Vocabulary

1. allowance содержание, карманные деньги, паек

2. to appoint назначать

3. body орган, общество, ассоциация

4. to call for a division призвать к голосованию

5. constituent 1. избирательный 2. избиратель

6. constituency избирательный орган

7. to delay отсрочить

8. to dominate господствовать, преобладать

9. the Executive исполнительная власть

10.in favour of в пользу

11. in substance по существу

12. clergy духовенство

13. power власть, полномочия

14. Head of State глава государства

15. the House of Commons палата общин

16. the House of Lords палата лордов

17. to introduce представлять, вносить на рассмотрение

18. to nominate назначать на должность

19. to preside председательствовать

20. privileges привилегия

21. Lords Temporal лорды светские

22. Lords Spiritual лорды духовные

23.the Legislature законодательная власть

24. the Speaker of the House of Commons

25. to restrict ограничивать

26. to resign.уходить в отставку

27. to resign the Cabinet выйти из состава правительства

28. unanimous единодушный, единогласный

Task 1. Read the text.

British Parliament

Parliament is the legislative organ and is constitutionally composed of the Monarch (the Sovereign), the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The Queen in Parliament represents the supreme authority within the United Kingdom. The Parliament at Westminster legislates for the United Kingdom, for any one of the constituent countries, or for any combination of them.

The House of Commons has 650 elected Members of Parliament (MPs), each representing local constituencies in England (523), Scotland (72), Wales (38) and Northern Ireland (17). The law relating to Parliamentary elections is contained in substance in the Representation of the People Act, 1949, as amended. British elections are usually fought between political parties, not

individuals. Any British subject aged 21 or over, not otherwise disqualified ( as for example, members of the House of Lords, certain clergy, undischarged bankrupts, civil servants; holders of judicial office, members of the regular armed services and the police forces) may be elected a member of Parliament. People who want to be elected to Parliament need to be nominated by one of the main political parties. A candidate has to put down a deposit of 500 pounds and collect ten signatures from residents in the constituency where he wants to stand. A candidate who gets less than 5 per cent of the total votes loses his deposit.

Members of Parliament have been paid salaries since 1911. The rate has lately been nearly twice the average industrial worker’s wages. Since 1965 the allowances for travel, living in London, and paying part-time secretaries and research assistants, have all been increased.

The Speaker of the House of Commons is elected by the members from the members to preside over the House immediately after each new Parliament is formed. He is an impartial arbiter over Parliamentary procedure and the traditional guardian of the rights and privileges of the House of Commons. The House of Commons seems to have most power within Parliament. Any member of the House may introduce a Bill. The maximum life of the House of Commons has been restricted to 5 years since the Parliament Act 1911.

Each session of Parliament is usually opened in the House of Lords. The House of Lords or the Upper House is made up of the Lords Temporal and the Lords Spiritual. The Lords Temporal consist of hereditary peers who have inherited their titles; life peers who are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Government for various services to the nation. Life peers were created by the Crown under the Life Peerages Act, 1958; and the Law Lords of Appeal (Law Lords) who become life peers on their judicial appointments. The latter serve the House of Lords as the ultimate court of appeal. This appeal court consists of some nine Law Lords who hold senior judicial office. They are presided over by the Lord Chancellor and they form a quorum of three to five when they hear appeal cases. The Lords Spiritual include the two Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the three Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester, and 21 most senior of the established Church of England. The House of Lords is not an elective body. The House of Lords like the Monarch has now lost most of its powers and cannot influence the process of decision- making in Parliament.

Task 2. Find Kazakh (Russian) equivalents to the following words and word combinations in the text.

the Speaker of the House of Commons constituent

constituency

Head of State

the House of Lords

clergy

introduce

to preside

to dominate

Lords Spiritual

privileges

in substance

to have the power

Lords Temporal

peers

body

the House of Commons

to restrict

Task 3. True or false? Check your answers in the text of task 1.

