3) The British Parliament - House of Commons & House of Lords PDF

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3) The British Parliament: House of Commons & House of Lords

→ The British Parliament is divided into three parts: House of Commons, House of Lords and the Monarch. The House of Commons: MPs are elected by the people on General Election in order to represent each constituency in Parliament. Today the United Kingdom is divided into 650 constituencies. Each constituency elect one representative to seat in the House of Commons.

House of Commons -

MPs elected for five years 650 MPS

The House of Lords: The members of the House of Lords are not elected: they are House of Lords appointed by her Majesty and they do not receive a salary contrary to MPs in the H.o.C Historically the H.o.L was the most - Members are appointed for life powerful House. Yet with the extension of the vote and the - Around 800 ~ 900 peers growing representatives of Commons, the H.o.C came to represent the well of the people. That is why in 1911, the Parliament Reform Act was voted, reducing drastically the power of the H.o.L. After this Act, the Lords lost their right of veto and they could no longer discuss financial bills. By 1920s, H.o.C obtained the power. The House of Lords is made up of three groups: -

Life Peers: appointed for life by her Majesty (the majority, about 700)

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Elected hereditary Members: a smaller group of hereditary Peers (92)

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Archbishops and bishops: from the Church of England (26), also known as “spiritual Lords”.

The Monarch: The throne is in the H.o.L and once a year, on the State Opening of Parliament, MPs from the H.o.C are invited to come in the H.o.L to listen to her Majesty’s political program which is written by the Prime Minister and some MPs. This illustrates the symbolic role of the Monarch and the importance of the Prime Minister. →How are the MPs from the House of Commons elected? The UK is divided into 650 constituencies and each constituency elects one MP to seat in the House of Commons. This electoral system existed long before democracy has achieved. It is based on a simple majority vote: the first past-the post system. The political party with highest number of seats wins the election and the leader of that party becomes Prime Minister. This system of political representation was in place even before the development of modern political parties. The MPs are first and for most a representative of a particular locality. General Election theoretically takes place every five years. The Prime Minister can dissolve Parliament and reorganise elections.

Who can vote? -

Who cannot vote?

British citizens Irish citizens residing in the UK Commonwealth citizens (Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, etc) residing in the UK

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Insane people Members of the Clergy of England People recently convicts for corruption, illegal election practises Lords in the House of Lords

Who can be candidate? Nearly everybody can be a candidate. You don’t have to belong to an important political party. Candidates must be supported by at least ten voters and pay a 500£ deposit. If the candidate obtains more than 5%, the 500£ deposit is returned. And on every General Election, there are strange and awkward candidates. For the last General Election, more than one hundred political parties were registered.

This electoral system makes it very difficult for small political parties to emerge: there is no proportional representation. On the other side, this General Election provides for a clear majority in the House of Commons (except in 2010 where none of the political parties managed to secure a majority of seats, thus for the first time, there was a coalition government between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats). The system also leads a disproportion between seats and the number of popular votes on a national level....