The UK Parliament

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament which is known as the law-making body of the British people, is comprised of three elements: the Monarchy, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. They meet in a body only on occasions of ceremonial significance, such as the state opening of Parliament, in spite if the fact that the agreement of all three is normally required for legislation. The House of Commons has 650 elected members called Members of Parliament or MPs. Election to the House of Commons is an important part of Britain's democratic system. The main motivation of the House of Commons is to make laws by passing Acts of Parliament, as well as to discuss current political issues. Some of the liveliest sessions in the Commons debating chamber take place at Prime Minister's Question Time when MPs have the opportunity to quiz the Prime Minister on burning issues of the day. The House of Lords currently has around 760 non-elected members. They are hereditary peers and peeresses, life peers and peeresses and two archbishops and 24 senior bishops of the Church of England. Its main legislative function is to examine and revise bills from the Commons, but the Lords cannot normally prevent proposed legislation from becoming law if the Commons insists on it. It also functions as a legal capacity as the final Court of Appeal.

The relationship between the two Houses is ruled largely by convention but is in part defined by the Parliament Acts. The legislative process includes both Houses of Parliament and the Monarch. Under section 7 of the Parliament Act 1911 the life of a parliament is confined to five years from the day on which first appointed to meet, unless previously dissolved.

The main functions of Parliament:

The main functions of Parliament are to make all UK law, provide, by voting for taxation, the means of carrying on the work of government, protect the public and safeguard the rights of individuals, scrutinise government policy and administration, including proposals for expenditure, examine European proposals before they become law, hear appeals in the House of Lords which is the highest Court of Appeal in Britain, debate the vital issues of the day. At the end of the 20th Century, legislation was passed by the UK Parliament to create devolved Parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Origin and development of UK Parliament

Simon de Montfort and the origins of Parliament:

By the 1250s King Henry III (1216-72) was running into difficulties with his nobility. They were furious at the cost of some of his schemes which includes the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey and a proposed campaign to make one of his younger sons King of Sicily.

The Provisions of Oxford (1258), imposed on Henry by his barons, accepted a permanent baronial council which took control of certain main appointments. The leader of the baronial movement was Simon de Montfort, who was the Earl of Leicester. In 1259 the Provisions of Westminster modified the common law.

Henry eventually rejected both sets of provisions and challenged the barons. Civil war broke out in 1264, initially going well for Simon de Montfort. During the conflict he sought to uplift his baronial support by summoning knights of the shires and burgesses to attend his parliament. This was the first time that commoners had been represented.

In 1265, De Montfort was killed at the Battle of Evesham but his alteration of summoning the commons to attend parliaments was reiterated in later years and soon became standard. Thus the modern idea of a representative parliament derives from him.

Parliamentary Developments:

14th-20th Centuries

In the 14th Century, under King Edward III (1327-77) it was accepted that there should be no taxation without parliamentary consent, still a fundamental principle today. Two definite Houses of Parliament were coming forth for the first time, with the 'Commons' sitting apart from the 'Upper House' from 1341. The 'Good Parliament' of 1376 saw the election of the first Speaker, Thomas Hungerford, to represent the Commons. It also experienced the use of 'impeachment', whereby the House of Commons as a body could blame officials who had abused their authority and put them on trial before the Lords.

The Commons acquired equal law-making powers with the Lords, under King Henry V in the 15th Century. The 16th Century saw the legal union of Wales - which had long been subject to the English crown - with England under King Henry VIII (1536). Henry's regime also saw the Church of England break away from the Roman Catholic Church. The 'Gunpowder Plot' of 1605 may have been hatched when it became clear that the new King, James 1, intended to do nothing to ease the plight of Catholics in the country. The Queen at present holds the office of the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and, as the sovereign, must by law be a member of that Church.

In the 17th Century, tensions increased between parliament and monarch, such that in 1641 the King and Parliament could not concur on the control of troops for restraint of the Irish Rebellion. Civil War broke out the following year that lead to the execution of King Charles 1 in January 1649. Following the restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, the role of parliament was enhanced by the events of 1688-89 (the 'Glorious Revolution') and the passage of the Bill of Rights which strengthened the authority of Parliament over the King, and enshrined in law the principle of freedom of speech during parliamentary debates.

1707 brought the Union with Scotland and the first Parliament of Great Britain. Union with Ireland, which followed in 1801, lasted until its independence and the separation of Northern Ireland in the 1920s. Growing pressure for reform of parliament in the 18th and 19th Centuries led to a series of Reform Acts which extended the electoral franchise to most men (over 21) in 1867 and, finally, to women who were over 21 in 1928.