1. Parliament in Britain has a three chamber structure. 2. Any member of the House may introduce a Bill. 3. Each session of Parliament is usually opened in the House of Lords. 4. Members of Parliament are paid a salary. 5. The House of Lords is not an elective body. 6. The membership in the House of Commons is hereditary. 7. The House of Lords is elected every 5 years.

Task 4. Answer the Questions

1. Which of the three categories of Lords Temporal do you think are called “The Law Lords”?

2. How often is Parliament elected?

3. Is the Speaker of the House of Commons elected?

4. What are differences between life peers and hereditary peers, Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual?

Task 5. Read the text, find the answers to the questions given below.

Government

Effective power belongs to the Government, which is part of Parliament and responsible to it, but which also normally dominates it. The Government consists of about hundred politicians under the Prime Minister. Members of the Government are not elected by the House of Commons. They are nominated by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may also require ministers to resign. A modern government is arranged in about fifteen departments, each with its ministerial head. The number changes from time to time, as departments are members of the House of Commons.

The executive power belongs to the Cabinet of Ministers. The Cabinet consists of 16 to 24 senior ministers whom the Prime Minister has appointed. Most ministers in the Cabinet are heads of departments. The Cabinet meets once a week in No 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister. The office of Prime Minister dates from the eighteenth century and is the subject of a number of constitutional conventions. Cabinet –making is the most important part of a Prime Minister’s job. He consults and advises the Monarch on government business, supervises. He also makes recommendations to the Monarch on many important public appointments, including the Lord Chief Justice, Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, and Lords Justices of Appeal. The Prime Minister decides which ministers will be included. In order that it can work as a team and arrive at decisions more easily and quickly the Cabinet is restricted to about twenty members.

The Cabinet formulates a comprehensive policy covering all major issues both at home and abroad. The Cabinet has to decide on important day-to-day issues as they arise, e.g. a major strike, a run on the sterling, political upheavals abroad.

1. Which body has more powers: Parliament or the Government?

2. How is the choice of the members of the Government exercised?

3. Is the number of Ministers in the Government constant?

4. What kind of state body is the Cabinet: executive, legislative, judicial?

5. Which of these people are not elected: a peer, an MP, the Prime Minister?

Task 6. Answer the questions.

1. What are the functions of:

a) Parliament;

b) the Prime Minister;

c) the Privy Council;

d) the Cabinet;

e) the Government Departments?

2. Who does the Cabinet consist of?

Task 7. Read an extract from newspaper article and comment on.

It was the fourth deadline in nine months, but this time, said British Prime Minister Tony Blair, it was absolute, with no plan to fall back on. There would be “no peace at all” in Northern Ireland, he said, if this deadline was missed. With these dire warnings, Blair hoped to concentrate the minds of Northern Ireland’s warring politician’s who convened last week in the drab Castle Buildings block in Belfast to try to save the deadlocked Good Friday Agreement, signed in the very same building just 14 months ago. “The entire civilized world will not understand if we can’t put this together and make it work,” Blair intoned.(Time, July 12, 2002)

СРСП 4.

Task 1. Read the text and say, how many stages a bill must pass to become an Act of Parliament.

Procedure of passing bills.

The functions of Parliament are: making laws; providing money for the government through taxation; examining government policy, administration and spending; debating political questions. A law passing through Parliament is called a Bill. There are two main types of Bills- Public Bills which deal with matters of public importance and Private Bills which deal with local matters and individuals. It becomes a law, an Act of Parliament, when it is passed by Parliament. The Monarch also has to give a Bill the Royal Assent, which is now just a formality. Since 1707 no sovereign has refused a Bill.

Preparing a bill for submission to Parliament may take many months, and it may be preceded by other government publications. A Green Paper sets out various alternatives or discussion. Pressure groups make their views known. Government departments concerned are also consulted. The Government then issues a White Paper containing its definite proposals for legislation. Any member of the House of Commons may introduce a bill. When the bill is introduced it receives its formal “first reading” after which it is printed and circulated to members. The first reading of a bill is scarcely objected to as there is no debate or amendment allowed at this stage, but a date is fixed for the second reading.

