Topic Parliament Of Great Britain

Parliament is the supreme legislative body of the British state and can in theory pass laws relating to any aspect of the political, Economic, Legal, social, and cultural life of the United Kingdom. Any Parliament enjoys during its lifetime absolute legislative supremacy, and the laws which it passes cannot be challenged by any court of law, although they may be interpreted very arbitrarily.

The British Parliament is one of the oldest Parliaments in the world. It has existed since 1265. it consists of two chambers known as the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and the Queen as its head.

In reality, the House of Commons is the only one of the three which is true power. It is here that new bills are not introduced and debated, and if a bill is passed, it is sent to the House of Lords to be approved, and finally to the monarch to be signed. Only then it becomes an Act of Parliament, a law.

The duration of Parliament is five years. The life of Parliament is divided into sessions. A new session of Parliament opens every year.

The main functions of Parliament are:

1. to make laws regulating the life of the community;

2. to approve Government spending and the means by which it raises the money required;

3. to control the executive activity of the Government;

4. to provide a forum for criticism of the Government, and to extract information about the activities and intentions of the Government and the institutions under its control.

The State Opening of Parliament, marking the start of a new parliamentary session or a new parliament is an awe-inspiring and highly dignified ceremony – beamed by television to all corners of the world.

The House of Commons – the more powerful of the two chambers – is a noisy, bustling, dynamic place, whilst the House of Lords, though more restrained, plays an extremely valuable role in national life. Apart from being England’s supreme appeal court of justice, few parliamentary bills can become Acts of Parliament without the assent of the Lords.

Topic The House Of Commons

The two Houses of Parliament, the Lords and the Commons, share the same building, the Palace of Westminster. The Commons occupy the north part of the Palace, the Lords – the south end.

The new House of Commons, built after the war instead of the bombed one, has, however, seats for only two-thirds of its 650 members. Only four members of the House of Commons have reserved seats. One is the Speaker, who presides over the House of Commons. Another is the member has sat in the House for the longest unbroken period, the member, who is known as “the Father of the House of Commons”. The other two reserved seats are for Prime Minister (the leader of the party that has a majority in the House of Commons), and the Leader of the Opposition.

The House of Commons is made up of 650 elected members, and it is presided over by the Speaker, a member acceptable to the whole House. MPs sit on two sides of the hall, one side for the governing party and the other for the Opposition. The first two rows of seats are occupied by the leading members of both parties (called “front-benchers”), the back benches belong to the rank-and-fire MPs (“back-benchers”). Each session of the House of Commons lasts for 160-175 days. The necessary quorum in the House of Commons is 40 persons. When MPs want to speak they have to catch the Speaker’s eyes, then they rise from where they have been sitting to address the House, and must do so without either reading a prepared speech or consulting notes.

Any MP may introduce a bill to Parliament. Every bill has three readings, at first in the House of Commons. There is no debate allowed after the first reading. After the second reading, there may be a discussion. The Speaker calls upon different members who are eager to speak. All speeches are addressed to him, beginning with “Mr. Speaker, sir”. After the discussion the voting is done, but not by show of hands. There are two corridors – “Division Lobbies” – at each side of the House. The one on the right is for “Yes”, and on the left – for the “No”. When voting is announced, the MPs go out into these lobbies, to the right or to the left. As they re-enter the House, they are counted at the door, one by one – and it may take ten or fifteen minutes before the Speaker reads out the results of voting.

After the third reading the bill goes before the House of Lords. If the Lords agree to the bill, it will be placed before the Queen for signature. The Queen having signed it, it becomes an Act of Parliament.