Unit 4. Parliament

Task 1. Read the basic facts and make sure you understand the terminology used. If necessary look up the words in Longman Dictionary of Language and Culture.

Basic facts:

• The UK Parliament is one of the oldest representative assemblies in the world.

• Parliamentary government in the United Kingdom is based on a two-chamber system. The House of Lords (the upper House) and the House of Commons (the lower house) sit separately and are constituted on entirely different principles.

• The legislative process involves both Houses of Parliament and the Monarch.

• The main functions of Parliament are to examine proposals for new laws, to provide, by voting, for taxation, the means of carrying on the work of government, to scrutinise government policy and administration, including proposals for expenditure, to debate the major issues of the day.

• Proposals for legislative changes may be contained in government White Papers.

• Consultation papers, sometimes called Green Papers, set out government proposals, which are still taking shape and seek comments from the public.

• There is no requirement for there to be a White or Green Paper before a bill is introduced into Parliament.

• Parliament has a maximum duration of five years. At any time up to the end of this period, a general election can be held for a new House of Commons.

• There are devolved Parliaments/Assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland created by legislation passed by the UK Parliament.

• Recess is a break within a session for (e.g. Christmas, Easter, Whitsun, Summer).

• Prorogation is the gap between the end of one session and the State Opening, which begins the next session.

• Dissolutionmeans the end of one Parliament before an election and the beginning of the next.

Task 2. Read the text and make a quiz on one of its parts, exchange your quizes in class and solve them.

Palace of Westminster, or the History of Parliament

The site of the Houses of Parliament is the Palace of Westminster, a royal palace and former residence of kings. The layout of the Palace is intricate, with its existing buildings containing nearly 1,200 rooms, 100 staircases and well over 3 kilometres (2 miles) of passages. Among the original historic buildings is Westminster Hall, used nowadays for major public ceremonial events. Control of the Palace of Westminster and its precincts was for centuries exercised by the Queen's representative, the Lord Great Chamberlain. Certain ceremonial rooms continue to be controlled by the Lord Great Chamberlain.

The Palace of Westminster was the principal residence of the kings of England from the middle of the 11th century until 1512. William I, having established his first stronghold at the Tower, later moved to Westminster; and it is from the reign of his son, William Rufus, that the first buildings on the site date, including Westminster Hall, the Great Hall, which was built at the northern end of the Palace and still stands today. The hall was designed originally as a place for feasting and entertaining, but its very size made it more than that. Among other uses, the Royal Council of bishops, nobles and ministers assembled there. The special later form of this Council, which came to be known as Parliament, was the forerunner of the present House of Lords. It was also the site of the first true English parliament to include elected representatives, summoned by Simon de Montfort in 1265. While Parliament has never met in the Hall on a regular basis, it was the existence of the Hall, which at that time was the largest in Europe that helped to make Westminster the judicial and administrative centre of the kingdom. In medieval times kings summoned their courts wherever they happened to be. But by the end of the 14th century the court in all its aspects - administrative, judicial and parliamentary - had its headquarters at Westminster. During later centuries, the Hall housed the courts of law, and was the place of many notable state trials, for instance, those of Thomas More, Charles I, and the Gunpowder Plot conspirators.

The Hall is also the place where lyings in state, of monarchs, consorts, and, rarely, very distinguished statesmen, take place. In April 2002 several hundred thousand people queued to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother, as she lay in state there.

Although the Lords were accommodated in the Palace, the Commons originally had no permanent meeting place of their own, meeting either in the chapter house or the refectory of Westminster Abbey. In 1547 the Royal Chapel of St Stephen within the Palace of Westminster was handed over to the Commons. The Commons assembled in St Stephen's until 1834 when the Palace was burned down. This fire destroyed the Palace except Westminster Hall, the crypt of St Stephen's Chapel, the adjacent cloisters and the Jewel Tower.

The present Houses of Parliament were built over the next 30 years after the fire of 1834. They were the work of the architect Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860) and his assistant Augustus Pugin (1812-52). The design incorporated Westminster Hall and the remains of St Stephen's Chapel. The House of Commons Chamber was destroyed in a German air attack in 1941. It was rebuilt after the Second World War, taking care to preserve the essential features of Barry's building - the architect was Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. The new Chamber was completed in 1950.

The public entrance to the Palace is through St Stephen's entrance in Old Palace Yard. Visitors wishing to watch the proceedings of either House should either obtain tickets well in advance - normally seven to eight weeks - from their MP, or else join the queue outside St Stephen's Entrance. It is generally easiest to get into the House of Commons between 6.00pm and 10.30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, after 1:30pm on Thursdays and at 9am on Fridays. For UK residents, permits for guided parties to tour the Palace and Westminster Hall can be obtained from the local MP. Overseas visitors should apply to the Education Office at the House of Commons for permits.