The legislative primacy of the House of Commons over the Lords was confirmed in the 20th Century by the passing of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949.

The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949:

Until the early years of the 20th century, the House of Lords had the power to prevent legislation, as bills had to be passed by both Houses of Parliament.

David Lloyd-George's so-called 'people's budget' of 1909 brought this arrangement under strain, when the House of Lords originally refused to pass it. Eventually, the budget was passed after a general election in 1910; a second election was then fought on the issue of reform of the House of Lords. The result was the Parliament Act of 1911, which took away from the House of Lords the power to veto a bill, except one to lengthen the lifetime of a parliament. Instead, the Lords could make slow a bill by up to two years. The Act also shortened the maximum lifespan of a Parliament from seven years to its present five years. The Parliament Act 1949 further shortened the Lords' delaying powers to one year.

Since 1949 four acts have been passed into law not necessitating the consent of the House of Lords:

The War Crimes Act 1991

The European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999

The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000

The Hunting Act 2004

Composition of the House of Commons:

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and is now the dominant branch of Parliament. The House of Commons is an elected body functioning in a democratic way consisting of 650 members, who are familiar with as "Members of Parliament" or "MPs.". The UK public elects Members of Parliament (MPs) in order to represent their interests and concerns in the House of Commons. MPs consider and make proposals for new laws, and can examine carefully government policies by asking ministers questions about current issues both in the Commons Chamber and in Committees.

The Speaker:

The Speaker regulates the proceedings of the House. The Speaker is a senior Member who is appointed by common agreement of all Members and is generally a Member of the Opposition Party. The election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker is the first task undertaken by Parliament following a general election. The Speaker acts with politically impartiality and controls the business of the House.

The Speaker acts as the presiding officer of the House and ensures that the rules of conduct and order are observed properly. The Speaker is the representative of the Commons in relations with the Crown -it is through the Speaker that the privilege of access to sovereign is effected-and the House of Lords and other bodies outside Parliament. When the House of Lords amends Common's Bills, the Speaker checks the amendments to ensure that they do not violate the financial privileges of the lower House. It is also the function of the Speaker to certify Bills under the Parliament Act 1911.

The Speaker of the House of Commons does not speak - he or she does not make speeches or take part in debates, yet he or she is a speaker in the house. The office has been held ceaselessly since 1377 and originally the Speaker spoke on behalf of the Commons to the Monarch. That role is now largely ceremonial and today the Speaker's central function is to maintain order in a debate, and he or she may not vote other than in an official capacity - that is when the result of a vote is a tie. Even then, he or she is not allowed to express an opinion on the merits of the question under debate and must vote in such a way as to give the House another chance to decide. The Speaker gets three deputies - the Chairman of Ways and Means and his or her two Deputy Chairmen. Like the Speaker, they can neither speak nor vote other than in their official capacity. The Speaker is neither a Minister nor a member of any political party but he or she is still a Member of Parliament, representing a constituency. The choice of Speaker is by election, with Members of Parliament each having one vote.

The Leader of the House:

The Leader of the House is responsible to the Prime Minister for the organization of the business in the Commons. It is the function of the Leader of the House to announce the parliamentary business of the following week. The Leader of the House is a Minister of the Crown and when the Prime Minister is unavailable, it is the Leader of the House who represents the House of Commons.

The party whips:

The term 'whip' is said to owe its origin to the 'whippers-in' - people who keep the hounds in order at fox-hunting meets. Parliamentary whips are taken to be holding the same duties, controlling the pack of MPs in their party.

Government whips are all Ministers of the Crown. The principal task of the Chief Whip is the management of government business in the House. He or she must look into the matter that parliament has passed all the legislation and done all the tasks which it had planned during that session in spite of the activities of the opposition. By subject and by region, whips in the two main parties are organised. Maintaining valuable day-to-day contact between ministers and their backbench supporters, they monitor opinions inside their party and report back to the leadership.

'The Whip' also refers to a document which is sent out weekly to MPs detailing the upcoming business of the House. Items are underlined once, twice or three times in order to indicate their importance to the party leadership. In the matter of a 'three-line' whip, the leadership is letting MPs know that it expects them to turn up and vote on the matter under discussion.

The party political control of Members is in the hands of party whips. On the government side, all whips receive salaries and are Ministers of the Crown. The Chief Whip is assisted by up to 12 other members. The Chief whip organizes the details of business of the House. The Opposition has Chief Whip, two salaried assistants and eight to ten non-salaried assistants.

