British Parliament. Legislative Power

Like the Monarchy, the Parliament in Britain is an ancient institution dating from the beginning of the 13^th century.

The British Parliament is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom. It consists of the Sovereign, the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

The Houses work in different chambers, in the opposite parts of the Westminster Palace, but the chambers are shaped in the same way which is very important. The arrangement of seats (or benches) in both Houses is of great significance. It reflects and maintains the two-party system of Britain.

Both Houses are rectangular (not semicircular as most European Chambers) in shape, with rows of benches on either side. To the right of the Speaker of the Chamber there are benches for the Government and its supporters, to the left – for the Opposition. There are facing the Speaker cross benches for Independent members, for those who do not belong to either of the two leading parties.

The proceedings in both Houses are public, and visitors are admitted into the “strangers’ gallery”. Since 1803 the proceedings of the Parliament have been published the following day as “Hansard”, the Official Report of the parliamentary life.

The Chamber of the House of Сommons.

S	Mr. Speaker	T	Table of the House	X	Cross Benches
P	Press Galleries	D	Despatch Boxes	SA	Serjeant at Arms
H	Hansard Reporters	Ma**	Mace	M	Members’ Galleries
O	Government Officials’ Box (advisers to Ministers)	L***	Lines	G	Visitors’ Galleries
C	Clerks of the House*	B	Bar of the House

* When the house goes into Committee, the Speaker leaves the Chair, and the Chairman sits in the chair of the Clerk of the House, which is the one on the left.

** Mace [meis] (булава) – a heavy club, symbol of the Speaker’s authority in the House of Commons.

When the House goes into Committee, the Mace is put “below the Table” on brackets.

*** Lines over which Members may not step when speaking from the front benches.

The House of Commons

The House of Commons is the centre of real parliamentary power and activity. All important bills are presented first to the House of Commons. Here they are explained and debated. If a major bill is defeated there the Government usually resigns and there is a new election. If it receives a majority vote, it goes to the House of Lords. The House of Lords in its turn, debates and criticizes it. But the Lords rarely vote against the bill. Finally, the bill is taken by the Prime Minister to the King or Queen, who always signs it. After that, the bill becomes an Act of Parliament and the Law of the Land.

The House of Commons consists of 651 elected Members of Parliament (MP’s for short). In the Chamber there are benches. From this we get the terms “front benchers” and “back benchers”. The term “front benchers” stands for the Prime Minister and the leading members of the Government who sit on the front benches on the Speaker’s right. The same term is used for the leader of the Opposition and the members of the alternative government who sit on the front benches on the Speaker’s left. The back benches are occupied by supporters of the Government and Opposition. Hence the name “back benchers”. The cross benches may be used by Independent MPs who do not vote regularly with the Government or the official Opposition.

One of the most important members in the House of Commons is the Speaker who despite his name is the one who actually never speaks. The Speaker is the Chairman or presiding MP of the House of Commons. He is elected by a vote of the House. The Speaker cannot debate or vote. He votes only in case of a tie, i.e. when voting is equal and in this case he votes with Government. The main job of the Speaker is to keep fair play between the parties, backbenchers and frontbenchers, as well as between the government and opposition. His duty is also to protect the House from the outside influence. The Speaker insists that MPs call each other “honourable members”, bow to him on entering and leaving and address all their speeches to him “Dear Speaker, Sir”. He must forbid “grossly insulting language”. It is the Speaker who selects MPs to speak and when an MP is about to finish his speech several MPs stand up and try to catch the Speaker’s eyes and get his permission to talk. The order of speakers is not arranged in advance. It is the Speaker who decides which MP is to speak next. The member who is named remains standing, and speaks from the place he has been sitting.

Members who speak from the Clerk’s table are the Government and Opposition leaders. The Speaker is assisted by three deputy speakers and by the party whips. The whips are party functioneers, party managers, who receive special salaries for their duties. They arrange each day programme in the Parliament and tell MPs when they must attend debates. They inform, instruct, dictate and enforce the views of the frontbenchers on the backbenchers. The strict party discipline obliges them to follow the instructions of the whips. Each leading party has officially recognized whips as well as the Chief Whip of the Government and the Chief Whip of the Opposition.

Voting in the House of Commons is not a simple matter; the members have to leave their benches and walk out into two corridors (called the Lobbies). As they pass out they are counted by four persons – two for each side – and it may take ten or fifteen minutes before the figures are announced. One Prime Minister said that speaking of the method of voting, the British system had much in its favour. When members leave their seats to walk out of the Chamber into the Lobbies, they come back much cooler and much quieter. The ten or fifteen minutes needed for a division gives time for passions to cool and for tempers to become calm.

In the Commons debating chamber there are seats for only 370 members and except on matters of great interest and importance the presence of all members is not necessary. 40 MPs are enough to make up a quorum.