The British Parliament

 

 

Introduction

The British Parliament is the oldest in the world. It originated in th 12th century as Witenagemot, the body of wise councellers whom the King needed to consult pursuing his policy. 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.

1.The British Parliament

Great Britain is known as Mother of Parliaments. This is because in the Western world she was the first to introduce a workable body, an assembly of elected representatives of the people with the authority to resolve social and economic problems by free debate leading to the making of law.

Parliament is one of the oldest and most honored parts of the British government. One of the fundamental principles of the unwritten constitution is the sovereignty of Parliament. It means that Parliament has unlimited power in the legislative and the executive spheres and there is no institution that can declare its acts unconstitutional.

The main functions of Parliament are as follows: to pass laws, to provide the means of carrying on the work of Government, to control the Government policy and administration, to debate the most important political issues of the day. Nevertheless, the principal duty of Parliament is legislation.

Parliament is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom. It is free to make, unmake or alter any laws it wishes; to destroy established conventions or turn a convention into binding law. It could even prolong its own life beyond the normal period of five years without consulting the electorate. In practice, however, Parliament does not assert its supremacy in this way. Its members bear in mind the common law which has grown up over the centuries, and have tended to act in accordance with precedent and tradition.

There are three elements of the British Parliament - the Queen and the two Houses of Parliament (the House of Lords and the elected House of Commons). These elements are outwardly separate, constituted on different principles, and they meet together only on occasions of symbolic significance, such as a coronation, or the State Opening of Parliament when the Commons are summoned by the Queen to the House of Lords.

1.1. The House of Lords

The House of Lords appeared first as King's council consisting of Lords and barons. Now the House is a partly hereditary upper chamber. It comprises 26 Lords Spiritual (two of which are archbishops of Canterbury and York, the rest senior bishops of Church of England), 92 Lords Temporal (lay peers). Law Lords (senior judges) also sit as Lords Temporal. Up to 1958, the Lords Temporal were all either hereditary peers or Law Lords. In 1958, however, the Life Peerages Act was passed, which entitled the Queen to give non-hereditary titles or life peerages to both men and women. The Queen exercises this prerogative on the advice of the Prime Minister. A new Appointments Commission has operated a nomimations system for cross-bench peers since 2000. Since the House of Lords Act of 1999, only 92 peers sit by virtue of hereditary peerage, 75 of whom were elected by their respective party groups. The remaining 17 are office holders or have ceremonial offices. The total number of persons thus qualified to sit in the House of Lords is in excess of 670. [13, p.65]

The Speaker of the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor's powers as Speaker are very limited compared with those of the Speaker of the House of Commons, since the Lords themselves control the proceedings and maintain order in their House. Lord Chancellor is a government officer, responsible for the administration of justice and an automatic member of the Cabinet.

1.2. The House of Commons

The House of Commons is the centre of parliamentary power. It is directly responsible to the electorate, and from the 20th century the House of Lords has recognized the supremacy of the elected chamber. The House of Commons is traditionally regarded as the lower house, but it is the main parliamentary arena for political battle. A Government can only remain in office for as long as it has the support of a majority in the House of Commons. As with the House of Lords, the House of Commons debates new primary legislation as part of the process of making an Act of Parliament, but the Commons has primacy over the non-elected House of Lords. 'Money bills', concerned solely with taxation and public expenditure, are always introduced in the Commons and must be passed by the Lords promptly and without amendment. When the two houses disagree on a non-money bill, the Parliament Act can be invoked to ensure that the will of the elected chamber prevails. The House also scrutinizes the work of the Government - it does that by various means, including questioning ministers in the Chamber and through the Select Committee system.

2. The Work of Parliament

Each parliamentary session begins with the “State Opening of Parliament”, a ceremonial occasion when the Queen announces the programme of the work of Parliament for the coming session.

After brief opening formalities the working day of Parliament begins with Question Time, lasting about an hour. Ministers are asked from 40 to 70 questions on any points MPs choose. But questions should be handed to the officials of the House at least 48 hours beforehand. The answer to the question is prepared for the ministers by civil servants. There is no means of compelling a minister to give a truthful answer. Naturally, both the Government and Opposition use this period to reveal the weaknesses of their opponents. A minister and his staff preparing answers should anticipate what questions may be asked. On two afternoons each week the Prime Minister is to answer questions on general policy matters.

After the Question Time the House of Commons goes on to the main debate of the day to which it can give six or more hours. It often concerns a broad issue of foreign or home policy, or it may be the examination of the contents of a bill, as Parliament's unique and overriding function is the making of laws. The starting point is the drafting of a bill. The preparation of the text of the bill takes many months with long consultations involving civil-servant and legal experts. [19, p.81]

The process of passing a Bill is the same in the House of Lords as in the House of Commons. On introduction the Bill receives a formal First Reading. The Bill is not printed yet. The Clerk of the House reads out only the short title of the Bill, and the Minister responsible for it names a day for a Second Reading. It is then printed and published.

After a period of time, which varies between one or several weeks, depending on the nature of the Bill, it may be given a Second Reading as a result of a debate on its general merits or principles. It is then referred to one of the Standing Committees, or, if necessary, to the whole House sitting in Committee (if the House so decides), where each clause in the Bill is considered and voted on.

Finally the Bill is submitted for a Third Reading. At this purely formal stage the Bill is reviewed in its final form which includes the amendments made at earlier stages and, if passed, it is sent on from the Commons to the Lords or from the Lords to the Commons, depending on its place of origin, where it enters on the same course again.

All Bills which have passed through their various parliamentary stages are sent to the Sovereign for Royal Assent (approval), which is automatically given by Royal Commission. After this the Bill becomes law and is known as Act of Parliament.

 

 

Conclusion

England - a country long civil liberties , the oldest parliament and even the venerable age of the monarchy.

British Parliament - an example of a combination of old and new forms , their strata , coexistence. Feature of the British Parliament is that it operates in a unique environment in the country lack a written constitution . Some rules relating to its organization and activities , contained in common law countries ( very few ) , others - in unwritten constitutional norms and agreements.

Forefathers parliaments studied and mastered the experience of other countries , borrowed practices which he considered to be reasonable and useful (U.S. committee to investigate the activities of ministries , institution authorized to control not to have actions of state bodies and officials , etc.).

Parliament position is determined by two fundamental principles - parliamentary supremacy and parliamentary ( responsible ) government.

Unlike other countries in Western Europe, in England , there are no special central electoral authorities . General guidance on the organization of elections across the country by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Constituency - official on elections ( county sheriff and heads of local councils) .

The actual functioning of all parliamentary mechanism based on the existence in the country two-party system . It has a decisive impact on the internal organization and functioning of Parliament . Under her influence is all the organization of the electoral process; formed the constitutional agreement , conditional whole complex of relations between the Parliament and the Government .

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

1.UK Parliament [электронный ресурс]:[сайт].-URL

http\\www.parliament.uk.com

2. The British Parliament [электронный ресурс]:[сайт].-URL

http\\www.great-britain.co.uk

3. The Political System of GB [электронный ресурс]:[сайт].-URL

http\\www.countries.com