Members of Parliament:

For the 2010 general election there were 650 seats in the House of Commons. The qualition government established in 2010 made a decision to reduce the number of seats in the House of Commons to 600. The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 gives effect to this proposal. Each member representing approximately 100000 citizens. Members are elected by the first past the post system of election for limited terms, holding office until Parliament is dissolved (maximum of five years). Each member is elected by, and represents, an electoral district known as a constituency. The House of Commons is the source of the vast majority of government ministers and, since 1963, every Prime Minister.

The Legislative Process:

The procedure for passing the Bill differs depending on the classification of a Bill. Most attention is here devoted to Public Bills.

The preparation of a Bill

Once the government has decided to implement a particular measure, the aims of the government must be translated effectively into language which will achieve those objectives. Drafting consists of five stages: understanding, analysis, design, composition and revision. The draft Bill is examined by the Cabinet Home affairs Committee before being formally submitted to parliament for scrutiny and enactment.

The structure of a Bill

Each Bill has a short title which indicates the general area of the policy involved together with a long title which summaries the main objectives of the Bill. The Bill is made up of Chapters or Parts and Schedules which contain detail supplementary to the primary clauses. The Bill may accept powers in order to make delegated legislation to ministers or other specified bodies.

Pre-legislative scrutiny:

In order to improve quality of legislation, governments increasingly publish draft Bills for consideration before the bill is presented in its proposed final form. Since 1997 there has been an increasing use of select committees to scrutinize draft Bills before they are formally presented to Parliament. This form of pre-legislative scrutiny authorizes specialist individuals and groups to contribute to the legislative process and thereby improve the quality of legislation.

The legislative stages: Public Bills

First reading:

A Bill which is to be introduced will appear on the Order Paper of the relevant day. The Bill will be tabled in 'dummy form' and is deemed to be read a first time. Alternatively, a Bill may be introduced after having been sent to the Commons following its passage by the House of Lords. Following the purely formal introduction into Parliament, a date will be set for the second reading and the Bill will be printed and published.

Second reading:

It is at the second reading that a Bill will receive the first in-depth scrutiny. The scrutiny occurs in the form of a debate, generally on the floor of the House, and is restricted to matters of principle rather than detail.

Committee stage

Standing committees are designated to scrutinize Bills in detail. The committee will be established for the purpose of examining and will then stand down.

Report stage:

Once the Bill has been considered in Public Bill Committee, the Bill is reported back to the House of Commons as a whole. If amendments have been made in committee, the Bill will be reprinted. Further amendments may be introduced at this stage, but the Speaker will be careful to avoid repetition of the debate in the standing committee, so any proposed amendment previously considered will be rejected.

Third reading:

Third reading represents the last chance for the House of Commons to examine a Bill before it is passed by the House of Lords. At this stage, the Bill cannot be amended other than to correct small mistakes such as grammatical or printing errors. A Bill may pass through the report and third reading stage at the same time.

Scrutiny of Legislation by the House of Lords:

Some Bills will start functioning in the House of Lords and, once they are successfully passed in the Lords. Afterwards they will be passed to the Commons for debate and scrutiny. Law Reform Bills, in particular, are regularly introduced in the House Lords. The majority of Bills, however, start their parliamentary life in the House of Commons. Bills, which have completed their passage in the Commons, are passed to the House of Lords, which employ with some notable differences the same procedure as the House of Commons.

The Royal Assent:

Receiving the royal assent represents the final stage in passing legislation. The Queen has the legal right to decline to give royal assent to Bills that are passed by the House of Commons and Lords. By convention, the Queen must assent to such Bills unless advised contrary by her government. No monarch since 1854 has given royal assent.

The House of Lords:

In the United Kingdom, the second chamber, the Upper House-or House of Lords- is currently an unelected chamber which has judicial executive and legislative, scrutinizing and debating functions. The House of Lords plays a significant role in statute revision. In 1999, a major reform to the composition of the House of Lords was effected. The right of most hereditary peers to sit and vote was put an end, leaving the Lords with a majority of nominated and no democratically elected personalities.

The Composition of the House of Lords:

The House of Lords is unelected. There are some advantages of it. It enjoys independence in its functioning, as it is not accountable to the government or to the electorate.

Hereditary peers:

Hereditary peers are created under the prerogative of the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister. A peerage is created under Letter Patent from the Sovereign which will define the line of succession which invariably falls to the male heirs. A peerage created by a Writ of Summons will delegate to all heirs, thus enabling female successors to the throne.

