4.1.1 Parliament
England is the mother of Parliaments.
John Bright (1811-1889)
The House of Commons
There are two Houses of Parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, whose function it is to pass laws, provide money through taxation, discuss government policy and administration, and debate the major politial issues of the day.
It is in the House of Commons that political argument and power is centred. The members of the House of Commons are elected by the British public in a General Election. The country is divided into constituenies and each of these returning one Member of Parliament (MP). A General Election is held at least once every five years, though such an election can be called sooner by the Prime Minister. In addition, there may be individual by-elections in constituencies where the MP has died or retired during the current session of Parliament. MPs represent a number of different political parties. A General Election determines the choice of political party to form a government, and its existence depends on maintaing the support of a majority in the Commons. The Government party is normally the party with the highest number of supporters in the House of Commons. The party with the second highest number of supporters is called the Opposition. The Government’s policies are explained or criticised in debates at question time, bills (draft laws) are considered, levels of taxation decided and expenditure voted for the running of the country. Most Government ministers (usually all but two of the Cabinet of about twenty, and sixty out of the eighty other ministers) are drawn from this House.
The Speaker – pictured here wearing his ceremonial robe – is elected by MPs to preside over the Commons, and ceases to belong to a political party after election. The term ‘Speaker’ derives from the earlier role of spoksman for the Commons in its exchanges with the king.
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MPs vote by going into either the ‘Aye’ lobby or the ‘No’
lobby, where they give their names to the clerks sitting at the high
desks and are counted by tellers as they file out. They have eight
minutes to reach the lobbies before the doors are locked. When all
MPs have voted, the tellers from both sides report their figures to
the Chair
It is interesting to know:
Normal daily timetable of the House of Commons
1.1 pm The Speaker arrives in the chamber after a procession from the Speaker’s House via the Lower Waiting Hall and Central Lobby. The Speaker’s Chaplain leads the House in prayers.
2.35-3.30 pm Questions to ministers (based on a rota of departments)
(3.00-3.30 pm Wednesdays: questions to the Prime Minister)
3.30 pm Private Notice (emergency) questions to ministers, statements by ministers and points of order to the Spaker.
3.30 pm (or later) Main business of the day begins.
10 pm (or later). Other items.
Last half-hour of sitting. Adjournment debate on a subject chosen by a backbencher.
The average length of a daily sitting is currently 9 hours 15 minutes.
On Thursdays, all timings are 3 hours earlier.
On Fridays the House meets at 9.30 am, does not usually take questions to ministers, and is likely to adjourn at 3 pm or shortly after.
The House of Lords
The 1,200 members of the House of Lords are not elected. The House of Lords is made up of hereditary peers, twenty six archbishops and bishops, very senior judges, and others who have been made life peers. Life peers are people who have been made lords because of service they have given to the community, often in the political field, but also in other areas, such as industry or entertainment.
Like the House of Commons, the House of Lords holds general debates, puts questions to ministers (of whom about twenty are members of the House) and considers legislation. Its procedure and practices differ in detail from those of the Commons, and its powers over legislation are quailified: the Lords may not amend ‘money bills, and they can only delay other bills passed by the Commons for an effective period of thirteen months.
Originally on very rare occasions, people who had been convicted of criminl offences could appeal to the House of Lords, and their case was heard by five of the Law Lords.
So, the House of Lords also had a judicial function as the final Court of Appeal for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and, in civil matters only, for Scotland, Such business is conducted by the Lords of Appeal, who include senior judges specially appointed to the Lords. In 2008 the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords was replaced by a new Supreme Court under the Constitutional Reform Act o2005 and ultimately has its olwn building away from the House of Lords.
The House is presided over by the Lord Speaker who is "appointed" by the members of the House of Lords and is expected to be politically impartial.
Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 the position of the Speaker of the House of Lords (as it is termed in the Act) became a separate office, allowing the position to be held by someone other than the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor continued to act as speaker of the House of Lords in an interim period after the Act was passed, while the House of Lords considered new arrangements about its speakership. The Lord Chancellor sat on the woolsack in front of the throne. The other peers sat on the red padded benches, with the Government party sitting on the throne’s right hand. The cross-benches were at the end of the chamber, in front of the Bar of the House where the Speaker and MPs stood at the State Opening, and from where barristers made their speeches when the chamber was used for judicial sittings. Behind it lay the archway leading to the Peers Lobby.
The area of the palace occupied by the House of Lords includes committee rooms, libraries, dining rooms and offices. Many of these rooms have been altered little since their completion, and are furnished with over 1,100 pieces of original furniture.
Who sits in the House of Lords
The Lords Spiritual:
the archbishops of Canterbury and York
the bishops of London, Durbam and Winchester, and the 21 senior diocesan bishops of the Church of England
The Lords Temporal:
92 hereditary peers (the Earl Marshal, the Lord Great Chamberlain, 15 office-holders and 75 peers elected by the political parties and the cross-benchers under the House of Lords Act 1999)
About 360 life peers (of whom about 30 were created to carry out the judicial functions of the House as Lords of Appeal)
From this total membership of about 480 there is an average daily attendance of some 350. Peers are unpaid, but receive expenses and allowances.
The State Opening of Parliament
LEFT After the Queen’s ceremonial procession into the House of Lords, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod is sent to the House of Commons. Their door is first slammed in his face, to symbolise the Commons’ claim to exclude the Soverign from their deliberations. Black Rod knocks three times on the door and is finally admitted to deliver his message commanding the attendance of ‘this honourable House’ in the House of Lords.
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Speaker then leads MPs in precession across the Central Lobby to the
Bar of the Lords’ chamber from where they hear the Queen read the
‘Gracious Speech’. This is handed to Her Majesty by the Lord
Chief Justice, and announces the Government’s programme for the
forthcoming session.
ABOVE The Lords in session. The Lords are presided over by the Lord Chief Justice (not in this picture).
Parliamentary committees
Parliamentary committees are small groups of members appointed by each House on the basis of party balance. In the Commons, standing committees consider most bills in detail, and in both Houses select committees inquire into specific matters. Some of the most active are the investigative select committees of the Commons that scrutinise the work and policy of the principal Government departments and their ministers, examining expenditure, administration and policy. The departmental select committes cover area such as Defence, Education and Employment, Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Health and Home Affairs.
They have the power to call for persons, papers and records, to adjourn from place to place and to report from time to time. Departmental committees have the power to report to the House of Commons detailing its opinion and observations upon any matter referred to them for their consideration, together with the minutes of the evidence taken before them, and also to make a special report of any matters which they may think fit to bring to the notice of the House. A minority of select committee reports are debated on the floor of the House.