Lecture # 4 The Two Houses of Parliament The working of the House of Commons

The House of Commons

The 2 Houses of Parliament, the Lords and the Commons, share the same building, the Palace of Westminster.

The dynamic power of Parliament lies in the House of Commons. Its 659 members represent 529 constituencies in England, 40 in Wales, 72 in Scotland and 18 in the Northern Ireland. There are only seats in the Commons debating chamber for 370 members, bur except on matters of great interest, it is unusual for all members to be present at any one time. Many MPs find themselves in other rooms of the Commons, participating in a variety of committees and meeting necessary for an effective parliamentary process.

The shape of the Commons debating chamber makes an important comment on the political process in Britain. Unlike many European chambers which are semicircular, thus reflecting the spectrum of political opinion in their seating plan, the Commons is rectangular, with the Speaker's chair at one end, and either side of it five rows of benches running the length of the chamber. On one side, to the Speaker's right, sits Her Majesty's Government and its supporters, and on the other Her Majesty's Opposition, composed of all Members who oppose the government. The front benches on either side are reserved for members of the Cabinet and other Ministers, and Opposition spokesmen, known as the «Shadow Cabinet», respectively

How laws are passed

The British Parliament is often referred to as ' the legislation' – the body which makes laws. New laws can only come into force when they have passed through the Parliament. Nearly all important bills are introduced by the Government. About 50 bills are passed each year. Every bill brought in by the Government has been approved first by the Cabinet. If the Government has decided to introduce a bill, a minister is put in charge of it. The preparation of the text may take many months, with long consultations with civil servants in the minister's department on the one hand and Parliamentary Counsel on the other. At last the bill is ready to be submitted to the Parliament. It will have to be passed by both Houses of Parliament, one after the other. It can begin its journey in the Hose of Lords or Commons, though all important bills are submitted to the House of Commons first. According to very ancient practice it must have three readings. The first reading is an announcement that the bill is coming forward. After the text has been in circulation for a reasonable length of time, a period of time is given in the timetable of the House of Commons for the debate on the second reading. This is the main debate on the general principles and objectives of the bill, and at the end of the debate a vote is taken, if the Opposition do not like it they will vote against it. After the bill has passed its second reading, a committee of 45 MPs is set up to consider it in detail. The last stage is the debate on the proposal to read the bill a third time. This debate is usually very short. Next the bill must go through the same stages of the House of Lords. If the House of Lords reject a bill which has been passed by the Commons, the bill can go no further for a few months, but if the commons pass it again, it must go to the Queen for her signature no matter what the Lords do.

The House of Lords

The upper chamber of Parliament, the House of Lords isn't democratic. It consists of three categories of peers. The majority is hereditary peers, of whom only about half take an active interest in the affairs of state. A smaller number are life peers. Finally there are 26 most senior bishops and archbishops of the Church of England.

Until 1911 the Lords were able to reject draft laws, known as bills, passed in the Commons. Although there are over 1000 peers entitled to sit in the House of Lords, average daily attendance is only about 300 and most of these are life peers. The Lords conduct their business in a far more orderly fashion than the Commons. The House is presided by the Lord Chancellor. A large number of peers support the Conservative Party than the other parties.

There is no simple answer to the question «how many members of the House of Lords are there? » nearly 1200 people, including more than 60 women, are entitled to membership. Nearly 2/3s have inherited from their fathers or earlier ancestors in direct line of descent, and are described as «peers by succession». But when a person inherits a peerage on the death of a father, uncle or cousin, he (or she) must first prove a right to the succession. In most, but not all, cases this is quite simple. Once this has been done, the new peer receives a «writ of summons» from the Queen, commanding attendance at Parliament, and may go to the House to be formally admitted as a member, with some ceremony.

Local Government

The permanent principle

Although the United Kingdom is a unitary state not federal one, a very large part of public services are administered by elected local councils 'local authorities. All local authorities derive their existence and their powers and functions from Parliament and the central government. Parliament can take power away or add to them and it can even abolish any particular authority if it wants to the Local Government Act of 1972 reorganized the whole system, bringing anew structure into effect in1974. This was partly revised in 1986. Many activities of local authorities are in fact supervise, advised or controlled by the central government, but there is no single agency of control for any particular local authority. In each area the elected council and its officers have direct relations with the various central government departments.