There were 759 hereditary peers out of a total membership of 1,272, in January 1998. , The rights of most hereditary peers were taken away Under the House of Lords Act 1999 and the new number became 92.

Life peers:

Non-judicial life peers were not initiated until the Life Peerages Act 1958. The award of peerage is one of the highest honours conferred in the United Kingdom. Approximately one-third of the former government ministers will receive life peerages. Peerages are conferred by the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister. Twice a year-at the beginning of year and on the Queen's birthday-honours are awarded. There are, occasionally, honours lists announced to mark special occasions. At the time of the change of the government, the outgoing Prime Minister usually draws up a list. Once appointed, life peers are apt to be more active than hereditary peers in the House of Lords- in terms of both attendance in the House and participation in debate.

Judicial peers:

The Lords Appeal in Ordinary were originally appointed to add legal expertise to the House. In their judicial capacity, the House of Lords represents the highest domestic court for civil appeals in the United Kingdom and for criminal appeals from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Law Lords also sat as Members of the judicial Privy Council which had jurisdiction to hear appeals from a number of Commonwealth countries. Though the Law Lords played a role in the legislative and other functions by convention, they did not participate in purely political debate.

The Constitutional Reform Act, 2005 reformed the arrangement to reflect a better separation of powers between the legislature and the judiciary. Now a Supreme Court has been established in a place physically separated from Parliament. The Law Lords- now known as Justices of the Supreme Court-sit in the Supreme Court and are not allowed to sit in the House of Lords until they retire from their judicial appointments.

Lords Spiritual:

There are 26 Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England sit in the Lords. The explanation of the presence of these Bishops is historical. Their presence is explained both on the basis of tradition and on the basis of the close ties between the established Church of England and the state today.

Restrictions on the Lords:

The Lords' powers of delay, amendment and veto are severely confined by the Parliament Act 1949. Money Bills that have passed the Commons may receive the Royal Assent without the Lords' acceptance unless the Bill has been passed by the Lords within a month of it being sent there providing it was sent to the Lords at least a month before the end of the session. The Lords may dismiss any Bill that extends the duration of Parliament beyond five years. In case of Non-Money Bills the House of Lords can make a delay of one year.

Disqualification from membership of the Lords

Persons over the age of 21:

There are a number of qualifications that apply to Members of Parliament. One of the most important is that one must be aged at least twenty-one years.

Aliens:

He must be a citizen of the United Kingdom, of a British overseas territory, of the Republic of Ireland, or of a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in order to be eligible. These restrictions were introduced by the British Nationality Act 1981, but were previously far more strict: under the Act of Settlement 1701, only natural-born subjects were qualified. Members of the House of Lords may not serve in the House of Commons in British Parliament.

Bankruptcy:

A person may not sit in the House of Commons if he or she is the subject of a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order, or if he or she is adjudged bankrupt, or if his or her estate is sequestered.

Lunatics:

Also, lunatics are ineligible to sit in the House of Commons. Under the Mental Health Act 1959, two specialists must state to the Speaker that a Member is suffering from mental illness prior to a seat can be declared vacant. There also subsists a precedent from the eighteenth century that the "deaf and dumb" are not eligible to sit in the Lower House. This precedent, however, has not been raised in recent years, and is highly unlikely to be upheld by the courts.

Treason:

Anyone who is found guilty of high treason may not sit in Parliament until he or she has either undergone the term of imprisonment, or received a full pardon from the Crown.

Committees:

The Parliament of the United Kingdom uses committees for a variety of purposes among which one common use is for the review of bills.

Committees contemplate on bills in detail, and may make amendments. Bills of great constitutional significance, as well as some important financial measures, are usually sent to the Committee of the Whole House which is a body that includes all members of the House of Commons. Instead of the Speaker, the Chairman or a Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means presides. The Committee generally meets in the House of Commons Chamber.

Most bills are considered by Standing Committees consisting of between sixteen and fifty members each. The membership of each Standing Committee roughly gives thought to the standing of the parties in the whole House. Though "standing" may signify permanence, the membership of Standing Committees changes Frequently; new Members are assigned each time the Committee thinks about a new bill. There is no formal limit on how many Standing Committees there will be, but there are usually only ten. Rarely, a bill may be committed to a Special Standing Committee, which operates much like a Standing Committee, but also investigates and holds hearings on the issues raised by the bill.

The House of Commons also has quite a number of Departmental Select Committees. Like that of the Standing Committees, the membership of these bodies reflects the strength of the parties in the House of Commons. Each committee elects its own Chairman.

