords > This is the upper chamber but the one with less authority. Its main roles are to revise legislation and keep a check on government by scrutinising its activities. --- The House of Lords is an utterly bizarre institution that has no parallel anywhere in the democratic world. The explanation for the unusual nature of the Lords goes back to the beginning of this essay: the British political system has evolved very slowly and peacefully and it is not totally logical or democratic. --- > Almost all the other members of today's House of Lords are what we call life peers. > There is no retirement age for peers and the average age is an incredible 69. --- In the Commons, there is a Prime Minister's Question (PMQ) Time for 30 minutes at 12 noon every Wednesday. Questions can be asked on any subject. ### The Legislative Process > In the British political system, almost all legislation is proposed by the Government and much of it comes from promises made in the manifesto of the relevant political party at the last election. At the beginning of each annual session of the Parliament, the main Bills to be considered are announced by the Queen in a speech opening that year's session of Parliament. --- All legislation has to be approved by both Houses of Parliament. --- #### Process In each House of Parliament, a proposed piece of legislation - called a Bill - goes through the following stages: - **First Reading** - the Bill is introduced with simply a reading by a Minister of the long title of the Bill - **Second Reading** - the general principles of the Bill are debated by all the members of the House and a formal vote is taken - **Committee Stage** - each clause and schedule of the Bill, plus amendments to them and any new clauses or schedules, is examined in detail, in the Commons by a small, specially chosen group of members meeting as Public Bill Committee or in the Lords by the members as a whole on the floor of the House - **Report Stage** - the changes made to the Bill in the Committee are reported to and debated by the whole House which is invited to consider the Bill as a whole, approve the changes by the Committee, and consider any further proposed changes that might be suggested - **Third Reading** - the final version of the Bill is considered by the whole House in a short debate (in the Commons without the facility for further amendments) - **Royal Assent** - the Crown gives assent to the Bill which then becomes an Act, the provisions becoming law either immediately or at a date specified in the Act or at a date specified by what is called a Commencement Order