The British Parliament

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The British Parliament is the oldest in the world. It consists of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Commons plays the major role in law-making. It consists of Members of Parliament (called MPs for short). MPs are elected and each of them represents an area in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

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Parliamentary elections are held every 5 years. The minimum voting age is 18. The party, which wins the majority of seats, forms the government and its leader usually becomes Prime Minister.

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Prime Minister chooses about 20 MPs from his party to form the cabinet of ministers. The second largest party becomes the official opposition with its own leader and «shadow cabinet».

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There are six hundred and fifty elected members in the House of Commons. MPs sit on two sides of the hall, one side for the governing party and the other for the opposition. The first 2 rows of seats are occupied by the leading members of both parties (called «front benches») Each session of the House of Commons lasts for 160-175 days. MPs are paid for their parliamentary work and have to attend the sittings.

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The procedure of law-making is the following: a proposed law («a bill») has to go through three stages of «readings» in order to become an act of parliament. When the bill passes through the House of Commons, it is sent to the Lords for discussion. When the agreement between the two Houses is reached, the bill is signed by the Queen and only then it becomes an Act of Parliament and the Law of the Land.

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The House of Lords has more than 1000 members , although only about 250 take an active part in the work in the house. Members of this Upper House are not elected, they sit there because of their title. The chairman of the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor. He sits on a special seat, called « Woolsack».

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Julia Moshko 10 A Gymnasium 293 St.Petersburg