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The British
Parliament
The British Parliament is the oldest in the world. It
originated in th 12th century. The British Parliament consists of the House of
Lords and the House of Commons and the Queen as its head. The House of Commons
plays the major role in law-making. It consists of Members of Parliament
(called MPs for short). Each of them
represents an area in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. MPs are elected
either at a general election or at a by-election following the death or
retirement. Parliamentary elections are held every 5 years and it is the Prime
Minister who decides on the exact day of the election. The minimum voting age
is 18. And the voting is taken by secret ballot. The election campaign lasts
about 3 weeks.
The British parliamentary system depends on politicals
parties. The party which wins the
majority of seats forms the goverment and its leader usually becomes Prime
Minister. The Prime Minister chooses
about 20 MPs from his party to become the cabinet of ministers. Each minister
is responsible for a particular area in the goverment. The second largest party
becomes the official opposition with its own leader and "shadow
cabinet". The leader of the
opposition is a recognized post in the House of Commons. The parliament and the
monarch have different roles in the goverment and they only meet together on
symbolic occasions, such as coronation of a new monarch or the opening of the
parliament.
In reality, the House of Commons is the one of three
which has true power. The House of Commons is made up of six hundred and fifty
elected members, 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 2 rows of seats are occupied by the
leading members of both parties (called "front benches"). The back
benches belong to the rank-and-life MPs. Each session of the House of Commons
lasts for 160-175 days. Parliament has intervals during his work. MPs are paid
for their parliamentary work and have to attend the sittings.
As mention above, the House of Commons plays the major
role in law making. The procedure is the following: a proposed law ("a bill") has to go
through three stages in order to become an act of parliament, these are called
"readings". The first reading
is a formality and is simply the publication of the proposal. The second
reading involves debate on the principles of the bill, it is examination by
parliamentary committy. And the third
reading is a report stage, when the work of the committy is reported on to the
house. This is usually the most important stage in the process. When the bill
passes through the House of Commons, it is sent to the House of
Lords for discussion,
when the Lords agree it, the bill is taken to
the Queen for
royal assent, when the Queen sings the bill, it
becomes act of the
Parliament and the Law of the Land.
The House of Lords has more than 1000 members,
although only about 250 take an active part in the work in the house. Members
of this Upper
House are not elected, they sit there because of their
rank, the chairman
of the House of Lords is the Lord
Chancellor. And he sits on a
special seat, called "WoolSack" The members of the House of Lords
debate the bill after it has been passed by the House of Commons. Some changes
may be recommended and the agreement between the two houses is reached by
negotiations.