Chapter 3 politics
Parliament
The
British Parliament has two houses, or chambers: the House of Commons
and the House of Lords. The House of Commons is the most powerful
and decides national policy, but the House of Lords can ask the
House of Commons to rewrite certain parts of a bill before it
becomes a new law.
The House of Commons consists of Members of Parliament, MPs. Each MP is elected by voters in one constituency (region). There are 651 MPs, or seats, in the House of Commons (524 for England, 72 for Scotland, 32 for Wales and 17 for Northern Ireland). In 1994, there were only 59 women MPs.
The 1203 members of the House of Lords are not elected. Some are life peers: they are members of the House of Lords, but their sons or daughters cannot be members. Life peers are usually former members of the House of Commons. There are also a number of judges or bishops. The majority (774), however, are hereditary peers, the heads of aristocratic families. This means that most members of the House of Lords are there because of something their ancestors did. The Head of both Houses of Parliament is the Queen, but she has very little power. The House of Commons and the House of Lords meet in the Houses of Par-
liament, more commonly known as Westminster. The clock tower of the
Houses
of Parliament is called Big Ben.
Forming a government
The party with most MPs forms the government. The leader of the winning party automatically becomes Prime Minister and appoints the Cabinet. The members of the Cabinet are the leading government ministers. The Prime Minister is the most important person in parliament (Britain does not have a President). The party who comes second is the Opposition and forms its own Shadow Cabinet.
British Prime Ministers have lived at 10 Downing Street since 1731. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (responsible for money and finance) lives next door at number 11. People often talk “Downing Street” when they mean the Prime Minister and his or her Cabinet.
Policemen guarding 10 Downing Street.
The Prime Minister and his Cabinet meet here
almost every week. Together they run the country.
Two-party politics
Every five years, British people over the age of 18 can vote in a general election. People vote for a candidate they want in their constituency (region). The candidate who wins becomes the MP in the House of Commons, even if he or she gets only one vote more than the candidate who is second. This is called the first past the post system.
The first past the post electoral system in Britain promotes the two most powerful parties at the expense of the smaller parties. Since the 1920s, the two main parties have been the left-wing Labour Party and the right-wing Conservative Party.
The liberal Democrats, a centre party, are not happy with current first past the post electoral system. This is because it is a party which does not win many seats in Parliament, but comes second in many constituencies. It would prefer a system of proportional representation, in which number of MPs is based on the number of people who vote for a party in the whole of the country. Since the 18th century, the two main parties have sat facing each other in the House of Commons. Sitting on the front benches are the leading members of the government.
Opposite them sit the most important members of the main opposition party. The House of Commons still looks almost the same today.