At the “second reading” the bill is debated. When this second reading takes place, the member who has introduced the bill makes speech explaining the proposed new law and his reasons for bringing it forward. Some members may support the bill, but others may oppose it. There may be a discussion. If the bill passes this stage it is sent to a Committee where details are discussed and amendments generally made.

Finally the bill is given a “third reading”. The House of Commons may be unanimous in favor of the bill or not. The Speaker must then call for a division. If the bill has a majority of votes it will go before the House of Lords.

The House of Lords can not reject bills passed by the House of Commons. The Lords can merely delay bills which they don’t like.

A bill becomes an Act of Parliament when the Queen signs it. In order to be enforced, it must be published in Statute form, becoming a part of Statute Law. A money Bill must be passed by the Lords without amendment within a month of being presented in the House.

Task 2. Find the synonym to the sentence “After receiving the Royal Assent the Bill becomes an Act of Parliament.”

Task 3. Answer the questions.

1. What is the difference between a Bill and an Act of Parliament? 2. What are the two types of Bills? Discuss the difference between them.

3. How many readings should a Bill receive to become an Act?

4. What is the role of the House of Lords in law-making process?

5. Which of the two Houses of Parliament has more power?

Task 4. Draw a chart how Bills go through Parliament.

Task 5. Complete the following text with the words and expressions given below.

The House of Commons

This is the House of Commons, where Members of Parliament take their seats on the green leather a) __ according to their party and position. One of them is chosen to be the b) ___ , who acts as a kind of chairman of the c) __ which take place in the House. In front of him on his right sit the MPs of the biggest party, which forms the government, and facing them sit the MPs of the parties who oppose them, the d) ___. The leaders of these two groups sit at the front on each side. MPs without special positions in their parties sit behind their leaders at the back. They are called e) __ . The leader of the government, the f) ___, sits on the government g) __, of course, next to his or her h)___. The most important of these form the i) ___. The minister responsible for relations with other countries is called the j) ___. The one responsible for law and security is called the k)___. The one who deals with –financial matters and prepares the annual l)___ speech on the economic state of the country is called the m)___. Opposite this group sits the n)___ (the main person in the largest party opposing the government) and the o) ___ , each member of which specializes in a particular area of government.

(Cabinet; backbenchers; Prime minister; ministers; debates; benches; Budget; Speaker; front bench; Opposition; Foreign Secretary; Shadow Cabinet; Home Secretary; Leader of the Opposition; Chancellor of the exchequer.)

Task 6. Analyze the chart. Draw the chart of Kazakhstani governmental system. Then analyze and give full information about it.

The System of Government

		Sovereign The Queen is head of government, she makes laws with Parliament and she is head of the courts
	GOVERNMENT							PARLIAMENT
Cabinet Chairman: Prime Minister Ministers: Treasury Foreign Office Nome Office, etc.							House of Lords Chairman: Lord Chancellor Lords: Temporal, Spiritual, Law Lords				House of Commons Chairman: Speaker MP’s (650 MP’s)

Task 7. Read the text.

The Election Timetable

The British government is elected for up to five years, unless it is defeated in Parliament on a major issue. The Prime Minister chooses the date of the next General Election, but does not have to wait until the end of the five years. A time is chosen which will give as much advantage as possible to the political party in power. Other politicians and the newspapers try very hard to guess which date the Prime Minister will choose.

About a month before the election the Prime Minister meets a small group of close advisers to discuss the date which would best suit the party.

The date is announced to the Cabinet. The Prime Minister formally asks the Sovereign to dissolve Parliament.

Once Parliament is dissolved, all MPs are unemployed, but government officers continue to function.

Party manifestos are published and campaigning begins throughout the country, lasting for about three weeks with large- scale press, radio and television coverage.

Voting takes place on Polling Day (usually a Thursday). The results from each constituency are announced as soon as the votes have been counted, usually the same night. The national result is known by the next morning at the latest.

As soon as it is clear that one party has a majority of seats in the House of Commons, its leader is formally invited by the Sovereign to form a government.

Task 8. Find in the text the English equivalents for the phrases below.

