Parliament

Complete the following text with the words and expressions from the list:

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.

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 (1)… 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.)

Making New Laws: Bills and Acts

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The functions of Parliament are: making laws; providing money for the government through taxation; examining government policy, administration and spending; debating political questions.

Every year Parliament passes about a hundred laws directly, by making Acts of Parliament. Because this can be a long process, Parliament sometimes passes a very general law and leaves a minister to fill in the details. In this way, it indirectly passes about 2,000 additional rules and regulations.

No new law can be passed unless it has completed a number of stages in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. 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. Whilst a law is still going through Parliament it 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.

Public and Private Bills are passed through Parliament in much the same way. When a Bill is introduced in the House of Commons, it receives a formal first reading. It is then printed and read a second time, when it is debated but not amended. After the second reading the Bill is referred to a committee, either a special committee made up of certain members of the House, or to the House itself as a committee. Here it is discussed in detail and amended, if necessary. The Bill is then presented for a third reading and is debated. If the Bill is passed by the Commons it goes to the Lords, and provided it is not rejected by them, it goes through the same procedure as in the Commons. After receiving the Royal Assent the Bill becomes an Act of Parliament. In order to be enforced, it must be published in Statute form, becoming a part of Statute Law. The power of the Lords to reject a Bill has been severely curtailed. A money Bill must be passed by the Lords without amendment within a month of being presented in the House. The Act of 1949 provides that any Public Bill passed by the Commons in two successive parliamentary sessions and rejected both times by the Lords, may be presented for the Royal Assent, even though it has not been passed by the Lords. The Lords, therefore, can only delay the passage of a Public Bill, they cannot reject it

New legislation in Britain usually starts in the House of Lords. In each house a bill is considered in three stages, called readings. The first reading is purely formal, to introduce the bill. The second reading is usually the occasion for debate. After the second reading the bill is examined in detail by a committee.

The bill is then returned to one of the houses for the report stage, when it can be amended. If passed after its third reading, it goes to the other house. Amendments made to a bill by the House of Lords must be considered by the Commons. If the House of Commons does not agree, the bill is altered and sent bask to the Lords. In the event of persistent disagreement between the two houses, Commons prevails.

Finally, the bill goes to the reigning monarch for the royal assent. Nowadays the royal assent is merely a formality. In theory the queen could still refuse her consent, but the last monarch to use this power was Queen Anne, who vetoed the unpopular Scottish Militia Bill in 1707.

Find in the texts the English equivalents for the following expressions.

руководить министерством

кворум

отклонить законопроект

выдвинуть законопроект

средняя посещаемость

налогообложение

отказаться (от титула)

внести поправку в законопроект

обсуждать политические вопросы

королевская санкция

ассигновать деньги для нужд правительства

принять закон

обсуждать законопроект

рассматривать законопроект

направить законопроект на рассмотрение

отложить принятие законопроекта

приводить закон в действие

заседание парламента

непосредственная власть

избирательный округ

избиратель

высший апелляционный суд

теневой кабинет

ограничить права

министерство / министр иностранных дел

министерство/ министр внутренних дел

канцлер Казначейства

The history of Parliament

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Parliament is one of the oldest and most honored parts of the British government. Its name, from the French word parler (“to talk”), was given to meetings of the English king's council in the mid-13th century. Its immediate predecessor was the king's feudal council, the Curia Regis, and before that the Anglo-Saxon witan or witenagemot. It was a device resorted to by the medieval kings to help them in running their governments and reflected the idea that the king should consult with his subjects.

In the 13th century, several elements combined to influence the development of Parliament: the need, stated in the Magna Carta (1215), for taxes to have the consent of the taxed; the custom of summoning to the royal council not just barons but elected representatives of towns and counties; the convenience of dealing with petitions at enlarged meetings of the king's council; and the genius of men such as King Edward I who saw how Parliament could be used to their advantage.

At first, Parliament was not an institution but an event. During the quarrel between King Henry III and his barons, the Oxford Parliament (1258) forced Henry to accept rule by a baronial committee. The barons' leader, Simon de Montfort, summoned representatives of towns to Parliament for the first time in 1265. The so-called Model Parliament of Edward I (1295) contained all the elements of a mature Parliament: bishops and abbots, peers, two knights from each shire, and two representatives from each town.

In the 14th century, Parliament split into two houses, gained control over statutes and taxation, created impeachment (1376), and presided over the abdications of Edward II (1327) and Richard II (1399). Growth continued under the Lancastrian kings (1399-1461) but then fell off, only to begin again in Henry VIII's Reformation Parliament (1529-36). Commons especially gained experience and confidence under Henry and his successors, but was generally subservient to the Crown.

Under the Stuart kings, cooperation changed to conflict, highlighted in 1649 by the overthrow and execution of Charles I and in 1688-89 by the English Revolution, which established parliamentary sovereignty. Beginning in the 18th century, the royal chief executive deferred to a prime minister and cabinet responsible to the House of Commons.

In the 19th century the House of Commons became democratic. The Great Reform Bill of 1832 gave the vote to the middle class for the first time. Acts in 1867 and 1884 enfranchised workingmen, and another in 1885 created equal electoral districts. The Parliament Act of 1911 weakened the House of Lords. Women aged 30 got the vote in 1918, those aged 21 in 1928. In 1969 the voting age for everyone was reduced to 18.

The union of England and Scotland in 1707 brought 16 Scottish peers and 45 representatives into Parliament. That with Ireland in 1800 brought in 32 more peers, 4 of whom were bishops from the church in Ireland, and 100 more representatives, although most withdrew when the Irish Free State was created in 1922. Britain's legislature, sometimes called the Mother of Parliaments, has been the model for legislative assemblies in many other countries.

The Constitution

English Constitution is the organic law of Great Britain providing for the form and powers of government. It is rooted in historic traditions and principles of liberty, which, in many respects, antedate the promulgation of the Magna Carta in 1215, and which, since the 19th century, have been held to affirm popular sovereignty.

Unlike the U.S. Constitution and most other constitutions, the English constitution is not a systematic written statement of law, but consists of a body of statutory law, customs, and judicial interpretations; it is frequently called a customary or unwritten constitution. As an example, English law makes no provision for so essential a feature of the British government as the cabinet, which originated in the 15th century as an advisory council to the king, and developed, in connection with the rise of representative government, to its present status as the executive branch of the government. Unlike constitutions that make explicit provision for their amendment and are often difficult to change, the English constitution may be changed easily. It may be altered, and in the past it has been altered, through the slow accretion of custom, by an act of Parliament, or by judicial interpretation.

Historians emphasize the antiquity and flexibility of the English constitution. Its uninterrupted development may be traced over a period of more than 900 years, from the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066. Throughout this period it remained adaptable, serving in turn the needs of medieval society and the rule of the bourgeoisie who established representative government and the former British Empire. It is now compatible with such recent liberal measures as comprehensive social insurance and the nationalization of basic industries and the Bank of England.

Find in the texts the English equivalents for the following expressions.

выборные представители

прибегать к чему-либо

отречься от престола

свержение

распадаться

обнародование

статутное право

получить избирательное право

положение Конституции

гибкость

обязательное социальное страхование