Traditionally the most important local areas is the county. England has been divided into counties for more than 1000 years. Most of them have the old word 'shire' in their names e.g. Yorkshire. In each county the Queen appoints a Lord Lieutenant as her representative, now only for ceremonial purposes.

Within the counties the oldest units are the parishes. These are the local communities or villages which were established in the Middle Ages, each with a church as its focal point.

The structure since 1986

There are now two types of structure. One, created in 1974 and changed in 1986, applies to Greater London and six other largest urban areas, which are sometimes called conurbations. The other applies to all the rest of England, with most of its area and 3/5 of its population, and to the whole of Wales.

London

Greater London with nearly seven million people, consist of 32 «London boroughs» and the city of London. Most of these boroughs have between 150000 and 300000 people. The best known of these is the City of Westminster. At the centre City of London survives as an independent unit, with less than 10000 resident inhabitants, half a million office workers by day and a few thousand visitors to the Tower, Guildhall and St Paul's Cathedral at weekends. The Lord Major of London is concerned only with this small area. In all other parts the boroughs' elected councils run all the services except a few which necessarily concern them all. The buses and underground railways are now run by the London Transport Executive, responsible to the central government, and the Home Secretary is in charge of the Metropolitan Police.

A greater London county was created in 1965, absorbing the whole county of Middlesex and the suburban parts of four other counties, but the council and functions of this county were abolished in 1986. A «London Residuary Body» was set up to manage the business of handing over the County's function and property to the boroughs or other agencies.

Conurbations

The 6 main city areas in the midlands and north of England have local systems similar to London's. These areas, around Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle upon Tyne, have between one and three million people each. They became metropolitan counties in 1974, but these new counties lost their councils and all their functions in 1986. Now each county's area consists of boroughs, one of which is the central city, the others being based on the surrounding satellite towns, each expanded so as to include the areas between. The borough councils run all the local services except police, public transport and few others which have joint agencies.

Shire Counties

England outside London and these «conurbations» consist of 39 «shire» counties. Most of these are the old historic or geographic counties, though the smallest pairs have been joined together. Some other lost territory and population to the metropolitan counties in 1974. Also around three river mouths new «shire» counties were created, each including parts of two old counties.

The 39 «shire» counties are responsible for the main local functions, such as education, social services and police. Each is divided into «districts» which provide housing, refuse collection and other services best managed on a smaller scale. In general, most towns with more than about 80000 people within these counties have become districts, but outside these towns the district divisions are new creations, normally including a few towns and several dozen rural parishes, all of which have elected councils but very few functions. Some districts are called by the names of their biggest towns, others have newly-invented names, chosen by their councils, often after prolonged argument.

The Working of Local Government

Local councilors are elected for four-year terms, and in May of every year some local elections take place.

Every local council has its presiding officer, chosen by the whole council for one year only. In Metropolitan and London boroughs the presiding officer has the title Mayor or Lord Mayor; so too in those districts which are called «boroughs» or «cities». In other districts and counties, the presiding officer is called «chairman».

A Mayor or Lord Mayor is surrounded by some colorful ceremonial as the town's first citizen. In a big city there may be an official residence, a grand car, and an even grander but less comfortable carriage pulled by four horses and accompanied by outriders and buglers. Ordinary Mayors have ceremonial duties too, and in these functions the role of the mayoress still survives- either the Mayor's wife or a daughter, sister, niece or friend of a Major who is a woman or unmarried man.

In districts which are not «boroughs» or «cities» the chairman of the council usually has a similar status but less ceremonial. Mayors and chairmen are chosen each year by vote of the whole council, but often there is no need for a vote because the choice have been agreed in advance through private discussion between the parties. In some cases the offices are held by councilors of the different parties in turn.

All local council work through committees. Each council has a committee for each of the main sections of its work; for example the general management of the schools in a county or metropolitan district is under the control of the education committee of the county or district council. Some of the committees consist only of members of the council, and some of them have in addition a few co-opted members, i.e. people who do not belong to the council but have been chosen to assist the committee with their special knowledge or their qualifications. For very important matters the committee can only recommend to the council what is to be done, and the decision is made by the council in general session. Meetings are normally open to the public.

The chairman of the committee has to work closely with the department chiefs and senior officers.

Most local expenditure goes on services which councils are required by law to provide, though they provide other services too. Part of the money needed is given to them in the form of grants from the central government, fixed by complex formulae and paid for out of national tax revenues