• сайлау округі, избирательный округ;

• билеуші партия, правящая партия;

• бірінші кезектегі мәселе, вопрос первостепенной важности;

• біреуге артықшылық жасау, дать к-л. преимущество;

• үкіметті құрау, сформировать правительство;

• сайлау күнін хабарлау, объявить дату выборов;

• сайлау қорытындысын жариялау; объявить результаты выборов;

• ортақ палатадан көп орын алу; иметь большинство мест в палате общин;

• парламентті тарату, распустить парламент;

• дауысты санау, посчитывать голоса;

• парламентте жеңілу, потерпеть поражение в парламенте.

Task 9. Complete the following text with the words and expressions from the box.

Election campaign; support; polling day; ballot box; vote; predict; opinion poll; polling station; candidate.

People sometimes try to a) ____ the result of an election weeks before it takes place. Several hundred people are asked which party they prefer, and their answers are used to guess the result of the coming election. This is called an b) ___. Meanwhile each party conducts its c)___ with meetings, speeches, television commercials, and party members going from door to door encouraging people to d)___ their party. In Britain everyone over18 is eligible to e) __. The place where people go to vote in an election is called a f)___ and the day of the election is often

known as g) ___. The voters put their votes in a h) ___ and later they are counted. The i) __ with the most votes is then declared the winner.

Task 10. Skim through the text to understand its general meaning.

The central government ministries and departments give effect to government policies and have powers and duties conferred on them by legislation, and, sometimes, under the Royal Prerogative. Each is headed by a minister who is in most cases a member of either the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are over 100 ministers of the Crown at the present time; they include departmental ministers (e.g., the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; Chancellor of the Exchequer (Treasury); Secretary of State for Social Services); non-departmental ministers (e.g., Lord President of the Privy Council, Paymaster- General, Ministers without Portfolio); ministers of state (additional ministers in departments whose work is heavy); and junior ministers (usually known as Parliamentary Secretary or Parliamentary Undersecretary) in all ministries and departments.

The Lord Chancellor and the Law Officers of the Crown deserve special mention at this point. The Lord Chancellor of Great Britain presides over the House of Lords both in its legislative capacity and as a final court of appeal; he is a member of the Cabinet and also has departmental responsibilities in connection with the appointment of certain judges. He advises on, and frequently initiates, law reform programmes with the aid of the Law commissions, the Law Reform Committee and ad hoc committees. The four Law Officers of the Crown include, for England and Wales, the attorney- General and the Solicitor –General; for Scotland, the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland. The English Law Officers are usually members of the House of Commons and the Scottish Law Officers may be.

The United Kingdom has no Ministry of Justice. Responsibility for the administration of the judicial system in England and Wales is divided between the courts themselves, the Lord Chancellor, and the Home Secretary. The Lord Chancellor is concerned with the composition of the courts, with civil law, parts of criminal procedure and law reform in general; the Home Secretary is concerned with the prevention of criminal offences, the apprehension, trial and treatment of offenders, and with the prison service.

Task 11. Discuss with other students the topic “Differences and similarities between the UK system of government and your own”.

Task 12. Learn and remember the following phrasal verbs.

TO CALL – шақыру, сотқа шақыру, талап ету, созывать, призывать в суд, требовать (уплаты)

to call back, to c. off – судьяны қайта шақыру, шешімді өзгерту, отзывать судью, отменять решение

to call for- талап ету, требовать

to call on (upon) – шақыру, призывать

to call in – айналымнан алып тастау, изымать из обращения

to call smb. in testimony – куәгерлікке шақыру, призывать к-л. в свидетели

to call to an account – жауапқа тарту, призывать к ответу

to call to order – тәртіпке шақыру, призывать к порядку

Task 13. Translate the following words.

жауапқа тарту, призывать к ответу; тәртіпке шақыру, призывать к порядку судьяны қайта шақыру, шешімді өзгерту, отзывать судью, отменять решениe; талап ету, требовать; айналымнан алып тастау, изымать из обращения; куәгерлікке шақыру, призывать к-л. в свидетели; шақыру, призывать;

Task 14. Give 5-6 sentences with words given in ex. 10.

Unit 5