What is the job of Parliament?
The main functions of Parliament are:
· – to pass laws;
· – to provide, by voting for taxation, the means of carrying on the work of government
· – to scrutinise government policy and administration, including proposals for expenditure;
· – to debate the major issues of the day.
Parliament is made up of three parts:
– The Queen
– The House of Lords
– The House of Commons
The Queen
The Queen is the official Head of State. Britain has a constitutional monarchy where the Queen only rules symbolically; in reality, power belongs to Parliament. So, although the Queen ‘opens’ Parliament each year and laws are passed in her name, the Queen herself plays no part in determining decisions made in Parliament.
The Queen has the final say on whether a bill becomes law.
The last Monarch to reject a law that was wanted by both Houses of Parliament was Queen Anne. She died in 1715.
The House of Lords
The House of Lords is made up of people who have inherited family titles and those who have been given titles because of their outstanding work in one field or another. There are 675 members of the Lords.
The main job of the House of Lords is to ‘double check’ new laws to make sure they are fair and will work.
The House of Commons
The House of Commons has 659 members who have been elected by local residents to represent an area of the country in Parliament. The members are called MPs (Members of Parliament). Each MP represents one of 659 constituencies (areas) in the UK and is a member of a political party, such as New Labour or the Conservative party.
The Commons is the most important place for discussing policies and making laws.
| General Elections | |
| A UK Parliament has a maximum duration of five years. At the end of the five year or before, a general election must take place so new members of parliament can be elected by the people. The next General Election in the UK will take place before the end of June 2010 What is a General Election? The election of all Members of Parliament (MPs) for each constituency (local area) is called a General Election. In the UK we vote for the best candidate in our local area to represent us in the House of Commons. The UK system is not like the US system where you vote for the President/Vice-President, then your local representatives separately. In the UK, the winning candidate becomes MP and takes a seat in the House of Commons. The party with the majority of seats in the Commons gets to form the government. That party’s leader becomes Prime Minister. In the UK we have the House of Commons and the House of Lords. People can only vote for a MP to represent us in the House of Commons. The Lords are appointed or inherited. How often do General Elections take place? General elections have to take place at least every five years and are called by the Prime Minister (the leader of the Government). When was the last General Election? The last General Election was in 2010. No single party won enough majority of seats to form the government alone. So in order to form a government two or more parties had to join together. David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, formed a new government, in coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Who can become a MP? People are nominated as candidates to become MPs. Any one over the age of 21 can be a candidate. How does an MP get a seat in Parliament? When an MP gets the most votes for his constituency (local area) he gains a seat. This means he has a place in Parliament. |
The British Government
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What is the difference between Parliament
And the Government?
The Parliament and Government mean two different things.
· Parliament represents the people.
· Government runs the country and is also elected by the people.
The Government runs the country
Being a Member of Parliament (MP) is not the same as being in Government. The political party that has more seats than all the others runs the country.
For example after the 1992 general election the largest party, the conservatives, had 21 more seats than the all the others. This is called a majority. With such a majority they could out vote all the other parties, so they formed the Government. Their party Leader, John Major, became the Prime Minister.
After the 1997 general election the picture was rather different: the Labour Party had a majority of 179 and its leader, Tony Blair*, became Prime Minister. All parties aim to win a majority of seats. When they do, they become the Government.
In the 2010 general election no single party won enough majority of seats to form the government alone. So in order to form a government two or more parties had to join together. David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, formed a new government, in coalition (A coalition is an alliance among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause) with the Liberal Democrats.
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David Camoron became Prime Minister and Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats became his deputy.
The leader of the Government
Is the Prime Minister
The new Prime Minister chooses a team of people from Parliament who will run the country with him. Any MPs or Lords in the team he or she picks are now members of the UK Government.
There are normally about 100 people in a UK government.
The Government is different from Parliament.
The Government is also different from the rest of the party who won the election.
The British Prime Minister
Unlike the US, British voters do not choose their Prime Minister (PM). He/she is voted for within their political party.
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