4. The Interior of the House of Commons

Members of Parliament hold most of their debates in the House of Commons Chamber. The Speaker, who acts as a chairman of the debate, sits on a raised chair at one end of the Chamber. In front of him on his right sit the MPs of the biggest party, which forms the government and facing them sit the MPs of the party which opposes them, the Opposition. The Leader of the government, the Prime Minister, sits on the government front bench, next to his or her ministers. Government ministers and those speaking for the official Opposition are often called frontbenchers. The most important government ministers form the Cabinet. Its major members are the Foreign Secretary (the minister responsible for relations with other countries), the Home Secretary (the one responsible for law and security) and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the minister who deals with financial matters and prepares the annual budget speech on the economic state the country).

Opposite this group sits the Leader of the Opposition (the main person in the largest party opposing the government) and the Shadow Cabinet which is made up of front bench MPs from the official Opposition party. The Opposition party appoints an MP to 'shadow' each of the members of the Cabinet. In this way the Opposition can make sure that it looks at every part of the Government and can question them thoroughly. It also means that the Opposition has MPs ready to take on the job of the Cabinet if they win at the next General Election. MPs without special positions in their parties sit behind their leaders at the back. They are called backbenchers.

The House of Commons Chamber is really quite small. Although there are 646 MPs, there are only seats for 427, so sometimes, when very important matters are being discussed, Members will be squeezed onto the benches and some will sit on the steps. The benches and carpets are green - the colour traditionally associated with the House of Commons.

As there is not enough time for everything to be debated in the House of Commons Chamber, some debates take place in parallel in the Westminster Hall Chamber, located just off Westminster Hall. The House of Commons committees meet in smaller rooms upstairs in the Palace of Westminster or in Portcullis House which is a modern building next door to the Palace.

5. The House of Lords

The House of Lords is non-elected chamber of the UK Parliament. It has existed as a separate chamber of Parliament since the 14 century and is part of the oldest parliamentary democracy in the world.

The House of Lords consists of Lords Spiritual (senior bishops) and Lords Temporal (lay peers). The latter include Life Peers appointed for life by the Queen for various services to the nation (their children cannot inherit the peerage), Hereditary Peers who inherit their titles and Law Lords (senior judges).

The Life Peerage Act 1958 was a significant reform that affected the House of Lords. The allowed both men and, for the first time, women to sit and vote in the House of Lords for their lifetime only. The Life Peerages Act altered the composition of the House of Lords because it introduced more people from different professions. Before this Act the House of Lords had been made up exclusively of Hereditary Peers, who were usually men from a narrow section of the population.

The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the right of most of the 750 hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords: presently there are only 92 peers who sit by virtue of hereditary peerage. However hereditary peers keep their titles and will continue to pass them on to their heirs. The majority of members are now Life Peers and the Government has been consulting on proposals for further reform of the Lords. In May 2003 there were 689 peers in total.

The speakership of the House of Lords has traditionally been performed by the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor's powers as Speaker are very limited compared with those of the Speaker of the House of Commons. Lords' business is expected to be conducted in an orderly and polite fashion without the need for an active Speaker. The Lord Chancellor sits on a special seat called "the Woolsack". He does not give the floor to members and has no powers to call the House to order. Before the reforms announced on the 12^th June 2003, the Lord Chancellor was simultaneously a Cabinet minister with departmental responsibilities, the Speaker of the House of Lords and the Head of the Judiciary in England and Wales. The Labour government intends to separate these powers and to abolish the office of Lord Chancellor.

Other office holders in the House of Lords include government ministers and whips, the Leader and Chief Whip of the main opposition party, and two Chairmen of Committees. The Leader of the House occupies a special position in the House of Lords: as well as leading the party in government he has a responsibility to the House as a whole. It is to him, and not the Lord Chancellor, that members have turned for advice and leadership on points of order and procedure. These office holders and officers, together with the Law Lords, receive salaries. All other members of the House of Lords are unpaid.

A major task of the House of Lords is to examine and pass legislation. In general, its functions are similar to those of the House of Commons. There are two important exceptions: members of the Lords do not represent constituencies, and are not involved in matters of taxation and finance. Although the House plays a key role in revising legislation sent from the Commons, it also initiates legislation, and so shares the burden of the legislation load.

Another important function is to act as a check on government by scrutinizing its activities. The House does this by asking questions, debating policy, and through its Select Committees, taking evidence from Ministers and others. The House still has an important judicial role as the highest Court of Appeal in the land.

Members of the House, collectively, have an enormous breadth of expertise and, individually, are characterized by independence of thought. They complement the work of the elected House of Commons, which reflects political and constituency interests and which, unlike the Lords, must spend a substantial amount of time on functional and public expenditure issues.