The preliminary function of a Departmental Select Committee is to examine carefully and investigate the activities of a particular Government Department; to carry out these aims, it is admissible to hold hearings and collect evidence. Bills may be referred to Departmental Select Committees, but such a procedure is very rarely used.

A distinct type of Select Committee is the Domestic Committee which oversee the administration of the House and the services provided to Members. Other committees of the House of Commons add Joint Committees, the Committee on Standards and Privileges, and the Committee of Selection. 

Relationship of the Parliament with the Government Controlling the premiership:

Though it does not elect the Prime Minister, the House of Commons indirectly controls the premiership. The Prime Minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of the House of Commons by convention . Thus, whenever the office of Prime Minister becomes vacant, the Sovereign appoints the person most likely to command the support of the House. Normally, the leader of the largest party in the Lower House is appointed. In the modern era the Prime Minister is always a member of the House of Commons, rather than the House of Lords practically by convention.

No Confidence:

The Prime Minister may only run in office as long as he or she has the confidence of the House of Commons. The Lower House may specify its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a Motion of Confidence or by passing a Motion of 'No Confidence'. Confidence and No Confidence Motions are the common phrases used explicitly, for instance: "That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government." Many other motions are considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such. In particular, important bills that form a part of the Government's agenda are generally considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. When a Government is deprived of the confidence of the House of Commons, the Prime Minister is bound either to resign or to request the monarch to dissolve Parliament, thereby opening a way to general election.

Dissolution of Parliament:

Except when compelled to do so by an adverse vote on a confidence issue, the Prime Minister is allowed to pick out the timing of cessation, and consequently the timing of general elections. The timing gives reflection to political considerations, and is generally most viable for the Prime Minister's party. However, no parliamentary term can subsist for more than five years; a dissolution is automatic as soon as this period is expired. With dissolutions customarily being requested earlier, parliament is almost never permitted to sit for the maximum possible term.

Appointment of the Prime Minister:

The expiry of Parliament's five year term, the choice of the Prime Minister, or a Government defeat in the House of Commons, whatever the reason is, a dissolution is followed by general elections. If the Prime Minister's party holds its majority in the House of Commons, then the Prime Minister may remain in power. On the other hand, if his or her party has lost its majority, the Prime Minister is compelled to resign, allowing the Sovereign to appoint a new Prime Minister. One may note that a Prime Minister may resign even if he or she is not defeated at the polls; in such a case, the premiership goes to the new leader of the outgoing Prime Minister's party.

Other Ministers:

In modern times, the House of Commons rather than the Lords is the source of most government ministers. By constitutional convention, all ministers must hold membership of the House of Commons or House of Lords. A handful have been appointed who are outside Parliament but in most cases they subsequently entered Parliament either by means of a by-election or receiving a peerage. All Prime Ministers have been members of the Commons since 1902.

Ministers from the House of Lords:

No major cabinet positions has been filled by a Lord since 1982 when Lord Carrington resigned as Foreign Secretary, in spite of fact that some of the middle rank Cabinet posts such as International Development Secretary and Defence Secretary have been filled by peers. Unlike the unelected nature of members of the Lords, the elected status of members of the Commons is seen to lend more legitimacy to ministers from the Commons. The Prime Minister selects the Ministers, and may think of removing them at any time. The official appointment or dismissal, however, is made by the Sovereign.

Ministerial Responsibility:

The House of Commons scrutinies the Government through "Question Time," a period during which Members have the privilege to ask questions of the Prime Minister and of other Cabinet Ministers. Prime Minister's Question Time takes place once each week, normally for a half-hour each Wednesday. Questions must coincide to the responding Minister's official Government activities, not to his or her activities as a party leader or as a private Member of Parliament. Customarily, members of the Government party and members of the Opposition alternate when asking questions. Members of Parliament may also make inquiries in writing in addition to questions asked orally during Question Time. Practically, the House of Commons' scrutiny of the Government is very weak. Since the First-Past-the-Post electoral system is used in elections, the governing party eager to enjoy a large majority in the Commons; there is often limited need to compromise with other political parties. Modern British political parties are so tightly put in order that they leave relatively little room for free action by their MPs. Accordingly the Government loses confidence issues only thrice-twice in 1924, and once in 1979 during the twentieth century.

Impeachment of Ministers:

The House of Commons technically keeps the power to indict Ministers of the Crown for their criminal involvement. Impeachments are tried by the House of Lords and a simple majority is necessary to convict. The power of impeachment, however, has fallen into misuse; the House of Commons exercises its checks on the Government through other mechanism such as No Confidence Motions.

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